Daily Archives: August 5, 2016

Stolen Desire (Nusumareta yokujô)
Directed by Shohei Imamura
Written by Toshiro Suzuki from a novel by Toko Kon
1958/Japan
Nikkatsu
First viewing/Hulu

[box] “There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman[/box]

This ribald comedy about theater folk is a departure from classic Japanese film.

The story concerns a down-and-out theater troupe in Osaka that combines a strip-show with Kabuki-light plays.  The management can no longer pay the actors but they stick with their show out of love for the bright lights.  The owners decide to take the show to the countryside to see if a new audience will change their fortunes.

One of the actors is university-educated but also in love with the theater.  In love with him are another actor’s wife and her sister.  Which will he end up with?

The story here is very slight but first-time director Imamura compensates with some innovative staging.  I kept wondering if he drew some of his inspiration from Fellini’s Variety Lights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQobgsGXN7M

Clip

Teacher’s Pet
Directed by George Seaton
Written by Fay and Michael Kanin
1958/USA
Perlsea Company
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Erica Stone: As my father used to say, a reporter has to do a lot of sweating before he earns the right to perspire.[/box]

The best post-War performance I have yet seen from Clark Gable enlivens this entertaining rom-com.

Jim Gannon (Gable) is a hard-bitten, prickly city editor who came up in the school of hard knocks.   Erica Stone (Doris Day) invites him to speak to the students in her journalism course and he writes her a nasty letter in response.  The newspaper owner forces him to apologize and he is mistaken for a student.  He gives her a hard time in this role as well but comes to respect her … and more.  So he adopts an assumed name and enrolls in the class.  Naturally, he is a prodigy at writing news articles and she wants to mentor him personally.

He can’t get to first base with Erica though because she spends all her free time with Dr. Hugo Pine (Gig Young), a psychologist.  Pine also speaks seven languages, writes prolifically and, in short, is the kind of guy a kind of guy like Jim loves to hate.  Jim plots Pine’s downfall and many misunderstandings ensue en route to the happy ending.

I was kind of expecting a smarmy 50’s-style “sex comedy” but ended up liking this a lot.  I thought Gable would look tired and totally age inappropriate but he made it work.  His performance brought to mind some of his light-heartedness in It Happened One Night. Day is always good.  Recommended if you are looking for something frothy.

Teacher’s Pet was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Gig Young) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen.

Trailer