Carmen Comes Home

The first color film ever shot in Japan, and still one of the most successful comedies ever made in the country, Carmen is a delightful musical satire about the fireworks set off when a local girl made good as a Tokyo stripper decides to pay a visit to the folks she left back home. Outraged by the clothes and looks of  Carmen and her friend Akemi, the locals at first shun and ridicule the big-city girls, but when they put on a benefit to help support a local public school, both are instantly transformed into heroines. Hideo Takamine, who would later do such remarkable work for Mikio Naruse, shows herself to be equally adept at comedy, a commanding presence who can light up a stage with a musical number or the screen with her smile.