lois-padawer

I loved this movie! My husband did also. It was such an interesting satire of post-war Japan, interesting and hilarious. It was far easier for us to appreciate this urban setting than it was to appreciate the first Carmen movie, which was set in a village, with Carmen and her friend visiting. It's true that the many plot lines were hard to resolve satisfactorily. A third installment of the story was promised at the end of the film, and it is hard to know whether that was truly intended or a convenient way to close, but it is pointed out in the comments that such a film was probably never made. The slightly unsatisfying ending brings me from a rating of "10" to "9," because the wild ending was funny anyway. One of the commenters here, William Flanigan, posting as net_orders, says that the English subtitles were hard to read on the version he saw in 2016. We saw the version TCM presented in 2022, and the subtitles in that version were just fine, though there are a lot of them and I had to pause a couple of times and rewind a little on my TiVo.

This was a perfect farewell episode. For this special occasion, the episode is not based on a Christie story, but it was wonderfully done, as usual. There is a special guest from season 1 to add to the fun.

The U. S. version of this film (and also a Spanish-subtitled version on Amazon, apparently) is missing around 11 minutes near the beginning. The minutes are rather important, because they include a scene at the protagonist's home that is helpful for later developments. Those minutes also include Nova Pilbeam, who plays the protagonist's sister. This is the version shown on TCM. However, there is a seemingly complete version currently (2021) available on youtube, and the viewer should watch the first quarter-hour there. I thought I was alerted to this fact here on IMDb, and I wanted to thank the user, but I can't find the note. It must have been two reviewers of the Spanish-subtitled version on Amazon. Enjoyable film, more enjoyable with the minutes included. Happy to see Richard Greene, because I always used to watch him in Robin Hood when I was a child. Margaret Rutherford is terrific in her small parts, and Anna Neagle is very good too.