Animated Revue "Spring"

Watch

Original Title	漫画レビュー春
Japanese kana Rendering	Manga-rebyu Haru
English Title	Animated Revue "Spring"
Production Date	1931
Author	Yasuji Murata
Duration (minutes)	9
Sound	silent
Color	b/w
Plot	Spring has come and the animals are coming out of hibernation. The rabbits play jump rope, while the polar bear and the raccoon dog play leapfrog. The frog and the monkey race on a car and a bicycle. School has started. The monkey teaches arithmetic, but the pig is fast asleep. They begin exercising in the school yard. The birds sing in the trees. The old goat goes to the mountain to clear land, while the old black cat washes clothes by the river. She finds a peach floating down the river, and takes it out of the water expecting to find Momotaro, only to find an ogre inside. The carefree polar bear goes to the pond to go fishing. In the pond, a small fish is swallowed by larger fish that is then swallowed by an even larger fish, and so on. The polar bear is happy to have caught such a large fish, but as he starts to head home with the fish over his shoulder, the fish fall out one by one. The old goat plays a drum and the old black cat plays a shamisen, while the pig and the duck dance to the music. In the end, a large crowd gathers around a sumo tournament in which the champion must defeat five wrestlers in succession. The mouse defeats the squirrel, only to be chased off by the black cat. The black cat is defeated by the bulldog, who is then shoved out of the ring by the duck. The monkey defeats the duck, goat, pig, and polar bear one by one, and emerges as the champion. The elephant awards a trophy to the monkey. However, the monkey collapses under its weight.
Description	The 54th of the Athena Film Library educational film series produced by Yokohama Cinema Shokai. A 35mm version and a 16mm version were released. The existing print is a 16mm Sakura Graph version released by Konishiroku Honten. According to the supplementary explanation in the "Biography of Yasuji Murata/List of Works" contained in Masao Okamoto's biography, Yasuji Murata and Animation Films (Last Volume) (Motion Picture and Television Engineering, August 1992 issue), this film was canceled in 1930 due to defective talkie recording (p. 47). It was released the following year as a silent film.
Production Company	Yokohama Cinema Shokai*
Distribution	35mm version: Okamoto ＆Co., Oku Shokai Ltd., 16mm version:Konishiroku Honten
Release Date	Jun 1931
Credits: Director	Animation: Yasuji Murata
Credits: Staff, Cast, etc.	Supervise: Chuzo Aochi
Intertitles	T1「監修青地忠三／漫画村田安司」、T2「春が来た春が来たどこに来た」、T3「ながい冬ごもりから飛出したお山の子供たち」、T4「雪の間お休みだった学校も初まる」、T5「鳥が鳴く鳥が鳴くどこで鳴く」、T6「山羊のお爺さん久しぶりで柴かりに」、T7「猫のお婆さん久しぶりで洗濯に」、T8「のんきな熊のお父さん久しぶりで魚釣りに」、T9「花が咲く花が咲くどこに咲く」、T10「サクラグラフ終」。
Censorship - Date and Number
References
Frames per Second	24fps
Source of Digital Copy	The 16mm positive owned by NFC -> The 35mm internegative
Completeness	no main title
Additional Notes	The mark of "*" will provide an additional explanation gained from the bibliographical information.
Related Links