Japanese cinema in glorious color ~1951-1969 (but mostly 1955-1960)
Early Japanese films in full color from before 1960 are limited in number and provide a spectacular window into the time and place. While the first color film in Japan was released in 1951, it wasn't until about 1957 that color film production started to really ramp up, and by 1960, a substantial portion of films were in color. Films with really great cinematography set in Japan at that time contain a historical treasure of visual information, not to mention pure aesthetic delight. The good stuff from this output shows the physical manifestations of a Japan that was going through rapid change, of which very little now remains; Japanese society is very quick to literally tear down (or throw away) old infrastructure and consumer goods, the physical artifacts of daily life. Much of what we see on the screen is now in a landfill somewhere.
This list contains some films that show Japan in its full 1950s-1960s glory of motorbikes, apartment blocks, horn-rimmed glasses, wallpaper, rotary telephones, short-sleeve dress shirts, transistor radios, and summer dresses. In this list, I mostly exclude costume dramas and historical and samurai films - of which there are hundreds - the point is more the color imagery of Japan contemporary to the Showa era. Also excluded are some Godzilla, sci-fi, monster movies - some of which do contain lots of wonderful imagery of this kind. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that this body of film would be of interest to the "archeologists" of the future, if we had a future.
If you want to go on a sightseeing tour of late 50s Japan, start loading up this playlist and enjoy your trip. Will be posting more as I see them.
This list contains some films that show Japan in its full 1950s-1960s glory of motorbikes, apartment blocks, horn-rimmed glasses, wallpaper, rotary telephones, short-sleeve dress shirts, transistor radios, and summer dresses. In this list, I mostly exclude costume dramas and historical and samurai films - of which there are hundreds - the point is more the color imagery of Japan contemporary to the Showa era. Also excluded are some Godzilla, sci-fi, monster movies - some of which do contain lots of wonderful imagery of this kind. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that this body of film would be of interest to the "archeologists" of the future, if we had a future.
If you want to go on a sightseeing tour of late 50s Japan, start loading up this playlist and enjoy your trip. Will be posting more as I see them.
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- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHideko TakamineShûji SanoChishû RyûA girl who had left her home village for life in Tokyo returns to her home years later, and evokes a scandal when the locals discover that she's a stripper.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûShima IwashitaKeiji SadaAn aging widower arranges a marriage for his only daughter.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsGanjirô NakamuraMachiko KyôHaruko SugimuraThe head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsYûzô KayamaYôko TsukasaMitsuko KusabueA man falls in love with the widow of a man he killed in a car accident. Eventually she falls in love with him in return.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsJô ShishidoKôji WadaYumiko NogawaAn injured thief on the run finds sanctuary within a brothel of united, ruthless women.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsMiyuki KuwanoYûsuke KawazuYoshiko KugaA harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitch-hiking to rob middle-class men.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsSetsuko HaraYôko TsukasaMariko OkadaA widow tries to marry off her daughter with the help of her late husband's three friends.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsKeiji SadaYoshiko KugaChishû RyûTwo boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsGanjirô NakamuraSetsuko HaraYôko TsukasaThe family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsAntonio AmbuGary AndersonGerry AshworthKon Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a record of observations that range from the expansive to the intimate.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsShin SaburiKinuyo TanakaIneko ArimaA businessman clashes with his elder daughter over her choice of a husband.
- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsShigeru AmachiUtako MitsuyaYôichi NumataA group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsHiroshi KawaguchiHitomi NozoeHideo TakamatsuIn the middle of a fierce commercial competition among three caramel companies, an executive builds up a ditzy teenage girl as a mascot while simultaneously trying to uncover the rival companies' plans.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsJô ShishidoMisako WatanabeTamio KawajiA violent thug plays opposing yakuza bosses against each other.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsChikage AwashimaMichiyo AratamaKumi MizunoA war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns out to be married and won't leave his wife. Her older brother tries to marry off his children and hang on to/ extend his farm through an advantageous marriage in the face of threatened land confiscation and the desire of his children to get comfortable urban jobs instead of the backbreaking work in the paddy fields under parental control.
- DirectorsYûzô KawashimaMikio NaruseStarsYôko TsukasaIsuzu YamadaAkira TakaradaAya is the Madame who runs a restaurant where Geishas meet with their customers to eat, drink, listen to music and sing.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsKen YamauchiYoshiko KôdaMasayuki MoriIn the outskirts of a city in Hokkaido, an indigenous Ainu family faces discrimination from their Japanese neighbors, as well as various inter-family problems.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsSetsuko HaraMasayuki MoriHideko TakamineThe story of a family in Tokyo who live under the same roof in a large house and include the widowed sixty-year-old mother, older son and his wife, the youngest daughter and the older daughter who, while being married, is experiencing domestic problems and has moved back in. The latter woman's husband soon dies however making the move permanent. With life insurance money flowing in she not only can afford to pay rent, but also loan some cash to her brother who unbeknownst to his mother has taken on a loan from the bank with the house as collateral. The loan was needed as his wife's aunt's factory needs an infusion of funds.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsNobuko OtowaJun FujimakiKamatari FujiwaraSingle mum (father of child dead) from the country with 6th grade boy comes to Tokyo, leaves the boy to live with his uncle's family - wife, male, female teens, run a struggling greengrocer - and lives/ works in local inn. He gets bullied/ fights with local boys, goes to the baths, plays basketball, is befriended by his male cousin and becomes friendly with grade 4 girl who's the daughter of the innkeeper, who employs his mum and is the longterm mistress of a businessman from another town, who's the girl's father and who brings her half sister and brother to meet her but they're mean to her. Meanwhile the boy's mother gets friendly with one of the inn's clients and chucks her job for a trip or something more permanent with him. The young girl takes him shopping, and wants the boy to live with her and her mother, but mother and father refuse so the two kids go to a seaside where he sprains his ankle and they're late back even though the police get them and they're in trouble. The boy loses his beetle and tries to get another for the girl for a school project but when he does, she's moved house with her mother at the urging of her father. Clear? It's better in the film.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsAyako WakaoKyôko KishidaEiji FunakoshiA childless housewife falls in love with a beautiful model.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsKayoko HonooKôji NakaharaMasahiko TsugawaIn Osaka's slum, capricious folks without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the trading of ID cards and blood.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsShintarô KatsuEtsuko IchiharaOsamu ÔkawaA private detective is hired to find a missing man by his wife. Contradictory evidence and the lack of clues soon render the case as virtually unsolvable, as the detective grows more and more frustrated.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsKiyoshi AtsumiChieko BaishôSachiko MitsumotoTora-San, an itinerant peddler who is thrown out of his father's house twenty years before but reconnects with his aunt, uncle and sister Sakura. Tora wreaks some havoc in their lives, like getting drunk and silly at a marriage meeting.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsMichiyo YasudaShôichi OzawaMasakazu TamuraA 31-year-old man is manipulated by a much younger woman.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsRobert RyanRobert StackShirley YamaguchiPlanted in a Tokyo crime syndicate, a U.S. Army Investigator attempts to probe the coinciding death of a fellow Army official.
