Twenty-Four Eyes Details

Seven Samurai defeated again

“Twenty-Four Eyes” is about the relationship between a group of students and their teacher, at various points in their lives and with major historical events, such as World War II, always in the background. It is similar to all those inspirational teacher films, but filtered through a distinctly Japanese sensibility. The pace is deliberate (the running time is two-and-a-half hours), the plot is sometimes sentimental, and the stunning locations are superbly photographed. The young, mostly non-professional cast also deserve special mention for their unaffected performances. I understand that “Twenty-Four Eyes” is held in great affection in Japan and was surprised to learn that it beat “Seven Samurai” to some major awards in 1954, including the Golden Globe for best foreign film and the prestigious Kinema Junpo award in Japan.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Quietly persuasive

This film takes a little warming up to but the effort is well worth it and it soon becomes a persuasive even though by modern standards sometimes melodramatic piece of film making. We follow the story of a new school teacher and her fist class through pre- and post war Japan. The pacifistic message is clear but not overdone and for western audiences there is a surprising array of well know background melodies throughout the film. The camera work is quite shaky, the acting good but not outstanding and the story quite predictable which makes me wonder how it could steal the 1954 “best film” award from Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”. However, it is very likeable and probably struck a cord with post war Japanese people and it’s place in history remains a well deserved one.