still from The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (Heinosuke Gosho, JP 1931)

The Neighbour's Wife and Mine

Heinosuke Gosho / JP, 1931 / 56 min.

The first Japanese film with sound is not a musical, but a light comedy. A playwright is distracted from his work by the sound of a jazz band practising next door. When he goes to complain, he falls head over heels for the charming lady of the house.

poster The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (Heinosuke Gosho, JP 1931)

The first talkie in Japan was released four years after The Jazz Singer. Heinosuke Gosho directed The Neighbour's Wife and Mine for Shochiku studio, one of the most important film production studios in Japan. Shochiku had wanted to make films in a western style for some time. This trend was accelerated by the renowned studio head Shiro Kido, who took over in the wake of the devastating earthquake of 1923.

This is part of

Shochiku 100

Director

Heinosuke Gosho

Production year

1931

Country

Original title

Madamu to nyobo

Length

56 min.

Language

Japanese

Subtitles

ENG

Format

35mm

Part of

Shochiku 100

Yasujiro Ozu, Masaki Kobayashi, Takeshi Kitano: the masters of Japanese cinema. But did you know that their work was made possible by Shochiku? In 2022 Eye is marking over one hundred years of one of Japan’s oldest, and largest, film companies.

Learn more