Mother Never Dies

Mikio Naruse's Mother Never Dies (1942) is often dismissed as mere propaganda. In fact Catherine Russell in The Cinema of Naruse Mikio has this to say about the film: "...the drama is too contrived to convincing, and where it succeeds at propaganda it fails as quality film making." And while this may be true overall, there are some flashes of quality film making. For example, there is a an effective montage scene early in the film that shows Sugai (Ichiru Sugai), the father of the household, working hard to sell mirror cleaning product through a montage scene of his walking, barbershop polls, and Sugai cleaning windows. Naruse also employs effective classical framing in houses throughout the film. But it is heavy on suggesting that his son Shugo become a "good Japanese." The last part of the film is especially preachy when the film coincides with expansion into China in the late 30s. This is minor Naruse no doubt, but he doesn't have it in him to make complete garbage-he can't help himself.