Aoi sanmyaku

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Aoi sanmyaku

| native_name = {{Infobox Japanese|child=yes|hide=no|header=none|revhep=Aoi Sanmyaku |kanji=青い山脈}}

| image = File:Aoisanmyaku-poster1949.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Tadashi Imai

| producer = Sanezumi Fujimoto

| screenplay = {{ubl|Tadashi Imai|Toshirō Ide}}

| based_on = {{based on|Blue Mountain Range|Yōjirō Ishizaka}}

| starring = {{ubl|Setsuko Hara|Ryō Ikebe|Michiyo Kogure|Yōko Sugi}}

| music = Ryoichi Hattori

| cinematography = Asakazu Nakai

| studio = {{ubl|Fujimoto Production|Toho}}

| distributor = Toho

| released = {{Film date|1949|07|19|Part one}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1949/by000960.htm |title=青い山脈 (Aoi Sanmyaku, Part one) |website=Japanese Movie Database |language=ja |access-date=23 March 2021}}{{Film date|1949|07|26|Part two}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1949/by000980.htm |title=続青い山嶚 (Aoi Sanmyaku, Part two) |website=Japanese Movie Database |language=ja |access-date=23 March 2021}}

| runtime = {{ubl|91 minutes (Part one)|91 minutes (Part two)}}

| country = Japan

| language = Japanese

}}

{{nihongo|Aoi sanmyaku|青い山脈||lit. Blue Mountain Range}} is a 1949 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Tadashi Imai.{{cite book |last=Galbraith IV |first=Stuart |date=2008 |title=The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography |location=Lanham, Toronto, Plymouth |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=72 |isbn=978-0-8108-6004-9}} It is based on Yōjirō Ishizaka's novel of the same name, which was first published in serialised form in 1947.{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%9D%92%E3%81%84%E5%B1%B1%E8%84%88-422165 |title=青い山脈 (Aoi sanmyaku) |website=Kotobank |access-date=23 March 2021 |language=ja}}

Plot

After defending Shinko, student at a rural girls' high school, for seeing a young man from the village, teacher Yukiko, who has just been transferred from Tokyo, finds herself in opposition to the conservative faculty and villagers.

Cast

class="wikitable"

|+

!Actor

!Role

Setsuko Hara

|Yukiko Shimazaki

Ryō Ikebe

|Rokusuke Kaneya

Michiyo Kogure

|Umetaro/Tora Sasai

Yōko Sugi

|Shinko Terazawa

Ichiro Ryuzaki

|Tamao Numata

Setsuko Wakayama

|Kazuko Sasai

Kamatari Fujiwara

|Okamoto-san

Production and legacy

Aoi sanmyaku was released in two parts, part one on July 19, 1949, part two one week later, and was highly successful both with the audience and the critics.{{cite book |last=Hirano |first=Kyoko |date=1992 |title=Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation, 1945–1952 |location=Washington and London |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |pages=234–235 |isbn=1-56098-157-1}}

The film's popular theme song theme was sung by Ichiro Fujiyama and Mitsue Nara. Ishizaka's novel was adapted again in 1957, 1975 and 1988.

Reception

The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited this movie as one of his 100 favorite films.{{cite web |last1=Thomas-Mason |first1=Lee |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out Magazine |access-date=23 January 2023}}

References

{{reflist}}