In the last post, I discussed about the overall transition from silent to talkies in 1930’s Japanese cinema industry: number of theaters and total number of motion picture consumption. In this entry, let’s look at the talkie transitions at individual motion picture studios. Data is from “Annual Report of Motion Picture Censorship”.
You may wonder why Yasujiro Ozu was still shooting silent films well into 1936. It’s true that he was one of the most hesitant to adapt to sound films, but the conversion from silents to talkies was very slow process in Japanese cinema industry anyway. It took almost a decade for all the theaters to be equipped with sound film projection. There were many reasons for this relatively slow process. Film projection narrators, Benshis, were integral part of silent film projection and had strong influence on motion picture business. They demanded the production companies to support and preserve their businesses …
For past weeks, I reviewed two films by Yasujiro Shimazu, THE TRIO’S ENGAGEMENT (1937) and LOVE, BE WITH HUMANITY (1931). I assume his name is not as familiar as another Yasujiro (Ozu) among the readers. Maybe some of you know MY LITTLE NEIGHBOR, YAE (1934), which has circulated among various film festivals around the globe in recent years. Though relatively unknown today, he was the most reliable and professional director during 20s and 30s at the Shochiku and deserves more attention. Shimazu was one of the “founding” fathers of the Shochiku Kamata Studio (1920 – 1936), which produced many early …