Dotanba (The Eleventh Hour). 1957. Japan. Directed by Tomu Uchida. Screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto, Tomu Uchida. With Shinjiro Ehara, Eiji Okada, Eijiro Tono, Takashi Shimura. In Japanese; English subtitles. 108 min.
Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech—(essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”)—that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.