Taki no shiraito

[Stephanie Deboer]

Greetings!  Anyone's advice on the following inquirey would be greatly
appreciated.

I would dearly (desperately?) love to view Mizoguchi Kenji's 1933 *Taki no
Shiraito* (trans. as *Cascading White Threads* or *The Water Magician*).

I recall someone on the list mentioning this film about a year ago
(maybe in connection to what seemed to be an interesting project on early
20th century images of smoking in Japan?), and I understand that this
video was available in the United States at some point.  I've exhausted my
(limited)  knowledge of North American resources.  I've also contacted
Matsuda Film Productions and cdjapan, who have told me that the video is
now out of print in Japan.  

Would anyone have any ideas as to how I could get my hands on a copy of
this video?  Or is there any place from where I could rent a video copy or
film print (this may be shown to a class, so price *may* not be an issue)?
With or without subtitles would both be fine.


Or--to broaden the inquirey-- would anyone have any information on
locating any early films featuring the actress Irie Takako or produced by
her *Irie-puro*?  I realize that most of these might not be available
anymore. 

Oh, and as you can see by my address, I'm (unfortunately!) limited at this
point to my U.S. "base."


Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Stephanie DeBoer