Shin Toho question

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

Shintoho did produce some films by big names early in its existence and 
for a time in the mid-1950s, with success with a series of films on the 
Meiji Emperor, was rolling in money, enough to make over 60 films a year 
and have over 2000 theaters around 1957.  But such hits were scarce and 
in its last few years was mostly devoted to making shorter films selling 
sex, violence, and war, or to rereleasing shorter versions of old films.  
Still, some very good people got their starts in this period, especially 
Ishii Teruo, whose Shintoho films are experiencing a revival, and actors 
like Sugawara Bunta, Tanba Tetsuro, Utsui Ken, and others.  Shintoho is, 
in some ways, the precursor of pink films in the 1960s.

When Shintoho folded in 1960, the people in the sales department bought 
the name and started a company that still exists making pink films under 
the name Shintoho.  Okura Mitsugu, the ex-benshi and notorious president 
of Shintoho when it went under (famous as much for his womanizing as much 
as for his taste), started Okura Eiga after Shintoho was lost, and that 
film company also still exists as both a producer and exhibiter of pink 
films.


Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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