Nobi (1959)

Director:

Kon Ichikawa

Writers:

Shohei Ooka (novel)
Natto Wada (writer)

Release Date:

25 July 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

It is the Philipines, 1945. The Japanese Imperial Army has been reduced to a ragtag mob hiding in the jungles...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Eiji Funakoshi	...	Tamura
Osamu Takizawa	...	Yasuda
Mickey Curtis	...	Nagamatsu
Mantarô Ushio	...	Sergeant
Kyu Sazanaka	...	Army surgeon
Yoshihiro Hamaguchi	...	Officer
Asao Sano	...	Soldier
Masaya Tsukida	...	Soldier
Hikaru Hoshi	...	Soldier
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jun Hamamura
Yuzo Hayakawa		(as Yuji Hayakawa)
Tatsuya Ishiguro
Yasushi Sugita	...	Soldier

Directed by
Kon Ichikawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shohei Ooka		novel
Natto Wada		writer

Produced by
Hiroaki Fujii	....	planner
Masaichi Nagata	....	producer

Original Music by
Yasushi Akutagawa

Cinematography by
Setsuo Kobayashi
Setsuo Shibata

Film Editing by
Tatsuji Nakashizu

Production Design by
Atsuji Shibata

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Taro Yuge	....	chief assistant director

Camera and Electrical Department
Isamu Komeyama	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Daiei Studios

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (laserdisc)
• Daiei Eiga (1959) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Edward Harrison (1962) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

Fires on the Plain

Runtime:

108 min | Argentina:110 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Daiei Studios

Trivia:

In order to achieve maximum authenticity, actors were fed very little, and were not permitted to tend to matters of simple hygiene such as brushing their teeth and cutting their nails. As a precaution against serious deterioration of the actors' health, a number of nurses were always on call on the set. Eiji Funakoshi was never specifically told not to eat. He willingly starved himself to help get him into character. The rest of the cast and crew were unaware of this until he collapsed on-set.

Perfectly Capturing the Insanity of War

During WW2 in the Philipines, Japanese soldiers are starving, dying, growing weak, and becoming more and more insane. A small group of soldiers, trying to stay alive, have eventually resorted to cannibalism. This film perfectly portrays the insanity that overtakes people under extreme conditions. There are a few humorous parts in this movie, but the majority of it is just a very slow moving and realistic film. It follows these soldiers from one painful moment to another, and eventually to death. A very interesting film, showing the death, and the horror, of what may have been the worst war the world has ever seen.