<P class=MsoNormal>A big thank you to Aaron, William and Sarah for taking
the time out to reply to my question, and for pointing me in the right
direction to find out more about this still mysterious subject. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>It doesn’t seem so strange to hear that a
benshi-equivalent figure was present in screenings in countries colonised
Japan. Donald Richie points out the tremendous influence that the Japanese
had on the early developments in cinema in these nation’s. I need to
take a closer look at the emerging cinemas of other countries. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>And I Sawato Midori also backed up Aaron’s point,
that though other countries had their own tradition of film narration,
Japan’s was unique in terms of the status the benshi enjoyed, and the
actual manner of delivery of the commentary, and that the tradition is still
being carried on to this day. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Fascinating to hear that the film narrator was such an
enduring fixture in Thai cinema, William. Is there anything <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>more written on this subject? </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>And whilst on the subject of silent film, I was wondering
if anyone can help me on another matter – the prevalence of tinting
and colouring of these early films. On reading Paolo Cherchi Usai’s
book on silent cinema, he mentions that a large proportion of supposedly
black and white films were projected in colour, the original film being
either hand-tinted or toned, yet most of the original films only exist in
the form of the monochrome dupe’s taken from the original, with the
master film being lost to the ravages of time.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Does anyone know to what extent this manual colouring
process was practiced, if at all, in Japan, if any such films are still in
existence, and if there are any sources available on the subject?</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Silent film is a fascinating subject, I think.
There’s so much still to find out, and so much we’ll never
know.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Thanks again for all your help.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Jasper Sharp</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Midnight Eye: The Latest And Best in Japanese
Cinema<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>www.midnighteye.com</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px;
MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">--------- Original Message --------<BR>From:
KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu<BR>To:
"KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"
<KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu><BR>Subject: Re: Which came first,
the &#8220;benshi&#8221; or the
&#8220;byunsha&#8221;?<BR>Date: 27/10/03 03:04<BR><BR><FONT
face="Courier New" size=2><BR>This novel is about "benshi" in Germany. The
translation is readily available:<BR><BR>Hofmann, Gert. Kinoerzähler.
English The film explainer / Gert<BR>Hofmann ; translated from the
German by Michael Hofmann. Imprint<BR>Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern
University Press 1996.<BR>--<BR>Sarah Frederick<BR>Assistant Professor of
Japanese<BR>Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures<BR>Boston
University<BR>718 Commonwealth Ave.<BR>Boston, MA
02215<BR>(617)353-6232<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR
/>
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