Catherine Russell in her book, The Cinema of Naruse Mikio, states that after all of her viewings of Naruse films she likes all of his films equally. I cannot completely agree with her, but I can say that all of his films were worthwhile watching, in that there was some aspect in each of them that was interesting or telling of the period from which they were produced. And after spending so much time watching films by Naruse and reading about them, I felt the need to give the project some closure by creating my personal top 20 list of the 40 films that I had the pleasure of seeing. Since Naruse is credited with directing some 89 films-I have seen less than half and there are some glaring omissions; films that have been critically praised, such as Mother (1952), Untmaed (1957), and Anzukko (1958) among others.
1. Floating Clouds (1955)
2. Sound of the Mountain (1954)
3. Flowing (1956)
4. Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
Untamed (1957) ?
5. Scattered Clouds (1967)
6. Yearning (1964)
7. Summer Clouds (1958)
8. Lightning (1952)
9. Sudden Rain (1956)
10. A Woman Ascends a Staircase (1960)
11. The Stranger Within a Woman (1966)
12. Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953)
13. Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (1960)
14. Wife (1953)
15. Repast (1951)
Ginza Cosmetics (1951)?
16. Three Sisters With Maiden Hearts (1935)
17. Wife Be Like a Rose! (1935)
18. The Girl in the Rumor (1935)
19. Feminine Melancholy (1937)
20. A Tale of Archery at Sanjusangendo (1945)
Some other films that were in the running: A Face From the Past (1941), Morning's Tree-Lined Streets (1936), The Actress and the Poet (1935), and Hideko the Bus Conductor (1941).
Updates: I finally got a chance to see Untamed (1957) and it would knock #20 out of the top 20 and would probably be #4 or 5-certainly top 10. It's very hard to quantify. Needles to say I think it is one of Takmine's best performances for Naruse. I also would include Ginza Cosmetics (1951) in the Top 20-perhaps Top 15?
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