Overview

Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.

Details

Cast

Takashi Shimura

Shinjirō Ehara

Kokuten Kōdō

Eiji Okada

Eijirō Tōno

Chōko Iida

Jiro Takagi

Yoshi Katō

Shin Tonomura

Yoshifumi Tachibana