Notes of an Itinerant Performer

Uta’s mother died when she was six years old; her father she never met. She was forced to adopt a traveller’s life when her grandmother died, and now she is a dancer and part of a family of actors who travel from town to town, setting up street performances. A way of escape from this marginal existence arises when she gets the chance to move to tea merchant Hiramatsu’s place, where she is asked to teach his daughter to dance.

Directed by Hiroshi Shimizu, Notes of an Itinerant Performer leans on a strong ensemble — Yaeko Mizutani, Ken Uehara, Hideo Fujino — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1941.