Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate

Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (幕末太陽傳 or 幕末太陽伝, Bakumatsu taiyōden) is a 1957 black-and-white Japanese film comedy directed by Yūzō Kawashima with a screenplay by Kawashima, Shōhei Imamura and Keiichi Tanaka. It was voted the fifth best Japanese film of all time in a poll of 140 Japanese critics and filmmakers conducted by the magazine Kinema Junpo in 1999.[2]

Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate
Directed byYūzō Kawashima
Written byYūzō Kawashima, Shōhei Imamura, Keiichi Tanaka
StarringFrankie Sakai
Sachiko Hidari
Yōko Minamida
Distributed byNikkatsu
Release date
  • July 14, 1957 (1957-07-14)[1]
Running time
110 minutes[1]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Shooting of Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate. On the left is director Yūzō Kawashima; standing is actor Frankie Sakai.

Plot

It is set during the last days of the Shogunate in the mid 19th century. Saheiji (played by comedian Frankie Sakai) seeks to outwit the inhabitants of a brothel in order to survive in straitened times.[3] A group of samurai meanwhile seek to destroy any foreigners that cross their path.

Notes

Parallels are drawn between the world of the samurai and the world of Kawashima's Japan. The hypocrisy surrounding prostitution, about to be outlawed in Japan at that time in 1950s Japan, the abuse of power, and financial greed at a time of crisis, are all portrayed.[4]

Cast

References
  1. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1957/cg002790.htm accessed 16 January 2009
  2. "Hōga ōrutaimu besuto 100". My Cinema Theater. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  3. Masters of Cinema
  4. Moviemail catalogue, April 2013, p.13


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