The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

CINE TECHNICIAN 85 .S. FILM SQUEEZE IN JAPAN TTAVE you ever seen Fuji-colour? [**■ It was a most promising Japanese colour process, which was taken up in 1951 by the big Shochiku company. But although — as in Britain — the making of Japanese pictures in colour is increasing, Fuji-colour film production is on the way out. The story of how pressure from America forced the Japanese to change to Eastmancolor is told in a fascinating memorandum recently prepared by a group of independent producers in Japan. So far only a small number of pictures are made in colour — ten features last year out of a total production of 420 — but nine of these were made with imported colour negative. The native colour systems are relegated simply to making prints from Eastmancolor negative for what the report describes as " the use of lower-class bookings." As in Britain, American influence and monopoly in all sections of the industry seem to be the bane of the Japanese independent producer, though the situation is not exactly parallel to our own. For instance, the Japanese independents, while getting little help from the Government, have won useful allies in a way ours might cpnsider. But let me first give a brief surveys of the Japanese film scene. Retreat of Independents 'Four hundred and twenty feature films produced in a year is an enormous amount — second only to Hollywood — and 401 of them were made by the six big enterprises; in addition, a further fourteen were made for the monopolies by independents; the remaining five were handled by the truly independent Dokuritsu Eiga Co., Ltd., whose famous film of modern Japan, Children of Hiroshima, won critical acclaim here last year. The retreat of the independents has also been reflected in the content of the whole of Japanese production. As the report of the independent producers says, " Socalled 'social' films which criticised sc-cial problems occupied l(/( of the t^tal production in 1952, and this creased to 9r/c in 1953, but in 1954 decreased to 5r/r — only nineteen films — and in 1955 to 2#". And, as the report continued, this 1 was not because social conditions in Japan had become more stable. Post-war American occupation enabled the USA to capture the screens of Japan, often using censorship to keep out certain films from France, Italy and the USSR. However, unlike Britain, more than half the cinemas are devoted to the native product; a third of them show mixed Japanese and foreign programmes, and about a tenth go in for foreign pictures only. For each of the past two years only sixteen British films were shown, while Hollwood sent 122; this large number of American films was despite the critical state of the Japanese economy over foreign currency. America managed to keep its dominant position in the import of foreign films. Until the economic crisis of 1954 each country was granted an allotment of films it could send to Japan. When the administration of the system was transferred to the Ministry of Finance, and the allotments reduced in 1954, the USA grabbed the total allocation of all the dollar area countries and so prevented the import of films from such countries as the USSR, Denmark, Spain, Hungary, Mexico and Switzerland. Overseas Sales However, a bonus import system came into operation, by which most countries could send Japan their films, if they showed Japanese pictures. The success abroad of some Japanese films, following the Venice Film Festival award to Rashomon in 1951, opened the eyes of all the Japanese producers to the value of overseas sales. The bonus scheme enabled the independents to score, because their films tended to be the ones that gave a truer portrayal of Japanese life, which made them more popular abroad, especially in the USSR, China, Eastern Europe and the neutral nations of South-East Asia. American pressure prevents the official development of these markets. This year, however, a free exchange of films has started — but through the back door of such countries as France. The independent producers are calling for greater international exchange of films, and they are supported by cinema audiences who are becoming tired of the flood of American pictures and are acquiring a taste for European subjects. Co-operation Among Japan's 5,184 cinemas are a number of independent theatre-owners, who have suffered from the activities of the big enterprises, and there appears to be a very welcome co-operation between them and the independent producers, whose films are regarded as powerful weapons against the monopolistic enterprises — a form of unity that is sadly lacking in the British industry. The possibilities of this co-operation between the independent producers and cinemas together with the growing number of cinemagoers may not be easy, and the report ends cautiously. But as in other film industries, the independents are determined to fight for survival. UNION BADGES If you haven't a Union badge already, you can obtain one from Head Office, price one shilling, post free. CINE TECHNICIAN Editor: MARTIN CHISHOLM ** Editorial Office: 2 Soho Square, W.l Telephone: GERrard 8506 Advertisement Office: 5 and 6 Red Lion Sq., W.C.I Telephone: HOLborn 4972