Japanese Films: A Filmography and Commentary, 1921-1989

by Beverley Bare Buehrer

Overview

Japanese culture as seen in film is a world of arranged marriages and loyalty beyond death, a world where suicide is an heroic act. Or a world where life's sadness can be echoed in the falling petals of cherry blossoms. It is a world simultaneously exotic but also universal in appeal.

From Souls on the Road to Tampopo, this book is a film-by-film look at more than 80 of Japan's best and most important movies. The entries, in chronological order, present the classics in many actors' and directors' careers and point out the hallmarks of their style while offering a history of the Japanese film industry. Japan's unique characteristics and historical background, which may be unfamiliar to Western audiences, are also explained in the entries, thus adding to the reader's enjoyment and understanding of these films.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786473793
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	10/16/2012
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Freelance writer Beverley Bare Buehrer taught history, philosophy and film classes at Kishwaukee College in Malta, Illinois until her retirement in 2010. A contributor to The Magill Cinema Annual for many years, she is the author of three books and lives in De Kalb, Illinois.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Souls on the Road (Minoru Murata, 1921)     
A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)     
Crossroads (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1928)     
I Was Born But… (Yasujiro Ozu, 1932)     
Wife! Be Like a Rose! (Mikio Naruse, 1935)     
Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)     
Sisters of the Gion (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)     
Humanity and Paper Balloons (Sadao Yamanaka, 1937)     
Five Scouts (Tomotaka Tasaka, 1938)     
The Earth (Tomu Uchida, 1939)     
The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi (Kimisaburo Yoshimura, 1940)     
The Loyal 47 Ronin, Parts I and II (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1941-1942)     
Horse (Kajiro Yarnamoto, 1941)     
Sanshiro Sugata (Akira Kurosawa, 1943)     
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (Akira Kurosawa, 1945)     
Drunken Angel (Akira Kurosawa, 1948)     
Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949)     
Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)     
EarlySummer(YasujiroOzu,1951)     
Repast (Mikio Naruse, 1951)     
Vacuum Zone (Satsuo Yarnarnoto, 1952)     
Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)     
The Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952)     
Mother (Mikio Naruse, 1952)     
A Japanese Tragedy (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1953)     
The Crab-Canning Ship (So Yamamura, 1953)     
Where Chimneys Are Seen (Heinosuke Gosho, 1953)     
Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)     
Gate of Hell (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953)     
Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)     
Wild Geese (Shiro Toyoda, 1953)     
Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)     
Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)     
A Story from Chikamatsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)     
Twenty-Four Eyes (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1954)     
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Inoshiro Honda, 1954)     
Samurai (Trilogy) (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1954-1955)     
Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1955)     
The Burmese Harp (Kon Ichikawa, 1956)     
Street of Shame (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1956)     
Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957)     
Snow Country (Shiro Toyoda, 1957)     
The Ballad of Narayama (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1958)     
The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)     
The Rickshaw Man (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1958)     
Night Drum (Tadashi Imai, 1958)     
Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa, 1959)     
Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959)     
The Human Condition (Trilogy) (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959-1961)     
Odd Obsession (Kon Ichikawa, 1959)     
Cruel Story of Youth (Nagisa Oshima, 1960)     
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Mikio Naruse, 1960)     
The Island (Kaneto Shindo, 1961)     
Buddha (Kenji Misumi, 1961)     
Happiness of Us Alone (Zenzo Matsuyama, 1961)     
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)     
Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa, 1962)     
Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962)     
High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)     
Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964)     
Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964)     
Tokyo Olympiad (Kon Ichikawa, 1965)     
Red Beard (Akira Kurosawa, 1965)     
Death by Hanging (Nagisa Oshima, 1968)     
Nanarni-The Inferno of First Love (Susumu Hani, 1968)     
Goyokin (Hideo Gosha, 1969)     
Boy (Nagisa Oshirna, 1969)     
Double Suicide (Masahiro Shinoda, 1969)     
Eros Plus Massacre (Yoshishige Yoshida, 1969)     
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (Kihachi Okamoto, 1970)     
Sandakan 8 (Kei Kumai, 1975)     
In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976)     
Vengeance Is Mine (Shohei Imamura, 1979)     
Foster Daddy, Tora! (Yoji Yamada, 1980)     
Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa, 1980)     
Muddy River (Kohei Oguri, 1981)     
The Ballad of Narayarna (Shohei Imarnura, 1982)     
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Nagisa Oshima, 1983)     
The Family Game (Yoshimitsu Morita, 1983)     
MacArthur's Children (Masahiro Shinoda, 1984)     
The Crazy Family (Sogo Ishii, 1984)     
Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)     
Himatsuri (Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1985)     
Comic Magazine (Yojiro Takita, 1986)     
To Sleep so as to Dream (Kaizo Hayashi, 1986)     
Tarnpopo Uuzo Itami, 1987)     

Chronology of Major Japanese Historic Periods     
Directory of Video and Film Sources     
Glossary     
Select Bibliography     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

film buffs wishing to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Japanese cinema will welcome this new handbook...Buehrer has made a unique contribution to film reference literature. Her commentaries provide valuable insight into Japanese culture and the celluloid world that reflects it”—Booklist; “written with an enthusiasm for the topic”—Choice; “a helpful reference...accurate, academic study”—Mangajin; “excellent”—ARBA; “enjoyable and full of insights”—Sightlines.

From the Publisher

a helpful reference...accurate, academic study

Mangajin

written with an enthusiasm for the topic

Choice

film buffs wishing to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Japanese cinema will welcome this new handbook...Buehrer has made a unique contribution to film reference literature. Her commentaries provide valuable insight into Japanese culture and the celluloid world that reflects it

Booklist

"film buffs wishing to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Japanese cinema will welcome this new handbook...Buehrer has made a unique contribution to film reference literature. Her commentaries provide valuable insight into Japanese culture and the celluloid world that reflects it"

Booklist/RBB