Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka (1950)

"My ear works better than your nose"

Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka was not what I expected. The titular Ishinaka showed up in all three independent love stories to give his own brand of wisdom to characters in need.

Buried Gasoline
Kawai mentions that late in the war he was part of a group that buried over 400 drums of gasoline on the property of orchard owner Yamazaki. Writer Ishinaka, villager Nakamura, and Kawai dig with permission on Yamazaki’s land dreaming of what they will do with their new found wealth. It doesn’t take long before the men realize Kawai is far more interested in Yamazaki’s daughter than he is the buried gas.

An Argument
Mariko and Shuichi are embarrassed when they find out their fathers have gone to a burlesque show. They decide to shame them and maybe get some new clothes out of the deal as well. The tables turn when each child takes their father’s side in the argument tearing the lovebirds apart.

A Carriage of Hay

Yoshiko makes the long walk to town to visit her sister in the hospital. At the hospital a fortune teller says she’ll meet her future husband within the next day. After a long visit Yoshiko begins the walk home. A neighbor lets her hitch a ride in his hay wagon. They stop for a quick break and food. When it’s time to leave Yoshiko accidentally climbs up on the wrong hay wagon and falls fast asleep. It’s dark when she wakes up in a strange place. Shy farmer Teisaku and his family take her in for the night.

Each story featured gentle humor and young romance. Kawai used subterfuge in order to see pretty Moyoko. Mariko and Shuichi’s relationship and love were tested as they picked sides in their fathers’ fight. Yoshiko found the nearly mute Teisaku endearing as they spent an evening together.

The story was not Naruse’s but men were still shown falling back on their baser natures, especially in the second story where all the respectable men in town were eager to see the naked women dance even as they derided the show. During the third story, Teisaku’s mother summoned a constable to write up a letter stating that the mother had protected Yoshiko’s virginity and that she left intact. I suppose anyone seeing that sexy beast Mifune Toshiro would be given cause to wonder. Yet it was still a distasteful leftover of a rigid patriarchal system. Ishinaka appeared in each story to give the lovers’ romances a little push in the right direction, like a middle-aged Cupid. Happily, this movie was in very good shape, so many of Naruse’s older ones have been degraded with time. Elements of the stories were heavily dated, but overall the stories were charming and uncharacteristically romantic.

6 June 2025
Little note: Shimura Takashi made a tiny cameo as one of the high ranking burlesque show customers

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