The Life of Matsu the Untamed
About The Life of Matsu the Untamed
Matsugoro, a rickshaw man in a Japanese town at the start of the century, takes the boy Toshio to a hospital and stays close to the family. Toshio's father, an officer, dies. Matsu looks after the boy. He loves Toshio's mother, Yoshiko, and does not say so. His death is a wheel rolling, then lying on its side, cut with flashes of the boy's life.
Cast & crew
More about The Life of Matsu the Untamed
Hiroshi Inagaki directed. Mansaku Itami wrote the script from Shunsaku Iwashita's story. Kazuo Miyagawa photographed it. Tsumasaburō Bandō plays Matsugoro. Keiko Sonoi is billed with him. The Japanese title is Muhōmatsu no isshō. Wikidata gives 100 minutes. A festival listing times a print at 80. Inagaki remade it in 1958 as The Rickshaw Man, with Toshiro Mifune.
Themes
Making
Inagaki stages Matsu's death as a wheel, not a deathbed speech.
Look
Kazuo Miyagawa photographed the rickshaw streets and the wheel that ends the film.
Preservation
A copy is on Wikimedia Commons. Published runtimes differ: 100 minutes on Wikidata, 80 on one festival listing.
Notes
- Bandō, a sword-film star, plays the rickshaw man.
- The 1958 remake keeps the same story and changes the star to Mifune.
- Miyagawa, later known for Rashomon, shot this one.
- A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- Matsu carries the injured Toshio to the hospital.
- A wheel rolls and stops, and the film ends.
Influenced by
- Shunsaku Iwashita's story
Influenced
- The Rickshaw Man (1958)