Kurosawa Blog-a-Thon: All Work and No Play...

The Most Beautiful (1944)
aka Ichiban utsukushiku
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
85 min.; Japan; Black and White; Mono

Note: This post is part of the Kurosaw-a-Thon hosted at Filmsquish.com.

Akira Kurosawa's second feature film, The Most Beautiful (1944) is a homefront melodrama based on his own screenplay that takes a close look at the personal struggles of a group of female workers relocated to Tokyo to make optical instruments for military aircraft in the latter days of World War II. Think of it as a tragic spin on Rosie the Riveter propaganda Japanese style. At the onset, these dedicated factory women are charged with increasing productivity 50%, and desperate to overcome tedium, illness, injury and separation from home and family they strive to meet this seemingly impossible goal. I decided to look at this early Kurosawa film for the blog-a-thon because it was made during World War II, the years currently under study on this blog.

A regimented mass of women march off to work to the cadence of their own martial music in The Most Beautiful.

The central messages of the film are self-sacrifice for the war effort and the development of a steadfast work ethic. To get these ideas across Kurosawa employs repetition. The phrase "work hard" is repeated so often it becomes a mantra for both the characters and the viewer. The same patriotic songs are sung over and over. In ways similar to screen versions of Nazis, the women are shown in regimented crowds, dressing, speaking, acting, marching, and singing as one. The workers lives consist entirely of marching to work while singing, laboring all day, marching home while singing, and receiving indoctrination by rote.

Most of the screentime is spent revealing how worker illness and injury effect productivity, and the steps that must be taken to overcome these things. One might expect the male foremen to drive the women to meet their quotas whatever the cost. But, in this film the women are their own taskmasters, and even in defeat they bear an incredible responsibility. For instance, when one of the women is too sick to work and sent home she's overcome by the shame of letting herself, her fellow workers, her family and her country down. The women are represented by Tsuru (the English subtitles name her Tao) (Yôko Yaguchi), a driven worker, natural leader and staunchly patriotic figure. However, like the character Vakulinchuk in Battleship Potemkin (1925) Tsuru is really a symbol for the group; the ideal worker selflessly sacrificing all in her devotion to duty.

Kurosawa takes pains to show us that though the women are away from home and family they still value traditional ways of life and revere their ancestors. The women kneel and pray before shrines built to lost loved ones, talk about their homes and pine to return. We also see the instruction they receive each night when they return to their barracks-like group home. A mother-teacher surrogate instructs them, and as one they vow loyalty and obedience, and pledge to "fight the British and Americans" and to someday teach their children to do the same.

Romantic and sexual relationships are conspicuously absent from the film. The very few men on hand simply give orders and check the women's progress. The women enjoy some fellowship, commiserate with each other, or have an occasional argument, but any deeper feelings are redirected at their productivity or memories of their families. I assume that some of the women are married to soldiers fighting in the war, but unfortunately the film lacks any real exploration of such relationships as well.

Tsuru (Yôko Yaguchi) refuses to leave her work even though tragedy has befallen her family.

Kurosawa's ability to break up the frame with light and blocking is on view (photo left), but the overall presentation is not particularly outstanding and the structure is built on familiar montage techniques. However, there are a couple of elements worthy of note. For instance, the narrative is driven by a recurring simple animation that charts the workers' productivity across time. Every time one of the women gets sick, injured or distracted the productivity line drops. When the women overcome these infirmities the productivity line increases. It's an obvious device to push the narrative, but it's effective. In addition, when we see the workers look through one of their optical instruments Kurosawa allows us to peer through it as well so we have an understanding of what sort of devices are being produced. Finally, we're most aware of a creative hand at work behind the camera during long lateral tracking shots and other camera moves that involve the large cast in a parade of reaction shots. Combined with the sentimental story these shots are reminiscent of the 1930s work of Frank Capra. In fact, though Kurosawa's style on such films as The Seven Samurai (1954) and The Hidden Fortress (1958) earn the director comparisons with John Ford, the look, pacing and personal drama preoccupation of The Most Beautiful leads one to imagine Capra producing something like it had he made propaganda films for the enemy instead of the U.S. government during the war.

The stand-out sequence of The Most Beautiful sees Tsuru labor through the night to hand craft a damaged mirror to be used in an aircraft gunsight. The work is difficult and tedious, but she sings the same patriotic song used throughout the film to keep herself awake and on task. The acting in this scene is understated yet gripping, and I caught myself trying to sing along to spur her on. In the end, Tsuru's devotion to duty earns her an uncommon level of respect from her superiors, and we're compelled to feel the same way about her character. Unfortunately, the film ends soon after this compelling sequence and as a result feels unfinished. However, Kurosawa's drama provides us with a history of the kinds of sacrifices made by Japanese women working for the war effort in the days when the tide of war had shifted against Japan, and by extension all people working to produce the necessary tools to fight that terrible conflict. Through The Most Beautiful we can grasp the sacrifice, desperation and drive with which those on the homefront, any homefront, serve their country in its time of need.

One last note: The Most Beautiful DVD from MEI AH Entertainment suffers from strange ghosting most obvious when actors move quickly (which isn't a problem for most of this quiet film), and the English subtitles make almost no sense at all; around halfway through I turned them off and let the acting and inflections of the spoken parts tell the story.

This review written by Thom Ryan
Copyright 2007 Thom Ryan Some rights reserved

Comments

[Squish]

too bad about your copy. I saw that sort of thing in No Regrets For Our Youth. Another couple tidbits: the women playing the workers were somewhat spoled acrtresses, and to enhance their performance, were asked to live simply, live together and live in a barracks while the film was being shot. Kurosawa's autobiography tells us that in hindsight he found this to be a little too harsh on his part. However, the lead acress became Kurosawa's wife shortly thereafter!

[Brian]

If it's 1944, it must be a Blog-a-Thon! This is one of the many Kurosawa films I've yet to see. I had Squish's experience watching the Mei Ah No Regrets For Our Youth, and decided not to prioritize watching those discs. Hopefully, if the forthcoming Eclipse series of A.K.'s post-war films is a success, there will be a similar DVD treatment of his wartime films. Better yet (in my opinion), a touring retrospective of film prints? There was a Kurosawa/Mifune series making the rounds a few years ago, but perhaps it's time for an "ObsKurosawa" festival of his lesser-known films?

[Thom]

Thanks guys.

Squish - Regardless any technical problems on the DVD I'm just happy to be able to contribute to your blog-a-thon despite the (U.S.A.-only) holiday this week. Also, since I'm not a Kurosawa expert (only seen four films so far) I wanted to review a flick that might not get much attention. Lucky for me it was made in the same period I'm currently engaging on this blog. I found The Most Beautiful ok entertainment, but an excellent record of homefront service that compares to American films from the same period concerned with similar subjects such as Tender Comrade (1943).

Brian - Indeed my quick time travel ahead three years is the result of a blog-a-thon. I'm still searching for a DVD of the feature from 1941 that I want to tie into the WWII fillm discussion ongoing here since 1939 and might have to change tactics. Back to the Kurosawa, let's cross our collective fingers that the retrospective you're pining for does indeed come to pass.

[Joe Thompson]

Thom: This was a nice analysis of a propaganda movie. We often see Allied propaganda and sometimes German propaganda from WWII, but not Japanese propaganda. I had a chance to see the Emperor's first movie, "Sugata Sanshiro", in a series at San Francisco's Parkside Theater. You might enjoy it if you can find it. The subtitles were as bad as the ones you described for this movie.

The Fox Parkside was a nice art deco house built in 1928. In the late 1970s, it was deemed too big for the neighborhood, so they put a nursery school in the main floor. They continued to show movies in the evening, with everyone sitting in the balcony. I was sad when it closed around 1990.

Regards,
Joe Thompson ;0)

[Thom]

Hiya Joe, thanks for stopping by again.

Glad you like the post. I'm discovering that homefront stories made by the Axis side during WWII are rare on DVD. As a matter of fact, I'm having a difficult time locating rentable DVDs of features (outside of documentaries) released by any of the Axis powers during the war. I've had the most luck with output from Germany (as we'll see in a couple of upcoming posts) but almost nothing from Italy or Japan. That being the case, it was a happy coincidence that Squish's blog-a-thon led me to find Kurosawa's The Most Beautiful.

I would like to see the director's feature debut that you mention, but I'm going to wait until a new DVD version is available (don't want to repeat the Mei ah experience) or, if I should be so lucky, somebody local will show a print of it in a retro series.

I like your reminiscence about the movie palace. I find it interesting that ideal or unusual exhibition experiences tend to become intertwined with our recollections of certain movies. I wonder if Brian has a memory of seeing something in the Parkside too.

[Brian]

Indeed I do- my dad took me and my brother to a double bill of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Man Who Would Be King there.

I watched Sanshiro Sugata on a Sony-produced VHS years ago. I don't remember the subtitles being problematic, and in fact Sony's VHS releases of Japanese films from that era were generally of a pretty good quality.

[Thom]

Brian - I figured you might recall Joe's theatre-turned-preschool-turned-whatevertheheckistherenow. Hope we brought up happy memories for ya (Raiders just has to be).

Sanshiro Sugata on Sony VHS? What's VHS? Just kidding...I bet a certain local video store will have it on videotape and that may be the ideal way to dig into other early Kurosawa without the aforementioned gripes too. Thanks for the info, pal.

btw, are you still deluged with film fests down in your neck of the woods? I put Marines Who Never Return (available from DVDAsian) on my to-see list when I reach the Korean War era on your recommendation.

[Brian]

Just one left before the year ends- the Silent Film Festival's one-day winter program next Saturday, which I'm really looking forward to of course. I've been reading a lot about Intolerance and am excited to finally see it in the best print possible, on the big screen, and with an ace organist behind the Wurlitzer. I found it underwhelming on VHS/TV and perhaps I will again under these circumstances. But I'm glad I'm getting such a great shot at re-evaluation.

I'm glad your interest was piqued by my mention of Marines Who Never Returned. If you can track down a Flower in Hell it's even better, though the Korean War and its effects are more suggested than the focus of the film.

One thing to clarify about my previous comment: when I said "era" I meant the late eighties/early nineties when Sony was releasing things like Sanshiro Sugata, Naruse's Mother, Teshigahra's the Face of Another, etc. on VHS. I don't think I've seen any wartime Japanese films on VHS except for that one Kurosawa, and Janus's release of Story of the Last Chrysanthemum by Mizoguchi.

[Thom]

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying Bri.

You know, even on the DVD version Intolerance invokes awe and exhaustion through sheer size, scale and scope. I'll bet you're in for a once in a lifetime treat because that film packs a wallop (though I remember being put off by Griffith beating his message into the ground for three hours--there's something to be said for subtlety). I'd love to know how it comes across in an ideal setting. Here's looking forward to a post about your experience with Griffith's masterwork on your blog...and try not to whistle at the semi-nude virgins in the love temple ;)