Love Letter (1953 film)

Love Letter
Love Letter
	Yoshiko Kuga and Masayuki Mori
Directed by	Kinuyo Tanaka
Written by	Keisuke Kinoshita; Fumio Niwa (novel);
Produced by	Ichirō Nagashima
Starring	Masayuki Mori; Yoshiko Kuga;
Cinematography	Hiroshi Suzuki
Music by	Ichirō Saitō
Production; company	Shintoho
Distributed by	Shintoho
Release date	13 December 1953 (Japan);
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Love Letter (恋文, Koibumi) is a 1953 Japanese drama film and the first film directed by actress Kinuyo Tanaka.^[2]^[3] With her directing debut, Tanaka became the second female film director in Japan after Tazuko Sakane.^[3] The screenplay by Keisuke Kinoshita is based on a novel by Fumio Niwa.^[2]

Cast edit

Masayuki Mori as Reikichi Mayumi
Jūzō Dosan as Hiroshi (Reikichi's brother)
Yoshiko Kuga as Michiko Kubota
Jūkichi Uno as Naoto Yamaji
Kyōko Kagawa as Yasuko
Shizue Natsukawa as Reikichi's mother
Kinuyo Tanaka as landlady
Chieko Seki as office lady
Ranko Hanai as restaurant owner
Chieko Nakakita as woman at restaurant
Keisuke Kinoshita as photo studio owner

Release edit

Love Letter was shown in competition at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.^[4]

Awards edit

1953 Mainichi Film Award for Best Screenplay for Keisuke Kinoshita (for Love Letter, A Japanese Tragedy and Sincere Heart)^[5]
1953 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Screenplay for Keisuke Kinoshita (for Love Letter, A Japanese Tragedy, Sincere Heart and Ai no sakyū)^[6]

References edit

^ "恋文". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "恋文(1953)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Kinuyo Tanaka—Actress, Director, Pioneer". Harvard Film Archive. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^ "Koibumi". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^ "毎日映画コンクール第8回（1953年）". Mainichi (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 August 2023.
^ "ブルーリボン賞ヒストリー". Cinema Hochi (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2023.