Rare Snapshots of Setsuko Hara

Setuko Hara during shooting of HIKARI TO KAGE (1939) I found some rare snapshots of Setsuko Hara in Japanese movie magazines from 1930’s and 1940’s. Smiling under a microphone and intense sunlight. This photo above was taken during the shooting of HIKARI TO KAGE (LIGHT AND SHADOW, 光と影, 1940, dir. Yasujiro Shimazu). Shimazu directed 19-year-old Hara for the first time in this film. He was inspired by her performance even though he found her still stiff and lacking in some basics of the art of acting. From this film on, Shimazu carefully mentored her in six films until his untimely …

5 Lost Films by 5 Masters of Japanese Cinema

Here is the list of lost films by 5 Japanese masters: Shozo Makino, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Sadao Yamanaka and Akira Kurosawa. I guess you may pick other films, but I will state my case.     Goban Tadanobu, Genji no Ishizue (碁盤忠信 源氏礎, 1909) Directed by Shozo Makino Produced by Yokota Shokai Starring Matsugoro Ono-e Though this is not a first dramatic cinema in the Japanese history, this is definitely the most important work during the early period of Japanese cinema. It is the first film to star the Star of Japanese Cinema, Matsunosuke Ono-e, and kicked off the life …

All About Setsuko Hara

Since last year, Shincho 45+, the Japanese magazine catering to the conservative readership, ran Setsuko Hara retrospective, not only once, but twice. A couple of articles on the actress were featured, but their marketing ploy for both occasions was the DVD packaged with the magazine, very rare silent films never released before (and of course, starring Setsuko Hara). I fell for the ploy on both occasions. Yet, Shinchosha decided to release another publication, this time whole book dedicated to Setsuko Hara, with another rare, never-released film on DVD. I decided to fall for their ploy again.