Avalanche, a 1937 melodrama directed by Naruse Mikio, represents something that I honestly never thought I would see: a bad Naruse film. While not as famous internationally as his fellow “Golden Age” Japanese directors like Ozu, Kurosawa, or Mizoguchi, Naruse carved out a solid niche as a maker of shoshimin-eiga – films about the contemporary working classes – with a strong focus on female characters and women’s social issues. His most famous films, such as Late Chrysanthemums, Floating Clouds, Flowing and When A Woman Ascends The Stairs, are all widely regarded as masterpieces. Avalanche, which runs for an anemic 59 minutes, is not.

The film initially focues on Fukiko (Kiritachi Noboru), one year into a marriage with the wealthy heir Goro (Saeki Hideo). Trouble is soon on the horizon, as it is revealed Goro impulsively married Fukiko to spite his lover Yayoi (Edogawa Ranko) – with whom he now desires to reconcile and marry. Goro’s plans bring him into conflict with his principled father (Shiomi Yo), who maintains he must remain faithful to Fukiko.

I suppose one cannot be too hard on Naruse over Avalanche. In the first decade of his filmmaking career he was directing an average of four films per year – and in some years as many as seven. It is forgivable, given such a prolific rate, that some of those films were not as accomplished as others. In the case of Avalanche, the film suffers considerably from a wobbly character focus that cannot quite decide who should be the protagonist. It is not balanced between characters like an ensemble set-up would be. Instead the focus lurches from Fukiko to Goro to Yayoi to Goro’s father, each angle on the story showing potential but never committing definitively to any single one. While the bulk of the film represents at least a modicum of thoughtful ideas and philosophical debate, an urgent need for drama in the final 10 minutes leads to an unconvincing and exaggerated segue into high drama and false peril. It is over-the-top and almost comically desperate, until suddenly it isn’t. A short denouement winds up the other half of the film’s story within seconds. It is all deeply unsatisfactory.

Kiritachi Noboru presents an appealing character, but is much too passive to drive her own story. Shiomi Yo is effective as Goro’s father, but narratively can only serve as a supporting character. Goro himself is a troublesome figure who proves difficult to like, despite Saeki Hideo’s best efforts. For her own part, poor Edogawa Ranko simply does not have anything to do.

It is a shame that, for a director with so much demonstrable talent, Naruse has simply failed to deliver a satisfying film with Avalanche. He remains an outstanding director with a well-deserved legacy in Japanese cinema. Avalanche simply does not form any part of that legacy: it’s a definitively minor work, easily disregarded.