Nikkatsu Action line-up for Udine

[Aaron Gerow]

Mark,

> Thanks much for the suggestion. I debated whether to program 
> lesser-known
> Suzuki titles, but decided to turn the spotlight instead on his 
> Nikkatsu
> colleagues, whose great and near-great genre films are well known in 
> Japan,
> mostly unknown abroad. Go for the low-hanging fruit, in other words. 
> Also,
> Suzuki has gotten a huge amount of overseas attention already, 
> deservedly
> so.

I can certainly understand your reasoning, though one dominant way to 
program Nikkatsu Action has been by star, not director, since the 
studio was so star oriented. That's how Watanabe Takenobu organizes his 
book and you seem to follow that with your groupings. Doing a Seijun 
Wada Koji film could be an interesting footnote.
>
> Udine is receiving funding from the Japan Foundation for the retro, so 
> they
> can sub what they have to sub. But after Googling Home Vision's DVD of
> "Stray Cat Rock -- Sex Hunter" and learning that they also had a subbed
> print (to the Udine's director's delight), I realized there might be 
> others
> like it out there. Thus the post to KineJapan.

If the JF is going to subtitle them, this of course is a great 
opportunity to get a few more titles out there with subs. I know it's 
probably too late, but I can't help but make a last minute pitch for 
one of my favorite Nikkatsu Action films, Colt wa ore no passport. It's 
Shishido Jo's favorite among his films with a spectacular ending--and I 
still can't forget the music.


Aaron Gerow
Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Film Studies Program
Yale University
53 Wall Street, Room 316
PO Box 208363
New Haven, CT 06520-8363
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6764
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu