Le pays natal
(Fujiwara Yoshie no Furusato)

An Italian-trained tenor (Yoshie Fujiwara) is tempted by fame, to his wife’s dismay, in the first sound film from the masterful Mizoguchi. As Fujiwara finds fawning praise and new admirers in his rising career, he drifts away from the loyal Ayako, who must resort to extreme methods in order to save him from the spoils of success. Mizoguchi’s film, which has been compared to The Jazz Singer for both its themes and hybrid technical accomplishment, features song sequences and the director’s Western-influenced experiments with tracking shots and other techniques.