The Eleventh Hour

Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.

• Taichiro KosugiOriginal Music Composer
• Tomu UchidaDirector
• Tomu UchidaScreenplay
• Shinobu HashimotoScreenplay

• Takashi ShimuraBanno
• Shinjirō EharaYamaguchi
• Kokuten KōdōCast
• Eiji OkadaShimano
• Eijirō TōnoCast
• Chōko IidaKane Ishigaki
• Jiro TakagiNewspaper Reporter A
• Yoshi KatōSunaga
• Shin TonomuraKusaka
• Yoshifumi TachibanaYui
• Ei IwagamiIshigaki
• Jun MitaTakada