Mitsuko Sawamura

A leading postwar Japanese film critic and theorist who co-founded the seminal film magazine Eiga Hihyo (Film Criticism) in 1957, Eizo Yamagiwa made his directorial debut with this independent feature—long thought lost until a negative was recently discovered—about a group of idle bourgeois students known as the “Roppongi Tribe” (Roppongi zoku). Depicting the resignation and nihilism of the postwar generation in the years following the Anpo Treaty conflicts through a coming-of-age narrative, Yamagiwa offers sharp criticism of the prevalent characterizations of Japan's new youth offered by Nikkatsu's taiyozoku (“Sun Tribe”) films and the New Wave at large.

1959 Japanese movie

Short promotional film for "The Teahouse of the August Moon". The cast and crew are shown arriving in Japan and being welcomed by the Japanese, and then shown in various clips around the set The location shooting is done at Nara, where a small town is constructed on approximately 11 acres of land. Local villagers watch the filming. MGM is praised for using Japanese locations, promoting international relations, etc. The short wraps up with construction of the Teahouse set and a clip of the feature film to show the result.

Chuck Rodwell is a gambling cowboy who discovers that he's lucky at the roulette wheel if he holds hands with dancer Marie. However, Marie doesn't like to hold hands with him, at least not in the beginning...