Where Chimneys Are Seen

Where Chimneys Are Seen (aka Four Chimneys) (煙突の見える場所, Entotsu no mieru basho) is a 1953 Japanese comedy-drama film directed by Heinosuke Gosho. It was entered into the 3rd Berlin International Film Festival.[1] Based on a novel by Rinzō Shiina, Where Chimneys Are Seen is regarded as one of Gosho's most important films and a typical example of the shomin-geki genre.[2]

Where Chimneys Are Seen
Directed byHeinosuke Gosho
Produced byYoshishige Uchiyama
Written byHideo Oguni
Rinzō Shiina (novel)
StarringKen Uehara
Kinuyo Tanaka
Hideko Takamine
Music byYasushi Akutagawa
CinematographyMitsuo Miura
Edited byNobu Nagata
Distributed byShintoho
Release date
  • 5 March 1953 (1953-03-05)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Hiroko Ogata and her second husband Ryukichi (her first husband Tsukahara is believed to have died in a bombing in the Second World War) live in the lower-class outskirts of Tokyo. The upper floor of the Ogatas' flat is rented to Kenzo and Senko, a young man and a woman who show interest in each other, but are still not a couple. One day, the Ogatas find a baby in the house entrance with a note signed by Tsukahara, stating it was Hiroko's daughter. The marriage is engulfed in a crisis, with Hiroko nearly committing suicide. Kenzo searches the city for Tsukahara and finally finds him and his new wife, the actual mother of the abandoned child, who initially had wanted to abort it. Although the Ogatas have developed an affection for the baby, which fell seriously ill at one point, they agree to return it to Mrs. Tsukahara who, after some hesitation, accepts it as her own.

Cast

Production and release

Where Chimneys Are Seen is based on the novel Mujaki na hitobito by Japanese writer Rinzō Shiina.[3] It was produced by Gosho's own production company Studio Eight (1950–1954)[2][4] and distributed by Shintoho studios.

References
  1. "Programme of the 1953 Berlin International Film Festival". Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
  3. "Entry for Heinosuke Gosho at worldcat.org". Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  4. Hirano, Kyoko (1992). Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation, 1945–1952. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-157-1.
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