Behold Thy Son

Kôji Shitara was born shortly after his father, Yûnosuke Itô went off to fight in the war. After spending time interred, Itô returns to his wife, Chikage Awashima, and son, and a job where he doesn't know the current procedure. Soon the family has a baby girl, and Itô does not know how to interact well with anyone in this strange new world. His son, who has an artistic streak. However, he only draws in black and yellow, which an expert tells his teacher is common only with children from broken homes. Shitara's only refuge is with the little girl next door, and her kind and wise adopted mother, Kinuyo Tanaka.

Miss Tanaka steals the show, of course. Director Heinosuke Gosho directs this feature with a strong realization of how a child sees things; a sequence at an aquarium shows the sort of focus that a child possesses, and another, in a fight with some boys, the malevolence of young boys. In the end, it's a well-told homily on the importance of not only loving your children, but letting them know it.

The copy I saw of this movie was dark, and the print seemed to have a yellowish cast to it. I can't make up my mind if this was an artifact of the print, or a deliberate choice by the film makers. If the latter, it is certainly effective.