Tokyo gonin otoko

Newly released from the army, five men return to Tokyo to find no place to live in the bombed-out city, food and necessities rationed out by people who don't care, and a thriving black market.

It's a comedy, believe it or not, released at the tail end of the year. It's a mixture of outraged yet cynical humor, occasional song, and slapstick comedy.... and a definite sense that people need to cooperate among themselves and not depend on the government, which is too busy making plans to help the people to do anything about helping them: a sort of anarcho-communism that also maintains the traditional Japanese values of social welfare.... without any mention of dying for the Emperor.

With the exhausted end of the War, it's actually a fair view of the situation. The city was bombed out, if you wanted anything you had to go to the black market -- and would for the next five years.

The copy I looked at was not in great shape. Many sections were blurry and the first reel was under an enforced copyright and replaced by a few stills. Even so, it's an example of the great freedom that flourished for a few years under the hands of well-established director like Torajirô Saitô, directed this. He had been directing since 1926, and would continue to do so until 1962. He died in 1982, age 77.