New Kurosawa/Mifune Biography

[Stuart Galbraith IV]

I am the author of three books on Japanese cinema, including The Japanese Filmography (McFarland, 1995). I am presently working on a joint biography of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, which is being published by Faber & Faber. This book is scheduled to be published next year.

(Faber & Faber, and its parent company, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, is the London-based company which has published screenplays of Mr. Kurosawas films.)

As many of you are aware, this is the first complete biography of either Mr. Kurosawa or Mr. Mifune ever published in English. Mostly, it will discuss the background and production history of the films they made together and separately, how they were subsequently received in Japan and abroad, and will analyze the films, their cast and crews beyond the mainly literary approach utilized by Mr. Richie in his excellent The Films of Akira Kurosawa. I am especially excited that this book will coverin detailMr. Kurosawas career as an assistant director, the screenplays he wrote for other directors, his unrealized films (especially as Runaway Train and Tora! Tora! Tora!) as well as his non-movie related projects. As for Mr. Mifune, the book will, for example, provide extensive coverage of his films for other directors, addressing in detail films which have never been shown in the United States, how he came to form and operate his own production company, his television appearances, and the films he abroad, beginning with an in-depth analysis of the Mexican-made Animas Trujano: El Hombre Importante (1961). 

Needless to say, this is a daunting task, and I sincerely want to do both men justice with this book. Working with several translators, I have been going through a veritable mountain of material in Japanese (and Spanish, and French). I have also been extremely lucky in that I have been able to track down and interview roughly 80 actors, directors, and others within the Japanese film industry who have worked with Mr. Kurosawa and/or Mr. Mifune. Ill be back in Japan soon where I hope to do at least another 30 interviews, and several dozen more by telephone or by mail.

Im writing this to extend an invitation to those of you on the list who have wanted to read such a book as much and for as long as I have. There is simply so much to do, so much information to track down, I could easily spend 10 years on a project like this. While I have had much success finding material via bookstores like Kinokuniya, finding movies by prowling Japanese video stores, tracking down actors agents I realize theres material I know I will not find (and, in some cases, even be aware of) before early next year, when the manuscript is due.

Therefore, I would welcome any suggestions, leads on videotapes, helpful hints, or any other nuggets of information you might be willing to share. I cant begin to tell you what I have and dont have at this point; however, if you have or are aware of something fairly obscure, please dont hesitate to respond. Naturally, anything useful will be gratefully acknowledged. If you are willing to provide photocopies of documents, videotapes, and the like I will, of course, reimburse such costs on a case-by-case basis.

Some examples of items Im looking for:

 Kurosawa/Mifune films not available on home video in the United States or Japan.
 Photocopies of the inserts included on the Toho Video laserdisc releases of Kurosawas films. These insert include production data, interviews with cast and crew members, articles by film critics and other directors, many not published elsewhere. 
 Out-of-print Japanese books focusing on Toho, Kajiro Yamamoto, etc.
 Japanese Figures: budgets, grosses, production dates.

Thanks for looking this over. Again, any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Stuart Galbraith IV





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