Ito film found

[Aaron Gerow]

The National Film Center announced that it had "discovered" a digest 
print of Ito Daisuke's 1929 silent jidaigeki, Zanji zanbaken. Like many 
Japanese silent films, but especially like many of Ito's other silent 
films, praised as masterpieces at the time but mostly lost, this film, 
starring Tsukigata Ryunosuke, was long thought lost for eternity. Then a 
private collector appeared with a 9.5mm Pathe Baby print of the film, 
which was donated to the Film Center. In the prewar, film companies made 
digested versions of famous films for sale for home use on the then 
popular 9.5mm system. The print that was found is only 26 minutes long 
compared to the film's original 122 minutes, but it does contain some of 
the important fight scenes which Ito was famous for. Pathe Baby prints, 
which were sometimes so well edited the story holds up well, have become 
a crucial means of getting a glimpse of some of the lost masterpieces of 
prewar cinema. (There are rumors that more masterpieces are in the hands 
of less cooperative private collectors in this format.)

The print that was found was not in good condition, but the Film Center 
is using digital technology to restore it and make a 35mm print which 
they hope to show in public in May 2003.

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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