'BOBTAIL' REVIEW / JAPANESE FILMS

Undying Pearls (1928)

Hiroshi Shimizu’s UNDYING PEARLS (1928) is the story of two sisters, who live two different life styles, but want the same thing: being loved. This is another Shochiku’s “women’s picture”, full of melodramatic twists, colorful characters, and fashionable clothes. Toshie, the elder sister, fell in love with Shozo Narita, a rising entrepreneur, but her introverted nature and extreme shyness prevented her from expressing her emotions. The best she could do is to write a very polite letter to Narita, with a reserved expression like “I would like to have a conversation with you”. Reiko, the younger sister, is a “modern …

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JAPANESE FILMS

Seven Seas (1931, 1932)

Until recently, Hiroshi Shimizu was not a familiar name even among Japanese cinema aficionados. Though he had been well-regarded in Japanese movie industry during 1930’s and 40’s, and his works had been extremely popular among domestic movie-going public, Hiroshi Shimizu was eclipsed by his contemporaries after the war: Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi. How many movies did he direct in his lifetime? Ever-exhaustive IMDb lists 57 titles as of today. More complete database for Japanese movies, jmdb, lists 166 tiles as his directorial works, large part of which are from 20’s and 30’s. As typical of Japanese films …

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JAPANESE FILMS

A Photograph, 1936

In 1936, Japan Film Directors Society was formed. This was a group photograph of the occasion. Front Row, from left; Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982) (Wikipedia) A Page of Madness (狂った一頁[Kurutta Ichipeiji] 1926) The Gate of Hell (地獄門[Jigokumon] 1953) Yoshinobu Ikeda (1892-1973) (JMDB) Irohanihohedo (いろはにほへど 1933) Sadao Yamanaka (1909-1938) (Wikipedia) Kouchiyama Soushun (河内山宗俊1936) Humanity Paper Balloon (人情紙風船[Ninjo Kamifusen] 1937) Mansaku Itami (1900-1946) (Wikipedia) Akanishi Kakita (赤西蛎太1936) The New Earth (新しき土[Atarashiki Tuchi] 1937) Heinosuke Gosho (1902-1981) (Wikipedia) The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine (マダムと女房[Madamu to nyoubo] 1931) The Four Chimneys (煙突の見える場所[Entotsu no Mieru Basho] 1953) Minoru Murata (1894-1937) (Wikipedia) Souls on the Road (路上の霊魂[Rojo …

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