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The Song Lantern
The Song Lantern
Japanese name
Kanji	歌行燈
Directed by	Mikio Naruse
Written by	Mantarō Kubota; Kyōka Izumi (novel);
Produced by	Motohiko Itō
Starring	Shōtarō Hanayagi; Isuzu Yamada; Ichijirō Ōya; Eijirō Yanagi;
Cinematography	Asaichi Nakai
Edited by	Yoshiki Nagasawa
Music by	Shirō Fukai
Production; company	Toho
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	11 February 1943 (Japan);
Running time	93 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Song Lantern (歌行燈, Uta andon), also titled A Song by Lantern Light, is a 1943 Japanese drama film by Mikio Naruse. It is based on a novel by Kyōka Izumi.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Plot

Japan in the Meiji era: Kitahachi, son of famous noh actor Genzaburo Onchi, is disowned by his father after Kitahachi's humiliation of noh singer Sozan results in Sozan's suicide. Also, Genzaburo forbids Kitahachi ever to perform again. When Kitahachi, who now earns his money as a street musician, learns that Sozan's daughter Osode tries to find work as a geisha but struggles with her inability to play an instrument, he teaches her the art of noh dancing. During his stay in Kuwana, Genzaburo is impressed by Osode's dancing skills and, upon hearing that she was instructed by Kitahachi, reunites with his son.

Cast

Shōtarō Hanayagi as Kitahachi Onchi
Isuzu Yamada as Osode
Ichijirō Ōya as Genzaburo Onchi
Masaro Muata as Sozan
Eijirō Yanagi as Jirozo

Background

The Song Lantern starred Shōtarō Hanayagi, a popular shinpa and film actor, who had previously appeared in the lead role in Kenji Mizoguchi's The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939), which too portrayed a stage actor during the Meiji period.^[4]^[5]

Reception

According to Naruse biographer Catherine Russell, the director was faced with interferences by the Home Ministry during the film's production, and while she calls the submissive character of Osode "not well developed", she points out the elegance of some of the film's sequences.^[5]

In his 2005 review for Slant Magazine, Keith Uhlich titled The Song Lantern an "intoxicating work" and "visual marvel", comparable to the works of Mizoguchi.^[6]

Legacy

The Song Lantern was screened at the Museum of Modern Art in 1985^[7] and at the Harvard Film Archive in 2005^[8] as part of their retrospectives on Mikio Naruse.

References

^ ^a ^b "歌行燈". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b "歌行燈(1943)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 October 2022.
^ "歌行燈". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 October 2022.
^ Kirihara, Donald (1992). Patterns of Time: Mizoguchi and the 1930s. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 139. ISBN 9780299132446.
^ ^a ^b Russell, Catherine (2008). The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity. Durham and London: Duke University Press. pp. 140–143. ISBN 978-0-8223-4290-8.
^ Uhlich, Keith (13 December 2005). "Review: The Song Lantern". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
^ "Mikio Naruse: A Master of the Japanese Cinema Opens at MoMA September 23" (PDF). Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
^ "The Song Lantern". Harvard Film Archive. Retrieved 19 July 2023.