That Night's Wife
About That Night's Wife
Shuji Hashizume robs a bank at gunpoint and leaves a bloody handprint. A doctor tells his wife Mayumi that their daughter Michiko may not last the night. Shuji gets home with the money and says he will turn himself in once the child is past the crisis. Detective Kagawa, who drove the taxi that brought him, forces the door. Mayumi takes Shuji's gun and holds Kagawa in the apartment until Michiko recovers. She falls asleep. Kagawa takes the guns back and tells her to rest. In the morning the doctor says the girl will live. Mayumi helps Shuji slip out, then finds him waiting outside. He has decided to give himself up. He and Kagawa share a cigarette and walk toward the station while Michiko and Mayumi wave from the window.
Cast & crew
More about That Night's Wife
Yasujirō Ozu directed. Kōgo Noda wrote it with him. Hideo Shigehara photographed and edited. Shochiku released it on 6 July 1930. It runs 65 minutes and is silent. Tokihiko Okada plays Shuji. Emiko Yagumo plays Mayumi. Mitsuko Ichimura plays Michiko. Tōgō Yamamoto plays Kagawa. Tatsuo Saitō plays the doctor Suda. Chishū Ryū plays a policeman. The Japanese title is Sono yo no tsuma (その夜の妻).
Themes
Making
Ozu keeps almost the whole night inside one apartment: the stolen money, the sick child, the detective, and the two guns.
Look
Hideo Shigehara shot the bank getaway, the phone booth, and the apartment where Mayumi holds the detective, and he cut the film as well.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- Kagawa is not a policeman who arrives later. He is the taxi driver who followed Shuji home.
- Shuji says he will surrender after Michiko recovers, then tries to leave, then waits outside anyway.
- The robbery is marked by a bloody handprint.
- Ryū's part is a policeman, separate from Yamamoto's detective.
- A later listed date, 17 March 1994, is not the original release.
Scenes
- Shuji leaves a bloody handprint as he runs from the bank.
- Mayumi takes his gun and keeps Kagawa in the room through the night.
- Shuji is waiting on the street in the morning and walks off with the detective.
Also available
- Internet Archive (that-nights-wife)
- Wikimedia Commons (その夜の妻 (1930).webm)
