Burden of Love (1955) Directed by Yuzo KAWASHIMA

Story Jozaburo Araki is the head of a famous family-owned wholesale pharmaceutical store with a well-established history. At present he is the Minister of Health and Welfare, and is considering submission of a Bill to hold population increase in check, in an attempt to easily deal with Opposition accusations regarding the population problem. However, just when he is in the Diet giving a major policy speech to the Welfare Ministry Committee about decreasing the population, Ranko, his 48-year-old wife, heads to a maternity clinic and discovers that she is pregnant. To make matters worse, he finds out that his eldest son, Jotaro, had been secretly having an affair with his own secretary, Saeko Godai, and it seems that she is also expecting a little 'Burden of Love.'

Also, the Araki family's young daughter, Sakura, has become pregnant with her fiancé before their upcoming marriage, and even the retired patron of the family, Jozo,

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presents yet another possibility of a pregnancy with his much younger mistress. Furthermore, Jozaburo visits Kyoto on an election campaign and is astounded to learn of the existence of his own love-child with his former lover, Some Kaida! As if that's not enough trouble, the Araki family finds that even their maid, Oteru, and their business manager, Yamaguchi, have somehow also ended up with their own 'Burden of Love.'

And that is how the population explosion in the household of the Minister of Health and Welfare somehow becomes a factor in the future of Japan...

Comment A 'screwball comedy' in which the female members of the family of the Minister of Health and Welfare, who has just proposed a program of birth control, become pregnant one after the other.

The director, Yuzo Kawashima, specialized in comedic productions, and was particularly gifted with comedic movies involving refined, urban humor. The frantic pace and treatment of sound in this movie remind a significant number of movie fans of films such as Howard Hawks' Monkey Business ('52) and Preston Sturges' The Palm Beach Story ('42). A detailed replica of the National Diet of that period was constructed to provide the set for the ironical portrayal in regards to politics. The art director, Kimihiko Nakamura, was also in charge of numerous Shohei Imamura films, including Pigs and Battleships ('61) and Intentions of Murder ('64). The film also provides an interesting look at the sudden surge in female politicians that was typical of post-War Japan. Also, the portrayal of the elderly, retired father of the Minister of Health and Welfare living with a younger mistress is thought to be based on the situation of an actual famous Japanese politician of that period.

Tatsuya Mihashi plays in the leading role of the eldest son of the Araki family, but also performs in the movie as an actor in the Samurai period drama scene, in addition to portraying his own half-brother, the illegitimate son of Jozaburo. This is the first starring role for Mihashi after his transfer to the Nikkatsu studio. He had made this transfer to Nikkatsu because of his great respect for the director of this movie, Yuzo Kawashima. This special director and lead actor relationship between Mihashi and Kawashima is reminiscent of similar pairings in the history of Hollywood comedic cinema, such the duos of Howard Hawks and Cary Grant, Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon, and Preston Sturges and Joel McCrea. Mihashi appeared in 16 of Kawashima's films, forming a memorable part of

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Japanese comedic film history. Kawashima passed away in 1963 at the young age of 45, but Mihashi continued to perform in numerous movie roles until his death in 2004. His masterpieces include the Akira Kurosawa films The Bad Sleep Well ('60) and High and Low ('63), and the Takeshi Kitano film Dolls ('02).

The Minister of Health and Welfare is portrayed by So Yamamura, who is one of the leading actors in post-War Japan. He appeared in Tokyo Story ('53) by Yasujiro Ozu, Princess Yang Kwei-fei ('55) by Kenji Mizoguchi, and The Thunder of the Mountain ('54) by Mikio Naruse. He was also involved in directing, such as Kuroi ushio ('54), the Nikkatsu societal drama with a theme based on an actual incident.

The former lover of the protagonist is played by Isuzu Yamada, who was a prominent heroine in Kenji Mizoguchi films during the pre-War era, including his masterpieces Naniwa Elegy ('36) and Gion no shimai ('36). After the War, she appeared in various films, such as Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood ('57) and The Lower Depths ('57).

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