Cinema Year Book of Japan 1938 (1938)

of pictures for the world’s markets. A very interesting drama could be made out of the life of the White Russians of Harbin. Such pictures as Koi Yamabiko (jNikkatsu Historical Movie) or Osaka Natsu no Jin f The Summer Battle of Osaka) made first in an original full-length Japanese version, then condensed to a shorter version, or eventually MADE IN TECHNICOLOUR for the rest of the world would bring millions of yens of profit to the Japanese producers. A star such as the great Tsumasaburo Bando, one of the greatest actors that I have ever had the privilege of seeing, would be as well known in Berlin, Paris or New York as he is in Japan if properly exploited. Other actors and actresses that I have thought might have great international appeal are : (^Actors) /\ Isamu Kosugi (^Nikkatsu), Chiyezo Kataoka (jNikkutsu), Denjiro Okochi (jToho) ; (^Actresses) Noboru Kiritachi (JToho), Chikako Hosokawa (JToho), Kinuyo Tanaka (Ehochiku), Naoe Eushimi (jShochiku), Yumeko Aizome (jShinko), Isuzu Yamada and Takako Irie (Holio). I found Japanese educational pictures extremely interesting. By that I mean pictures of the type directed by Suzuki ; The School, for instance. I saw several short travelogues throughout Japan and they were very well photographed, but the numerous news-reels that I saw always seemed badly photographed and certainly too noisy. They were also rather badly cut. One of the things which amazed me, during this last visit, was the fact that most of the companies that I saw shooting in the different studios were shooting silent scenes, or long shots of people talking TO BE SYNCHRONIZED LATER ON, which made me understand why so many scenes in the Japanese films seem to be “ out of sync ”. I know that this way of making pictures is the most economical, but the fact that most of these silent scenes are CRANKED BY HAND BY THE CAMERA-MEN explains the CHANGE OF SPEED which is so noticeable during the projection of the Japanese films. Very often the actors go so fast that one knows the camera-man was undercranking by hand instead of turning his camera with a motor. This technical carelessness appears especially in the “ modern comedies ” made in Tokyo. These comedies, often inspired by the now extinct American slap-stick type, are old-fashioned and out-dated. I believe whatever little money is spent in the making of these Sennett-iike comedies could be spent to better and more intelligent advantage. However, this is only my opinion. It is difficult for the Japanese people and critics to judge the merits of their own pictures because these pictures are the reflection of their own life. The modern pictures made in Tokyo and the classical pictures made in Kyoto are all essentially Japanese — the stories are Japanese, the setting are Japanese, the costumes are Japanese and the artistry is Japanese. The people of Nippon have taken a great liking to the American and the European films because the foreign people, settings and stories take them beyond their own boundaries and give them an opportunity to glimpse the rest of the world and to study the habits and customs of the other peoples of the earth. The Japanese intelligentsia take the Japanese pictures for granted, and the Japanese producers do not seem to make any special effort to internationalize and commercialize their product with an eye to some foreign release. In any city, village or hamlet the photographic eye of the visiting tourist is caught by the inexhaustible supply of scenic beauty which Japan offers — the men perched high on their turning wheels watering the rice fields, the peasants at work with their oxen, the pilgrims, the women picking up the vegetables, the kids playing around the houses, the paper carp floating in the air, the school girls walking down the street, the geishas in their lovely costumes, the woodmen pulling their carts, the babies dressed like dolls, the priests about the temples, the quaint costumes of some of the inhabitants of the villages, the old great-grandmothers carrying the newly born babies on their backs, the merchants in the small open markets, the “ clickety -clack ” of millions of wooden clogs, the same footgear, delightful in colouring, exposed in the store fronts like millions of appetizing pastries, the man selling bananas at auction, the students in uniform, the little antique shops, the doll makers, the mask-makers, the sword and knife sellers, the bosses of the silk shops and their many young apprentices, the friendly animals, the singing birds, the fat wrestlers, the fishermen, the amazing boys riding on bicycles while carrying pyramids of dishes on one hand, the girl conductors of the buses who talk like birds, the gentle beggars, the street musicians with baskets on their heads, and a thousand other sights offer a constant supply of charm, beauty and photographic material. Of course, the Japanese people cannot realize the interest of all these things, 56