The Lower Depths (1957)
- Starring:
- Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, (more)
- Director(s):
- Akira Kurosawa
- Format(s):
- DVD
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Synopsis of The Lower Depths
Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa transferred the setting of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths from Imperial Russia to his own country's Edo Period--which, like Gorky's 19th-century setting, was an era of great cultural advances, offset by the miseries of those who weren't in the aristocracy. Kurosawa's film concentrates on Toshiro Mifune, playing a crooked gambler who falls in love with the sister (Kyoko Kagawa) of his cruel landlady (Isuzu Yamada). Herself carrying a torch for Mifune, the landlady exacts a roundabout revenge by killing her own husband and pinning the blame on the gambler. As the landlady descends into madness, those whom she has treated wretchedly laugh at her plight. Originally titled Donzoko, The Lower Depths was renamed Les Bas-Fonds for its French release--the same title bestowed upon Jean Renoir's 1937 adaptation of the Gorky play. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 214 mins
Complete Cast of The Lower Depths
- Toshiro Mifune - Sutekichi, the thief
- Kyoko Kagawa - Okayo, her sister
- Ganjiro Nakamura - Rokubei, her husband
- Kamatari Fujiwara - The Actor
- Nijiko Kiyokawa - Otaki
- Eiko Miyoshi - Asa, his wife
- Haruo Tanaka - Tatsu
- Kichijiro Ueda - Police Agent
- Isuzu Yamada - Osugi, the Landlady
- Bokuzen Hidari - Kahei, the priest
- Minoru Chiaki - The Ex-Samurai
- Yu Fujiki - Unokichi
- Koji Mitsui - Yoshisaburo, the gambler
- Akemi Negishi - Osen, the prostitute
- Eijiro Tono - Tomekichi, the tinker
- Atsushi Watanabe - Kuma
- Director(s):
- Akira Kurosawa
- Writer(s):
- Hideo Oguni, Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto
- Producer(s):
- Shojiro Motoki, Akira Kurosawa
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