Watakushi-tachi no kekkon (1962)

Watakushi-tachi no kekkon: Directed by Masahiro Shinoda. With Chieko Baishô, Shin’ichirô Mikami, Noriko Maki, Isao Kimura. Two sisters living in poverty reach the age where they start to attract marriage proposals. They must decided between marrying for love or money.

“Chieko Baishôu0026#39;s parents are seaweed farmers. Their crops are being destroyed by the rising pollution in the industrial city. She and her sister, Noriko Maki, work for the big factory that is destroying their parentsu0026#39; business, taking home less than ten thousand yen a month — about $30. Their parents canu0026#39;t make ends meet. Not only do the girls pay rent, but their mother keeps u0026#39;borrowing a thousand yen to pay the bills as they come in.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMiss Baishô has reached the marriageable age, and suddenly is confronted wth three suitors. One is the unseen son of their fatheru0026#39;s union chief. That marriage would make things a lot better for her family. Another is a visitor who turns out to be a childhood friend. Back then he was a black marketeer; now he is a salaryman for the same company she works for, earning a handsome 30,000 yen a month. The third is a laborer at the factory. He earns 17,000 yen a month. She seems to favor the third, but fears the poverty she has known all her life.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn the US, of course, this would have been a comedy, like TOM, DICK AND HARRY, with Ginger Rogers playing an amiable ditz. In Masahiro Shinodau0026#39;s movie, however, itu0026#39;s a serious drama. In a Japan, coming out of the poverty of the postwar period, and with the newfound prosperity unevenly divided, it is a serious issue: can true love win out over security?”