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港の日本娘 (Japanese Girls At The Harbor)

Director: Hiroshi Shimizu
Year: 1933
Run-time: 1 hr 8 min
Source: The Criterion Channel

Notable For: This list would be entirely different had not the great bulk of Japanese films in the 20's and 30's been lost in the destruction of war.  Hiroshi Shimizu was an incredibly prolific director who made over 160 films, and was a great influence on Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi, but he's relatively unknown today.

 Verdict: Japanese Girls at the Harbor reveals the maturity of his style, with a simple, effective silent melodrama (very Borzage-esque) with few close-ups, but rather some of the most emotional long shots so far yet.  The director conveys a lot with the way that his wonderful actors position themselves in relation to each other, and how they hold their bodies.  As with Mizoguchi's work, the focus is on the women - the male characters are weak-willed, and helpless without the support of these women.  Also, I don't often say this, but the wardrobes are fascinating - the film contrasts traditional Geisha-style kimonos worn by prostitutes with western-influenced 1930's clothes worn by a middle-class couple.  This is definitely an unknown classic.
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