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Seisaku no Tsuma
The Wife of Seisaku
Set in Japan in about 1900. Rich but despised, Okane returns to her home village after the death of her much older, brutal husband. The bigoted villagers consider her a “witch”, especially after she begins a passionate relationship with Seisaku, a model soldier. When Japan declares war on Russia, her beloved is called to battle, where he is wounded and then nursed back to health. He wants to return to the front. Okane takes drastic steps to prevent that … Director Yasuzô Masumura, who trained in Italy, and Daiei Studio’s leading lady Ayako Wakao made five “tsuma eigas”, or wives’ films, together. Seisaku no Tsuma, based on a story that had been filmed once before in 1924, expressed harsh criticism of militarism in the Japanese state and society. That critique is embedded in a fierce melodrama full of erotic and violent moments.
The restoration was based on the original negative and sound. It was possible to restore the original texture and beauty of the black-and-white DaieiScope movie using the storyboarded editing plan.