11 / 122 The Complete (Existing) Films of Sadao Yamanaka

[HerrSchreck]

Yep-- looking thru the telescope (Ryo) / field glasses (Regle) accidentally pegging a wayward lover.

The comparisons between Renoir & Yamanaka in the MoC essay were not inappropriate. The humanity in both men was at rarified levels, and the resulting compassion for all characters, regardless of their standpoint within the narrative, couldn't help but ooze out into their works.

Stratospheric innate talent notwithstanding of course.

[Steven H]

I also love the visual motifs in the film, like the strides of the vassal going to "look for the vase" or the two garbage collectors' walking, and how they're used as cinematic punchlines. Early Lubitsch and Clair rings loudly in these films, though not as sentimental as the latter (obviously). I think all the people looking forward to that Lubitsch Musicals Eclipse set would do well to try and see Tange Sazen...

Yamanaka's Tange Sazen... also reminds me of Itami Mansaku's A Capricious Young Man, which is similar in theme and in lightness to some of Yamanaka's work, but does not survive in complete condition, unfortunately (it's missing a scene or two). Itami (father of Juzo) is unjustly judged by the compromised and unsatisfying film The New Earth, which is fairly widely known.

For quanity and quality considerations, I would consider Yamanaka's lost films to be the biggest blight on film history, especially from an auteurist POV. We're talking about 90% of everything he ever did gone forever. If even one more film of his shows up, it will be worth throwing a parade.

The one good thing we have, though, is a treasure trove of late 30s Japanese filmmaking, which we've only barely begun to explore. This is where I'm hoping Digital Meme can give us a hand.

[the dancing kid]

Alas -- unless you decide to enter the uncharted waters of unsubbed Japanese cinema, the equally impressive Kochiyama Soshun will remain inaccessible (and this was the hardest to traverse when watching all three unsubbed initially).

Keiko McDonald's book on film adaptation of Japanese theatre has a chapter on Kochiyama Soshun that gives a fairly in depth plot summary and an explanation of the characters. That might prove useful to non-speakers.

I love the setup-result series of edits (removing chunks of time betwen the comedic setup and it's subsequent result) showing the power struggle between Tange Sazen & the Mistress, i e
She: "The boy will go to school,"
He: "He cant defeat an enemy with pen and ink, he'll go to dojo", she "school,"
he "dojo",
she "SCHOOL"
he "D O J O"
....... cut to Tange sitting passively alongside the kid praising his spelling/calligraphy.

This was actually one of the things that the censors objected to the most in Yamanaka's films. He and the other Narutaki filmmakers delibrately combined the period setting with modern speech and content as a way addressing contemporary issues while avoiding the ban on contemporary drama (specifically those that deal with "everydayness," romance and similar "American" themes).

These sorts of films were heavily criticized for trivializing Japanese history in films journals, which were of course heavily influenced (if not outright controlled) by the government. At least one critic compared Yamanaka's films to those of Frank Capra in the hope of condemning his work as "anti-Japanese," and there was widespread dissatisfaction with the way he and similar-minded filmmakers represented the samurai.

There was a huge shift toward the treatment of the period film during the end of the thirties. The historical film become one of the primary venues of delivery nationalist messages through entertainment (See Davis' book "Picturing Japaneseness"). The films of Yamanaka and the other Narutaki filmmakers tried to erase class distinctions between samurai, peasants and others, which was in clear opposition to the government project of using Japanese history as a rallying point for nationalist ideology.

[Steven H]

At least one critic compared Yamanaka's films to those of Frank Capra in the hope of condemning his work as "anti-Japanese," and there was widespread dissatisfaction with the way he and similar-minded filmmakers represented the samurai.

Now that's pretty interesting. I wonder what Capra made it's way into Japan in the 30s? I'm willing to wager The Bitter Tea of General Yen *might* not've gone over too well.

Thanks for the great info, though.

[the dancing kid]

At least one critic compared Yamanaka's films to those of Frank Capra in the hope of condemning his work as "anti-Japanese," and there was widespread dissatisfaction with the way he and similar-minded filmmakers represented the samurai.

Now that's pretty interesting. I wonder what Capra made it's way into Japan in the 30s? I'm willing to wager The Bitter Tea of General Yen *might* not've gone over too well.

Thanks for the great info, though.

'It Happened One Night' definitely made it over, but I'm not sure about what else did. That film was actually re-imagined as a period film, and even billed as "The Japanese 'It Happened One Night'" on the poster (which was not uncommon at all back then).

However, 'Stagecoach' and 'Olympia' were probably the two most important non-Japanese films to play in Japan during the wartime era. Both had a huge impact on the visual rhetoric of propaganda cinema, and I think they were both popular successes as well.

[Michael Kerpan]

However, 'Stagecoach' and 'Olympia' were probably the two most important non-Japanese films to play in Japan during the wartime era. Both had a huge impact on the visual rhetoric of propaganda cinema, and I think they were both popular successes as well.

Of course, Mizoguchi had already, in essence, made "Stagecoach" well before Ford did -- in his "Oyuki the Virgin". ;~}

[HerrSchreck]

I'm a total neophyte compared to present trio of company in terms of Japanese cinema and history, particularly pre-war. I'm just looking for a distinction on the comment The Dancing Kid made... specifically what "this" is in the comment

This was actually one of the things that the censors objected to the most in Yamanaka's films.

Were you referencing the comic-setup, then time-jump-to-result editing for laughs, or the use of comtemporary language in the usages in the scene described? In terms of what the censors found objectionable?

I would of course be oblivious to the language subtleties, knowing not a shred of Japanese myself, so I would have been incapable of pointing out the language angle in my original post. (I'm seeking to better my understanding by getting at what you meant, not critique your post, btw.)

Interestingly, as a side note to all this, out of years of watching all manner of foreign film, and picking up drips & drabs of 1) Russian 2) French, 3) Italian (which I had a little bit of a jump on being partly Italian and growing up in a majorly tomatoes-and-grapes-in-the-backyard Bronx neighborhood, 4) German (having a slight jump on via extensive research on Germany, mostly concerning the years bracketed by the two WWars)... I have managed to pick up zilcho Japanese. And I even was prepped via approx 5 years of my youth (approx 8-13) spent as the son of a practicing Zen Buddhist (my involvement ended due to divorce), going to the First Zen Institute of America here in NYC every sunday in lieu of church, chanting (I still remember maka han-ya shin-gyoooo but have no idea what it meant), being tossed koans by my pop to work on, doing calligraphy while he & mom sat in seshin (sp? the long extended periods of meditation where people start flipping out and hallucinating), reading "zen notes" newsletter, etc. I'm still not even clear if "eh" means yes or no. I do know shooooo! and baka! mean shit/fuck/damn, and idiot/stupid respectively. Says a lot about me I guess.

I don't even know why it seems like every other word ends in something that sounds like 'sneh'.

Believe it or not I even have better luck with unsubbed films from the U.K., than unsubbed Japanese.

[the dancing kid]

Of course, Mizoguchi had already, in essence, made "Stagecoach" well before Ford did -- in his "Oyuki the Virgin".

Can you elaborate? I haven't seen that one.

Were you referencing the comic-setup, then time-jump-to-result editing for laughs, or the use of comtemporary language in the usages in the scene described? In terms of what the censors found objectionable?

Sorry I wasn't clear. The use of modern speech and comedy was something that really bugged them because it reminded them of American screwball comedies. That type of storytelling was considered antithetical to Japanese culture because they presented individual desire and happiness as a positive thing, rather than the "denial of the self" that the government wanted. Placing such an exchange in a period film was even worse because it contradicted the image of Japanese history that the propagandists were trying to cultivate.

On the subject of the period film, there were still plenty of silly, goofy swordfighting films being made, but those were regarded as films for children. As such, the period films was divided into two categories: the jidaigeki, which was for kids and usually involved a lot of swordplay, and the rekishi-eiga, which was the historical film that was meant to elevate Japanese history and stressed submission to authority and self-sacrifice. Mizoguchi's 47 Ronin is an example of the latter. There were also action-oriented jidaigeki that were incorporated into the propagandist project, but I think they preferred the rekishi-eiga.

As for Yamanaka's film, it probably could have been enjoyed by younger audiences due to the humor and colorful characters, but I think some people must have recognized it as drawing upon the concerns of modern-day people. The references to class difference, poverty, and comic representations of samurai were not the sort of thing the authorities approved of, and they had explicitly forbidden that sort of discourse in the contemporary film.

It's also worth noting that Yamanaka's films rarely ever show action, and when they do, it generally isn't flashy or even interesting. Although that wasn't something mentioned in propaganda literature or film policy, it is remarkably different than what you see in most films of the same genre, so I think it must have been deliberate on his behalf. The street brawl at the end of Kochiyama Soshun is the closest he comes to making a real action sequence, but even that is filmed mostly in long-shots and with lots of clutter in the way to downplay the visual pleasure of watching people hack one another up.

[HerrSchreck]

Thanks for the clarification. Excellent post, the omission of violence is something I felt but never registered, if that makes sense. It registers as a kind of sweetness running subtly thru, percolating the moments of lightheartedness, and bringing poignancy to the melancholic scenes.

But it's absolutely true. You never see Tange really butcher anyone. The way he tells this kid to cover his eyes and count to ten while he kills a man.. telling him the "groaning" is because he lost at gambling. That killing is shot from the rear and the angle really downplays the action (I actually need to re-view to determine whether or not the swordstroke is even shown). But the boy's father is killed offscreen, the scene where he takes on the gang of men in the alleyway before retrieving the boy from the end of the line near the end of the film (interestingly he deliberately removed the swordplay, as it's available as a deleted scene on the disc). Scenes of violence in HPB are all rendered offscreen for the most part: the worst of the beatings the hairdresser (for his "illegal" game) and the impoverished ronin (for importuning) receive in front of the pawnshop are shown in their aftereffect, or offscreen and via sound from inside the pawnshop. The kidnapping is not shown, neither of the bracketing suicides are seen (not even bodies), and the final, tragically lopsided duel on the bridge is left to the viewer's imagination, making it that much sadder and delivering that much more impact.

This is no Kihachi Okamoto, to be sure!

[Steven H]

This is no Kihachi Okamoto, to be sure!

No, but they shared a great sense of humor. The duel scene from Tange Sazen you mention is outstanding. It reminded me of Boudu, when he laughs, and all the nonchalance of Tange walking away from the battle (now there's a comparison, the Zen of Boudu vs. the Zen of Tange Sazen.)

[Michael Kerpan]

Of course, Mizoguchi had already, in essence, made "Stagecoach" well before Ford did -- in his "Oyuki the Virgin".

Can you elaborate? I haven't seen that one.

Mizoguchi's 1935 film is based on the same Guy de Maupassant story (Boule de suif) as the 1939 Stagecoach. The nominal source stole shamelessly from GdM's story (without credit) -- but Ford was fully aware that what HE was doing was adapting GdM's original. when I started watching Mizoguchi's film I thought pretty early on that the story seemed familiar....

[Steven H]

Dancing Kid, other than Davis and The Japanese Film, what can you recommend for further reading concerning film censorship (prewar, wartime, or postwar), or at least the government's relationship with the film community? I know that because of your advanced studies you've probably had exposure to translations of Japanese text that aren't widely available, but I'd also hope that information like that is floating around somewhere.

Would you recommend In Praise of Film Studies Essays: in Honor of Makino Mamoru? It seems to have a lot of information about this sort of thing, but I'd like a recommendation before I spend thirty dollars. I guess I'm old fashioned like that though you'd think just having Nornes and Gerow's name on it would be enough.

[Michael Kerpan]

Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano has written a book called Cinema Nippon about Japanese cinema of the 20s and 30s. I suspect this might be an adaptation of her Ph.D. dissertation -- which seems to have been about the same topic. It is currently due to be published next April.

[Steven H]

Interestingly enough, she's also wrote a piece for In Praise of Film titled Construction of Modern Space: Tokyo and Shochiku Kamata Film Texts. It also has essays by Peter High and Joanne Bernardi (who wrote the excellent Writing In Light about Japanese silent films and the pure cinema movement.) Ok, I'm buying it.

[the dancing kid]

Dancing Kid, other than Davis and The Japanese Film, what can you recommend for further reading concerning film censorship (prewar, wartime, or postwar), or at least the government's relationship with the film community? I know that because of your advanced studies you've probably had exposure to translations of Japanese text that aren't widely available, but I'd also hope that information like that is floating around somewhere.

Mark Nornes has two books that touch on Japanese film policy, although only his book on documentary is readily available. It has a chapter on Kamei Fumio that contains a lot of useful background and analysis. His other book, "Film Wars" is practically impossible to find. High's book also touches on Kamei Fumio.

Michael Baskett has a forthcoming book on Japanese propaganda being used as diplomacy within the East Asian region. It's based on his dissertation, which I believe can be found through one of the online systems. He doesn't do a lot of film analysis per se, but his research into policy and distribution is very thorough.

Kurosawa's autobiography also mentions his relationship with Yamamoto Kaijiro and touches on some of the things they went through when working on 'The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay.' I don't recall if he writes anything about the demands placed upon them by the policy board, but I think he shares the anecdote about building the model ships from old issues of Time magazine because the Navy wouldn't cooperate with them.

There are also a few essays and articles from journals, as well as conference papers that haven't been collected into books. Freda Freiberg has written on stardom during the war (particularly on Ri Koran/Shirley Yamaguchi), Michael Raine on "training" films and special effects films, Aaron Gerow on film policy as dictating film form and superseding film theory/criticism (available in Japanese).

Wartime cinema hasn't been a popular topic until recently, so most of the really good stuff hasn't been published yet. It's also very difficult to find a lot of these films with subtitles (most of which have been created by grad students and other academics). There are a lot of people working in that area now though, as well as plenty others working on films made during the march to war.

[Steven H]

Thanks for the information. Michael Baskett's book The Attractive Empire—Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan, wihch is forthcoming as well as an article of his in Alan Tansman's The Culture of Japanese Fascism, also not out yet, both sound interesting. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I only found one place (unfortunately a little pricey for me) that might have Film Wars, but it sounds great.

[GringoTex]

I bought this dvd when it first came out and only now got to it tonight (what can I say - I arrange my dvds alphabetically by director and the last one on the shelves gets neglected).

I was very happy with Shreck's Ford reference in this thread because ten minutes into the film, all I could think about was how did some 29-year-old Japanese dude from the 1930s distill the greatness of Ford? This is my first pre-War Japanese film, and having read Noel Burch's take on this pre-war cinema, I was prepared for something japanetically exotic. But what I got was Ford.

Like Ford, Yamanaka builds a community brick by brick. There are no cinematic cheap shots up front, because that would queer the foundation. Every shot is built on a z-axis until he's ready for the pay-off. And then around minute 50, with all his pieces solidly in place, he seizes you by the throat. He's earned his melodrama, and it's entirley his. Such patience in a filmmaker is mana.

I don't want to call this the greatest Japanese film I've seen (as I've just seen it) but the only other ones that gave such a thrill on first viewing were Naruse's Sound of the Mountain and Ozu's Early Summer.

[Michael Kerpan]

I don't want to call this the greatest Japanese film I've seen (as I've just seen it) but the only other ones that gave such a thrill on first viewing were Naruse's Sound of the Mountain and Ozu's Early Summer.

I had seen other pre-war films, but Humanity and Paper Balloons (even unsubbed) was still sort of like a kick in the head (of the very best sort). Since Yamanaka's other two films (though different) are pretty much equal in quality to this, one can only assume that there were plenty of treasures in the almost 30 lost films.

[HerrSchreck]

Gringo definitely seek out the subbed Tange Sazen, it is hugely rewarding and strikingly different in tone... yet the unmistakeable (Fordian) effortlessness is there. The way the film never strains to be all things at one time, yet moves patiently, piece by piece, accumulating subtext & character familiarity.. the great sense of relaxation with the medium whereby the sense of humor can be fully utilized for all it's liveliness and sense of poignancy (and create that Fordian sense of life and familiarity between the characters).

And the films extant print looks strikingly better than HPB.

[GringoTex]

Gringo definitely seek out the subbed Tange Sazen

Is this it?

Dude's claiming it's widescreen.

[Michael Kerpan]

Definitely NOT widescreen -- but otherwise it has the right pictures and cast members.

[HerrSchreck]

I just hope it's not an amateurish rip of the original disc (which usually goes for a fortune) where the dude chopped the top & bottom off.

But that's absolutely the film.

[tojoed]

I have just found a DVD of Tange Sazen from this company. Can any of you, with more knowledge than I have, tell if this is a legitimate release? Thanks.

[Steven H]

I have just found a DVD of Tange Sazen from this company. Can any of you, with more knowledge than I have, tell if this is a legitimate release? Thanks.

Fansubbed bootleg. It was brought up on earlier pages of this thread.

[tojoed]

Thanks very much. But at that price they're practically giving it away. I think I'll get it, nothing to lose.