The Wandering Princess

Introduction from Lili Hinstin on March 19

Five years after Forever a Woman, the most successful studio in Japan at the time, Daiei, offered Tanaka the opportunity to direct a josei eiga (“woman’s film”) with their contracted superstar Machiko Kyô. The project transformed into Tanaka’s own version of War and Peace, told from a woman’s perspective, by adapting the best-selling autobiography of Hiro Saga, a Japanese aristocrat engulfed in the colonial politics of Manchuria after marrying Prince Pujie, the young brother of the Qing Dynasty Emperor Puyi. Quite an expensive production for the time—it was also Tanaka’s first film in color and in Cinemascope—The Wandering Princess revealed an entirely new artistic vision from the director: an exquisite historical fresco bound up in a war melodrama. Restored in 4K by the KADOKAWA Corporation. A Janus Films release.

The March 19 screening of The Wandering Princess is presented with support from: