Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.
Junpei Kihara, a young president of the University's wrestling club, is nicknamed "Mr. Chop". One day, on the way back from visiting the hospital after being thrown by Nobuyoshi Shinohara during practice and injured, he met Asako, the sister of Arisawa's mother, Katsuko. When they entering a coffee shop run by Asako's best friend Hisako, Hisako misunderstood them as lovers...
The orphaned son of a count who was assassinated by his subordinates in a conspiracy during the Pacific War becomes obsessed with taking revenge on his late father's enemies.
Private eye Bannai Tarao (Chiezo Kataoka) and his assistant Masako (Chizuru Kitagawa) investigate the mysterious murder of a baseball player who was killed in the middle of a game.
A group of Okinawan high school girls are drafted as nurses during the American invasion of the island. As the enemy army advances further, the situation for the girls becomes increasingly desperate as food and shelter run out and the number of injured climbs, leading to the film's tragic finale.
