<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16850" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thanks, Robert, for the correction.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Cineteca Manifestazioni confirm that 'it isn't any
more'. So, just Hiroshi Komatsu introducing 'Grande fete du cinquantenaire
de Yokohama' and 'Asagao nikki' from 1909, on the morning of Wednesday
1st.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Roger</FONT></DIV>
<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 ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=robert.geib@gmx.de href="mailto:robert.geib@gmx.de">Robert Geib</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, June 24, 2009 9:19
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Question re 1940 Toho
Musical Film Extravaganza Etc.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Roger,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I was looking forward for the movie too, but
unfortunatly it doesn't appear in the final programme (pdf on the bottom of
the site). Maybe they cancelled it?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robert</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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 ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=macyroger@yahoo.co.uk href="mailto:macyroger@yahoo.co.uk">Roger
Macy</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, June 24, 2009 2:20
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Question re 1940 Toho
Musical Film Extravaganza Etc.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>On the subject of early colour films, I see that the
upcoming 'Cinema Ritrovato' at Bologna has a series, <EM><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Il colore più grande della vita</FONT></EM>, in which
Shin Heike Monogatari, 1955 is to be shown. There still doesn't seem
to be a specific date for the films on the website</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://www.cinetecadibologna.it/cinemaritrovato2009/ev/Programma">http://www.cinetecadibologna.it/cinemaritrovato2009/ev/Programma</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Roger</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>----- Original Message ----- </FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>From: "Mark Roberts" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:mroberts37@mail-central.com"><FONT
face=Arial>mroberts37@mail-central.com</FONT></A><FONT
face=Arial>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>To: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"><FONT
face=Arial>KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</FONT></A><FONT
face=Arial>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 7:00 AM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Subject: Re: Question re 1940 Toho Musical Film
Extravaganza Etc.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial>Michael,<BR><BR>I've
always heard of Kinoshita's "Carmen kokyo ni kaeru" (1951)
<BR>described as the first color film in Japan.<BR><BR>"Carmen" was filmed
using a Fujicolor reversal film made available in <BR>1950. The film
speed was quite slow (El. 10), and this may have been <BR>part of the
rationale for shooting most of the scenes as exteriors <BR>(lots of
natural light). My recollection of the color quality is that <BR>it
looked super-saturated, especially the reds, though the copy I saw
<BR>was likely from a recent restoration, and who knows what was
tweaked <BR>in the process.<BR><BR>At the time, I'm guessing that the
color quality of the Fujicolor <BR>process was not entirely
satisfactory to the studios, and this was the <BR>reason that
Eastmancolor and Agfacolor were used during the 1950s. <BR>E.g.
Daiei's first color film, "Jigokumon" (1953), was filmed in
<BR>Eastmancolor. Toho's first color film was apparently "Hana no naka
no <BR>musumetachi" (1953), although it seems there were some
experiments at <BR>Toho dating back to 1946.<BR><BR>I would imagine
that processes such as Fujicolor, Eastmancolor, and <BR>Agfacolor were
all chosen over Technicolor for reasons of cost. <BR>Originally,
Technicolor required a more elaborate set of optics with a
<BR>beam-splitter, and a special dye-transfer process for developing
and <BR>producing prints. The cameras were quite expensive and at
the <BR>beginning the American studios had to rent them. The
Technicolor <BR>camera was obsolesced in the early 1950s with the
introduction of a <BR>"Monopak" single-strip color film, but it was
still very expensive and <BR>it seems the film still needed to be
processed by a Technicolor lab. <BR>The apparent advantage of
Eastmancolor was that it was single-strip <BR>and did not involve a
proprietary developing process.<BR><BR>While 1951 is generally cited as the
date of the earliest color film <BR>in Japan, I see that the JMDB
lists two films from 1949 that included <BR>some color
segments:<BR><BR>新妻会議<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1949/by000080.htm"><FONT
face=Arial>http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1949/by000080.htm</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT
face=Arial>虹男<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1949/by000950.htm"><FONT
face=Arial>http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1949/by000950.htm</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT
face=Arial>And here's a short film from 1948 about boxing that was filmed in
color:<BR><BR>ねずみの拳闘<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1948/bx000780.htm"><FONT
face=Arial>http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1948/bx000780.htm</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT
face=Arial>For more details, you might look at an article by Hisashi
Okajima <BR>called "Color Film Restoration in Japan: Some Examples"
(Journal of <BR>FIlm Preservation, FIAF, 10/2003), that includes more
history on the <BR>origins of color processes in the Japanese
cinema.<BR><BR>Best regards,<BR><BR>M. Roberts<BR><BR><BR><BR>On Jun 22,
2009, at 1:26 AM, <</FONT><A href="mailto:mccaskem@georgetown.edu"><FONT
face=Arial>mccaskem@georgetown.edu</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>>
<</FONT><A href="mailto:mccaskem@georgetown.edu"><FONT
face=Arial>mccaskem@georgetown.edu</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>
<BR> > wrote:<BR><BR>> Dear Faith Bach,<BR>><BR>> Thank you
very much for the information on Songoku. It was very kind <BR>>
and very<BR>> thoughtful of you to look into it and send your findings. I
am glad <BR>> that you got a<BR>> chance to see Songoku - you're
very fortunate to have the resources <BR>> to do so. I<BR>> am
pretty much limited to films I can get in DVD form from Amazon
<BR>> Japan, or<BR>> from dealers willing to send material
overseas.<BR>><BR>> I looked in Galbraith's new book, "The Toho
Studios Story," which I <BR>> just got,<BR>> and it seems
(155-156) that Yamamoto Kajiro remade Songoku in 1959, <BR>>
using<BR>> the same special effects person as in 1940, Tsuburaya Eiji.
It's in <BR>> Agfacolor.<BR>><BR>> Agfacolor tended to make
everything look bluish in the 1940s, and <BR>> mostly in<BR>>
the 1950s as well. It was originally a German film, but US <BR>>
Occupation outlets<BR>> sold it in Japan after WWII. Technicolor was
better, but perhaps for <BR>> some reason<BR>> Yamamoto liked
it, or got a special deal, or couldn't get <BR>> Technicolor film,
even<BR>> in 1959. I saw a rare US grade B Agfacolor movie made in the
1950s, <BR>> about the<BR>> Civil War, and everything was
bluish, except the Union Army <BR>> uniforms, which<BR>> became
super-blue, deep indigo to purple.<BR>><BR>> In any case, it's clear
that you indeed saw the classic 1940 <BR>> original
version,<BR>> since the remake was in color, and the cast was different.
It would <BR>> be wonderful<BR>> if some entity could put that
out now on a DVD, with perhaps the <BR>> 1959 version<BR>> as
well. It would be interesting to compare it with "The Wizard of
<BR>> Oz."<BR>><BR>> My inquiry about Toho color was based on the
fact that I saw <BR>> "Tohokaraa 東宝カ<BR>> ラー" mentioned in
connection with Songoku, in the Toho historical <BR>> item<BR>>
attached, though there were only B&W stills. I didn't think
Japanese <BR>> studios<BR>> made color films in 1940, but as I
recall part of The Wizard in Oz <BR>> is in B&W, so I<BR>>
wondered if the Songoku picture had a color segment stashed away in
<BR>> it. Or<BR>> something like the pink smoke in the otherwise
B&W "High & Low," <BR>> Kurosawa's<BR>> first bit of
color. Thanks very much to your special efforts, <BR>> though, it's
now clear<BR>> that there's no color in Songoku at all.<BR>><BR>>
The other alternative was that "Tohokaraa" was some kind of special
<BR>> metaphor,<BR>> but that seemed very odd and peculiar, or perhaps
completely <BR>> mistaken, so I<BR>> did not want to mention it
online as a possibility.<BR>><BR>> After receiving your email, I went
back to the source again, and it <BR>> looks as if, as<BR>> in
the attachments, it was idiosyncratically used, as a sort of <BR>>
proprietary slogan<BR>> or buzzword, to refer to performers or
performances that were stylish,<BR>> cosmopolitan, etc. - perhaps meaning
somthing like "cool" today. Like<BR>> "TohoCool," maybe.<BR>><BR>>
It looks as if perhaps Toho never again used the term "Tohokaraa,"
<BR>> the way it<BR>> later used "Tohoscope," perhaps because of this
earlier usage. It <BR>> seems as if<BR>> Toho later used
"Toho/Karaa" to mean "Toho films in color."<BR>><BR>> I'm very
impressed by your expertise, and I hope I may learn more <BR>>
about your<BR>> research. It sounds as if you know a great deal about
1930s and <BR>> 1940s films<BR>> and performers.<BR>><BR>>
If you're researching 1940s and later Toho days, if you haven't
<BR>> already seen it,<BR>> there's a 2003 book by Takase Masahiro,
「東宝砧撮影所物 <BR>> 語」ISBN4-924609-<BR>> 82-X, which you might perhaps be
interested in. Takase's also <BR>> written another<BR>>
follow-up book 「東宝監督群像―砧の青春」2006, ISBN-10: <BR>> 4924609927
ISBN-<BR>> 13: 978-4924609921, which I've not yet seen.<BR>><BR>>
Thank you once again for your email, which I appreciate very much
<BR>> indeed.<BR>><BR>> With Very Best Wishes,<BR>><BR>>
Michael McCaskey<BR>> Georgetown Univ.<BR>> Wash. DC<BR>><BR>>
PS<BR>> I realize now that I've finished writing that this is on list.
If <BR>> the attachment does<BR>> not come through, I can send
it to you off list, if you'd like to <BR>> send your email<BR>>
address to me, </FONT><A href="mailto:mccaskem@georgetown.edu"><FONT
face=Arial>mccaskem@georgetown.edu</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>. Now I must
go and proofread a<BR>> book review, so I can get it sent out
today.<BR>><BR>><BR>>
<孫悟空、東宝カラー、東宝／カラー、etc.doc><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>