A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors. Alexander Jacoby

Bitters End; Shōko Kimizuka at Wowow; Naomi Osada at Nippon Eiga Shinsha; and Kijū (Yoshishige) Yoshida for supplying a still from one of his own films as director. A double thankyou for permission to use stills without charge is due to Miyuki Fukuma at TV Man Union; Gō Hirasawa at Wakamatsu Pro; Shintaro Horikawa at Altamira Pictures; Toshimi Kawasaki at Opus; Kiyo Joo and Ryō Ikeuchi at Goldview; Mu­tsuko Kumagai at Argo Pictures; Jōji Nishiyama at Hitachi; Yūko No­mura and Akira Yamashita at Pony Canyon, Inc.; Miki Ōi at PIA; Mikako Otani at Athenée Français; Kazunao Sakaguchi at Stance Company; Hanayasu Shi­zuka at Kindai Eiga Kyokai; Sakiko Yamagami of Siglo; Yoshio Yasui at Planet Bibliothèque de Cinéma; Hayao Yamamoto at Dokuritsu Pro; and Katsumasa Morita of Seido Productions. Some stills no longer in copyright were supplied by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, and I thank the staff of that institution again here.

      Lastly, I must acknowledge two men whose combined involvement in film culture stretches over more than a century. David Robinson, one of the world’s most thorough and knowledgeable film historians, commissioned my first piece of published writing on film, and, since I met him in 2001 at the Pordenone Festival of Silent Film, has been an unfailing source of wise advice and encouragement in all my projects. Donald Richie, pioneer and pathfinder in the Western appreciation of Japanese film, encouraged me to write this book, submitted it to Stone Bridge Press on my behalf, smoothed my way at the Japan Foundation, Kawakita Institute and Film Center, read and commented in detail on successive drafts, and kindly consented to write the Foreword. I owe these two gentlemen more than I can repay. I dedicate this book, with love, to them both.

A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors

      ABE Yutaka

      (February 2, 1895–January 3, 1977)

      阿部豊

      A director from the mid-twenties, Abe had trained in Hollywood, where he played bit parts in films starring his compatriot, Sessue Hayakawa. After returning home, he became known as the Lubitsch of Japan, a reputation founded on his witty and polished social satires. A Mermaid on Land (Riku no ningyo, 1926) traced the romantic rivalry between two young women, one spoilt and rich, the other poor but sincere. Five Women around Him (Kare o meguru gonin no onna, 1927) focused on a bachelor and his several girlfriends. Most famous was The Woman Who Touched the Legs (Ashi ni sawatta onna, 1926), a twice-remade ironic comedy about a writer’s encounter with a female thief. These films, along with most of Abe’s prewar work, are now lost, but among his prewar sound films, Children of the Sun (Taiyō no ko, 1938) remains extant. This interesting story about a home for delinquent children in Hokkaido revealed his eye for landscape and confirmed his capability in a more serious vein.

      The vague liberalism of that film was soon abandoned as Abe, with blockbusters such as Flaming Sky (Moyuru ōzora, 1940) and Fire on That Flag (Ano hata o ute, 1944), became one of the leading producers of nationalistic propaganda before and during the Pacific War. Even in the fifties, Battleship Yamato (Senkan Yamato, 1953) and I Was a Siberian POW (Watashi wa Shiberiya no horyo datta, 1952) exposed his continuing admiration for Japanese militarism. Much of Abe’s postwar work consisted of undistinguished genre films such as Desert in Ginza (Ginza no sabaku, 1958), a brutal and silly crime thriller set against the backdrop of Tokyo’s fashionable yet seedy Ginza district. However, he achieved a commercial success with the first film adaptation of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s novel about life among Osaka’s prewar upper middle class, The Makioka Sisters (Sasameyuki, 1950). Later, the freewheeling comedy Season of Affairs (Uwaki no kisetsu, 1959) carried some of his old satirical feeling in its amused take on contemporary social mores. It is unfortunate that the films which earned Abe his fame as a satirist in the silent era are not preserved today.

      1925 Bokō no tameni / For the Alma Mater

      Hasha no kokoro / Heart of a Champion

      Shōhin eigashū / Collection of Short Stories on Film (co-director)

      1926 Shinsei no aikō / New Life through the Light of Love

      Nyōbō kawaiya / Loving Wife

      Setsujoku no hi / Day of Vindication

      Kyōko to Shizuko / Kyoko and Shizuko

      Sekai no chiemono / The World’s Wisest Man

      Riku no ningyo / A Mermaid on Land

      Ashi ni sawatta onna / The Woman Who Touched the Legs

      Shin Nihontō / New Japanese Island

      1927 Kare o meguru gonin no onna / Five Women around Him

      Tabi geinin / Traveling Players

      Ningyō no ie / A Doll’s House

      Shikabane wa katarazu / The Dead Don’t Talk

      1928 Hanayome hanamuko saikonki / Record of the Bride and Groom’s Remarriage

      Chikyū wa mawaru: Dainibu: Gendai hen / The World Turns: Part 2: Modern Chapter

      Haha izuko / Where Is Mother?

      1929 Kyōen onna samazama / Women in Competition

      Karatachi no hana / Trifoliate Orange Blossom

      Aojiroki bara / Pale Blue Rose

      Hijō keikai / Caution: Emergency

      1930 Josei homare / Woman’s Reputation

      Nihonbare / Fair Weather

      Haha sannin / Three Mothers

      Nikkatsu onparēdo / Nikkatsu on Parade

      1931 Nikkatsu aramōdo / Nikkatsu à la Mode

      Gōruin / Success

      1932 Tengoku no hatoba / Heaven’s Pier

      Modan seisho: Tosei risshi tokuhon kan’ichi / Modern Bible: Model for Success in Modern Times, Volume One

      1933 Hikari: Tsumi to tomo ni / Light: With a Sin

      Suma no adanami / Ebb and Flow at Suma

      Atarashiki ten (Zenpen; Kōhen) / The New Heaven (Parts 1 and 2)

      1934 Kokoro no hatoba / The Heart’s Pier

      Tetsu no machi / Town of Iron

      Wakafūfu shiken bekkyo / Trial Separation of a Young Couple

      Tajō busshin / Fickle but Not Unfeeling

      1935 Nichizō getsuzō / Keepers of the Sun and Moon

      Kaikoku Dainippon / Greater Japan, Maritime Nation

      Midori no chiheisen (Zenpen; Kōhen) / The Green Horizon (Parts 1 and 2)

      1936 Hakui no kajin / Beautiful Women in White

      Ren’ai to kekkon no sho: Ren’ai hen / Book of Love and Marriage: Love Volume

      Ren’ai to kekkon no sho: Kekkon hen / Book of Love and Marriage: Marriage Volume

      1937 Jūji hōka / Crossfire

      1938 Taiyō no ko / Children of the

       Sun

      1939 Waremokō: Zenpen / The Great Burnet: Part 1

      Waremokō: Kōhen: Sen’ya ni saku / The Great Burnet: Part 2: Blooming on the Battlefield

      Roppa no Hōjiro-sensei / Roppa as Mr. Hojiro the Teacher

      Onna no kyōshitsu: Gakkō no maki: Nanatsu no omogake / Women’s Classroom: School Reel: Memories of Seven

      Kodomo to heitai / Children and Soldiers

      Onna no kyōshitsu: Kōhen / Women’s Classroom: Part 2

      1940 Moyuru ōzora / Flaming Sky / Burning Sky

      1942 Nankai no hanataba / Bouquet of the South Seas

      1944 Ano hata o ute / Fire on That Flag / Dawn of Freedom

      1945 Uta e! Taiyō / Sing!