Konjiki yasha

Daijirô Natsukawa and Hiroko Kawasaki are in love and engaged to be married. He, however, is a poor college student, while she has a father who wants her to marry rich Sôjin Kamiyama so he can keep his house. She agrees. Natsukawa drops. out of school and goes into the usury business, amassing a fortune; one day Kamiyama come for a loan; his stock market speculations have turned out poorly.

This story from a novel by Koyo Azaki has been made several times. I am familiar with the 1954 version directed by Kôji Shima; that was a deluxe version with a mystical air. and ultimate destruction of the lead. This version, under the direction of Hiroshi Shimizu, is a more straightforward version with a sad ending, but some signs of redemption. It's typical of the work of a director who could be competent in any of several fields of cinema, but not central to what would become his real interest, the saving of children in fine films like INTROSPECTION TOWER and CHILDREN OF THE BEEHIVE.