The Wandering Princess

Kinuyo Tanaka’s first film in both color and CinemaScope is an epic about a woman caught in the torrents of history. Based on the memoirs of Hiro Saga, THE WANDERING PRINCESS tells the story of Ryuko (Machiko Kyo), an aristocrat who, at the outset of World War II, is forced to marry Futetsu (Eiji Funakoshi), the younger brother of the soon-to-be-deposed Chinese emperor. With the story of Ryuko’s enmeshment in the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, Tanaka realizes with startling depth her ambition to relate a historical saga from a critical female perspective.