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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Re: Query re Ikeru Ningyo</TITLE>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>P.S.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Did you catch Neil Brand at the Eastman House this
weekend?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>He comes to Emory tomorrow to do his lecture and
THE RING.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>MB</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=dburall1@rochester.rr.com
href="mailto:dburall1@rochester.rr.com">Bernardi-Buralli</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 17, 2003 12:33
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Query re Ikeru Ningyo</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Hi Matt,<BR><BR>You're likely to get more detailed info, but
I think the title is meant as a kind of existentialist comment on the
"modern" human condition, a reference to the protagonist's being no more than
a living "doll" (more in the sense of "puppet" or someone lacking any real
substance or raison d'etre). I think the protagonist is a young man who comes
to the city for a new job with the hopes of "making it big."<BR><BR>It
was an adaptation of a newspaper story by the "Shinkankaku ha" writer Kataoka
Teppei, and also featured Irie Takako as a quintessential working "modern
girl."<BR><BR>The film is often referred to as a representative "tendency
film" and as far as I know, is believed lost although material from this
period seems to be turning up in Moscow's Gosfilmofond (as was the case with
the 1930 "What made her do it?" (Nani ga kanojo o so saseta ka) that was shown
in reconstructed form with missing footage replaced by title cards at
Pordenone in 1999. If your friend would like to read a synopsis in English, I
think one is included in the new book out from Matsuda Eigasha, synopses of a
number of silent films. An English language copy can be ordered from their
bilingual website:
<BR><BR>http://www.infoasia.co.jp/subdir/matsuda.html<BR><BR>best,<BR>Joanne<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman">I'm trying to track down
information on the 1929 film by Uchida Tomu, "Ikeru Ningyo" (The Living
Doll). Do you by any chance know<BR>anything about it? I don't
even know the plot, or if the film is still extant, but I keep running
across references to it. I'm tracing doll symbolism from the 1920s through
the war period, as dolls are gradually militarized, and I'm intrigued by the
movie's title.<BR><FONT size=2>Thanks!<BR></FONT></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT
face=Arial>Matthew Bernstein<BR>Emory
University<BR></FONT></FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>