Late Spring (Banshun), 1949, b/w, 108 minutes.

Cast: Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura, Kuniko Miyake.

Noriko happily looks after her father Professor Somiya and enjoys the company of her friends. But Somiya and his sister Masa trick Noriko into thinking that he is going to remarry. Distraught, she agrees to meet Satake, a possible husband. Although she likes him, she resents her father’s remarriage and hates the thought of leaving him. He persuades her that she will have a happy marriage if she works at it. After her marriage, Somiya comes home to an empty house.

 

Screens on January 30, 7:30 P.M. in Cubberley Auditorium

The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice (Ochazuke no aji), 1952, b/w, 116 minutes.

Cast: Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Koji Tsuruta, Chikage Awajima, Chishu Ryu.

Bored with her marriage to the executive Mokichi, Taeko runs off to a spa with her friends. The Satakes’ niece Setsuko refuses to participate in an arranged marriage, calling it feudalistic. When Setsuko flees from an o-miai meeting, she tags along with Mokichi. When Taeko discovers Mokichi’s role in Setsuko’s rebellion, she has a mild quarrel with him and leaves to be alone. Mokichi is abruptly dispatched to Uruguay, but he cannot contact Taeko before he flies off. His plane turns back, however, and he finds her waiting for him.

Screens on February 6, 7:30 P.M. in Cubberley Auditorium

Tokyo Story (Tokyo monogatari), 1953, b/w, 135 minutes.

Cast: Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Chieko Higashiyama, Haruko Sugimura, Kuniko Miyake.

Leaving their youngest daughter Kyoko in Onomichi, Shukichi and Tomi Hirayama visit their son Koichi and daughter Shige in Tokyo. They find them busy and a little callous. It is Noriko, widow of their son Shoji, who offers them genuine hospitality. Eventually they set out for home, only to be forced to stop in Osaka when Tomi falls ill. Shortly after they return to Onomichi, she dies. The children initially grief-stricken, hasten back to Tokyo. Only Noriko stays on to help. As she leaves, Shukichi thanks her, urges her to remarry, and gives her his wife’s watch.

Screens on February 13, 7:30 P.M. in Cubberley Auditorium

Early Spring (Soshun), 1956, b/w, 144 minutes.

Cast: Chikage Awajima, Ryo Ikebe, Keiko Kishi, Chishu Ryu, So Yamamura.

Shoji, a young office worker, is drawn into an affair with "Goldfish," a typist among his group of commuting friends. This leads to his eventual separation from his wife, Masako. At the same time, Shoji decides to accept a transfer to one of his firm’s rural outposts. Masako comes to join him, and they are reconciled.

Screens on February 20, 7:30 P.M. in Cubberley Auditorium

Equinox Flower (Higanbana), 1958, color, 120 minutes.

Cast: Shin Saburi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Ineko Arima, Keiji Sata.

Businessman Hirayama and his wife Kyoko have two unmarried daughters. While interceding for his friend Mikami, whose daughter has moved in with her boyfriend, he also serves as advisor for Mrs. Sasaki, a Kyoto innkeeper, and her daughter Yukiko. But then Hirayama’s daughter Setsuko wishes to marry a young man he has never met, thereby flouting the family’s plan for an arranged marriage. Hirayama is tricked into giving his consent to Setsuko’s marriage. He attends the wedding under protest and afterwards stubbornly withholds his blessing. Finally, persuaded by Mikami and the Sasakis, he takes a train to visit the couple.

Screens on February 27, 7:30 P.M. in Cubberley Auditorium.

Late Autumn (Akibiyori), 1960, color, 129 minutes.

Cast: Setsuko Hara, Yoko Tsukasa, Mariko Okada, Keiji Sata, Shin Saburi.

Akiko Miwa and her daughter Ayako live happily together. Three businessmen, old friends of the family, decide to help Ayako get married. She resists. They then try to get Akiko to marry of their number, the widowed Professor Hirayama. She declines, but Ayako is misled into thinking that her mother wishes to remarry and she is an obstacle. In the midst of these family tensions, Ayako’s friend Yukiko intervenes and order the men to desist. In the meantime Akiko and Ayako are reconciled and take a trip to a spa. Upon their return, Ayako marries. Akiko is left alone.

Screens on March 6, 7:30 P.M.in Cubberley Auditorium

An Autumn Afternoon (Sanma no aji), 1962, color, 113 minutes.

Cast: Shima Iwashita, Chishu Ryu, Keiji Sata, Mariko Okada, Kuniko Miyake.

The aging salaryman Hirayama is goaded by his pals Kawai and Horie into finding a husband for his daughter Michiko. The need to do so is driven home to him by the pathetic state into which his old teacher Sakuma has fallen; he clung to his daughter, who now is too old to marry. Hirayama tries to arrange that Michiko marry the man of her choice, the young salaryman Miura; but he is already engaged. With the support of his son Koichi and his wife, Hirayama finds a prospect through Kawai. After the wedding, Hirayama drowns his sorrows in a bar. At home, his younger son Kazuo warns him to cut down on his drinking and her starts to face life without his daughter.

Screens on March 13, 7:30 P.M. in Cubberley Auditorium.