Tora-san's Forget Me Not (11)

Yoji Yamada's 11th Tora-san film, Tora-san's Forget Me Not (1973) is the second straight film with a Tora (Kiyomi Atsumi) dream cold open. In this sequence the cast is transported back to the 19th century Meiji era Japan and Tora the prodigal son returns home to conquer Gen and Hiroshi, samurai style with a topknot, as they attack him. After the obligatory family falling out, Tora finds himself in the wide open spaces of Hokkaido-Abishiri, which is known for dairy farming. And that is where Tora-san finds himself. There he strikes up a conversation with a kindred spirit, traveling jazz singer Lily (60s icon Ruriko Asaoka), whom he runs into later in Tokyo and falls for her as per usual. The comedy from this episode inspired a couple of belly laughs and the cinematography of the nature shots in Hokkaido were exceptional. This film stands out as one of the better episodes in the series.