Film

I Want to Be a Shellfish

1958 · 1h 40m

Television production of I Want to Be a Shellfish. On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder. According to the accusation by GHQ, Toyomatsu "attemped to kill a US prisoner", which was nothing but an order by his superior and failed after all with hurting the prisoner by weak Toyomatsu. Also, Toyomatsu was driven to corner at the trial by the fact that he fed the US prisoner some burdock roots to nourish him. Toyomatsu believes nothing but being not guilty, but he is sentenced to death by hanging. Prior to the execution, Toyomatsu writes a long farewell letter to his family, the wife and the only son: "If I ever incarnate, I hate to be a human being any more.... Oh yes, I would like to be...a shellfish living on the rock-bottom of the sea."

Frankie Sakai

Shimizu Toyomatsu

Mutsuko Sakura

Shimizu Fusae

Toshie Takada

Toshiko

Shin Saburi

Lieutenant-General Yano

Yoshio Ōmori

Staff Officer

Yasumi Hara

Kōji Nanbara

Koji Kiyomura

Kazuo Kumakura

Hōsei Komatsu

Taketoshi Naitō

Seijirô Onda

Shinjirō Asano

Junji Masuda

Takeshi Sakamoto

Hisao Toake

• Yoshihiko OkamotoDirector
• Tetsutarō KatōScreenplay
• Shinobu HashimotoStory

Release date

October 31, 1958

Status

Released

Original language

Japanese

Runtime

1h 40m