Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo

A stingy lord learns an heirloom pot is painted with a map to a hoard that would make its owner the richest man in Japan. However, he has already given it to his brother as a cheap wedding gift; his wife has sold it to a junk dealer, who has given it to.... well, no one knows where it is, but as this funny comedy directed by Sadao Yamanaka progresses, more and more people learn of the pot's existence; they all cross paths with each other

It's a Japanese version of THE TWELVE CHAIRS, originally a Russian comedy. The plot has been adapted at least twenty times over the years in many countries. In this version, not only is the situation funny, but the film is populated with characters who break the stereotypical roles. Not only is there the tight-fisted lord, but Denjirô Ôkôchi plays his one-eyed, one-armed ronin as a sentimental, henpecked kept man. There is also an incompetent dojo master dominated by his jealous wife, and some musical interludes played on the samizen.

At more than an hour and a half, it may seem long for the lugubrious style of comedy that the Japanese preferred in this era. I found it to be well worth my time in its view of a Japan in which people are more human than the hard-as-nails cultural stereotypes that are better known.