Based on Maxim Gorky's play, this surprisingly comical tale focuses on the tribulations of a group of lower-class people living in a small tenement. Landlady Osugi (Isuzu Yamada) bickers with her sister, Okayo (Kyôko Kagawa), over the man they both want -- thief Sutekichi (Toshirô Mifune). Akira Kurosawa's tragicomic film is especially notable for Mifune's remarkable performance as the edgy yet sensitive Sutekichi.