A Mizoguchi masterpiece lost to time—only 24 minutes survive of this Taishō-era heartbreak.
A classic melodramatic love tragedy addressing social inequality in Taishō-era Japan, The nostalgic scenes of 1920s Tokyo provides a valuable visual experience set against the background of the title song, "Tokyo March." (Sadly, less than a half hour of the footage has been recovered and restored.)
Direction
Mizoguchi's early mastery of the long take and deep focus.
Cinematography
Lost Tokyo streets preserved like amber—irreplaceable visual document.
Score
The title song haunts every frame with period melancholy.
Director
Kenji Mizoguchi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Originally 74 minutes; the surviving footage was discovered in 1988 in a Russian archive, of all places. Soviet censors had archived it as 'decadent bourgeois cinema' and forgotten it.
The 'Tokyo March' song itself became synonymous with the moga ('modern girl') phenomenon—flappers with bobbed hair scandalizing traditional Japan. The film captures that cultural friction in real time.
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