China Nights 支那の夜 (Shina no yoru) + Opening Night Reception

China Nights was the second film in what came to be known as the “Continental Trilogy,” along with Song of the White Orchidand Vow in the Desert. All three are national allegories centered on a romance between the Japanese star Kazuo Hasegawa andShirley Yamaguchi (Ri Koran). Like its predecessor, the film centers on misunderstanding, mistrust and the redemptive power of romance. Yamaguchi plays a rebellious young woman, who comes around to appreciate the Japanese through Hasegawa’s tough love. In the famous turning point of the film, Yamaguchi turns love-struck with Hasegawa (and awestruck by Japanese goodwill) with a slap in the face. While this is a convention of Japanese prewar cinema, the allegorical nature of this project led to quite different interpretations in Japan and China. Despite this bit of cultural blindness on the part of the Japanese filmmakers, they cleverly crafted different dénouements for the film; in the Chinese version the lovers live happily ever after, and in the Japanese version Yamaguchi commits suicide. Not surprisingly, the Chinese saw the film as a slap in the face. China Nights was one of the main reasons for Yamaguchi’s death sentence after the war. 1940, 126 min., 35mm, b&w, in Japanese with live English subtitles. Directed by Osamu Fushimizu. With Shirley Yamaguchi (as Ri Koran), Kazuo Hasegawa.

$15/$12 Japan Society members, seniors & students

Part of the 2015 Globus Film Series: The Most Beautiful: The War Films of Shirley Yamaguchi & Setsuko Hara.