Trivia for
Dodesukaden (1970) More at IMDbPro »

• The title is the sound Rokkuchan makes as he drives his imaginary trolley through the slums.
  
  
• The movie was made as the first feature of the Committee of the Four Knights, a group founded by four of Japan's greatest directors: Akira Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi and Kon Ichikawa. According to a interview with Ichikawa, they wanted their first picture to be a hit. When this film told a story deemed too depressing and was subsequently a failure with audiences, the group disbanded and never made another film. The movie's failure also contributed to Kurosawa's suicide attempt one year later.
  
  
• His portrayal of the beggar was the first film role for Noboru Mitani in a career that continues to be active after more than 60 feature films and over 35 years later.
  
  
• Akira Kurosawa's first color film and last film with a final fullscreen 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
  
  
• Shooting began on April, 23rd, 1970, and was shot in about a month, which is an incredibly short period of time for a Kurosawa picture, given the facts that a) Kurosawa is a perfectionist and b) his prior film, Akahige (1965), took 2 years to go through all the phases involved in finishing a motion picture.
  
  
• The crew simply called the set the "town without seasons".
  
  
• The drawings shown toward the end of the film weren't from Akira Kurosawa. He usually uses his own paintings but he didn't think they'd feel right; childish enough, so he had some kids draw some paintings which are the ones ultimately shown in the finished picture.
  
  
• The artwork presented as the cover from the Criterion Collection is Akira Kurosawa's original artwork for the film.
  
  
• Hiroshi Akutagawa's final film.
  
  

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