Ruten no ohi

A historical drama with lavish production design and a star cast, presented in Cinemascope tableaus and steeped in saturated colors. Tanaka places the young Ryuko (Machiko Kyo), daughter of a venerable aristocratic family, before this sumptuous backdrop, who is to be married to the brother of the emperor of Manchukuo to consolidate the link between Japan and the Japanese puppet state in northeastern China. Ryuko abruptly ends up moving from one set of the power relations to another: here the rigid court conventions, there colonial political interests. At the end, Ryuko is taken prisoner by the Chinese liberation army and a long march full of hardship through the endless expanse of China begins. This war melodrama was created in close collaboration with screenwriter Natto Wada, who fictionalized the autobiography of the protagonist to create this opulent fresco. (mg)