Mikaheri no tô

Problem children are sent to a reformatory school without walls or fences, where the staff in charge practice modern methods and kindness to mold their behavior. For the first half of the movie, we see the problems: spoiled children, thieves, boys who pick fights, girls who tattle on each other or write to a widowed father how cruel the people in charge are. Some of the staff are downhearted at their failures, but a great project that may give the children a sense of accomplishment is in the offing.

The first half reminded me of BOY'S TOWN, although aspects of institutional, even national callousness shocked my 21st Century sensibilities. The Japanese attitude of a narrow, normative view of society, and the aphorism "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" applies, albeit here with less physical hammering. The second half, in which the children work hard digging a channel to bring more water to the reformatory, seemed to me to be almost a children's version of OUR DAILY BREAD, with its message of cooperation.

The director of this movie, Hiroshi Shimuzu was one of the many talented directors of Japan's studio system. In the 1930s, he directed movies that were half travelogues and half stories, as well as movies about children. He directed almost 150 features from 1924 through 1959. He died in 1966, aged 63.