"Story of the Last Chrysanthemum"
1939
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi's chronicle of a Kabuki actor. As the son of a prominent Kabuki family, the young man would be assured eventual fame, but he runs afoul of his father by falling in love with a servant girl, and sets out to make it on his own. Contains some of Mizoguchi's most ethereal imagery, as well as some fascinating use of compositions suggestive of Cinemascope before the widescreen process was invented. Japanese with English subtitles. 115 minutes.