Introduction and request for help on 1930s film

stephanie deboer sdeboer
Wed Jul 13 00:12:18 EDT 2005


Greetings. 

And its good to meet you online this time! (I think we talked briefly at the 
conference)

As for Ri Koran films, believe it or not, but you might have luck with a few of her 
late 30s/early 1940s titles at a large Tsutaya rental video/DVD store.  Not sure 
about Osaka, but the Tsutaya in Shinjuku, Tokyo holds a bunch of the titles that 
Shochiku Home Video released not too many years ago - I'm quite sure that 
China Nights was in the line-up last year (though the video version is not as 
complete as the film copy occasionally (?) screened by the Kyobashi film center 
- I was lucky enough to see it last year, thanks to the generousity of wonderful 
people linked to Meiji Gakuin Daigaku)

And speaking of Meiji Gakuin U., I'm not sure about how questions of access 
would play out for you, but I think that they also hold a bunch of the titles that you 
want that were released in video.  

And finally - though I would consider this only as a last resort, since they are at 
various levels of image quality - I also have copies of several Ri Koran films...

Good luck with your project!

Stephanie


----- Original Message -----
From: Wei Ting Jen <intewig at gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2005 12:18 pm
Subject: Introduction and request for help on 1930s film

> Hello,
> 
> Been on the list for a couple of months now but haven't really 
> posted much, 
> but feel a bit less shy now after meeting some of you in person at 
> the 
> Kinema Club V :)
> 
> Just wanted to introduce myself really briefly as well as talk 
> about the 
> dissertation I'm working on.
> 
> Name is Wei Ting, currently attending graduate school in Osaka. My 
> primary 
> research interests are Sino-Japanese relations and cultural 
> history, as for 
> film I just watch lots of it. It's my dream to someday move into 
> political 
> documentaries and perhaps make a film on modern-day Sino-Japanese 
> relations...but until I get more people on board it's going to 
> remain a pipe 
> dream.
> 
> I'm currently working on my dissertation which is on the 
> representation of 
> the "China Incident" in Japanese film in the 1930s. I'm primarily 
> looking at 
> the development of the news film industry, the plethora of "Japan 
> saves 
> China" drama films, and documentary films by filmmakers such as 
> Kamei Fumio 
> as well as other propaganda films. Despite the extreme difficulty 
> in getting 
> hold of these old films I've had a little measure of success by 
> hunting down 
> video rental stores, searching on Yahoo Auctions, etc. There really 
> doesn't 
> seem to be any better way of accessing these films, and my 
> library's 
> collection is paltry. 
> 
> At the moment I'm on the hunt for several films, and would 
> appreciate if 
> anybody could provide me with any leads on viewing them: 
> Anything with Ri Koran, especially China Nights, The Road to the 
> Pacific 
> War, Sakebu Ajia (Asia cries out), Kamei Fumio's Peking, The Good 
> Earth 
> (Paramount, or MGM? I forget. I found it on Amazon but it cost like 
> $50 to 
> ship it hear to Japan), Hokushi no Sora wo Tsuku (Striking at the 
> North 
> Skies), Five Scouts, Mud & Soldiers, Shanghai Rikusentai
> 
> In addition I also have a list of Toho Bunka Eiga films which I 
> found in a 
> 1938 edition of Kinema Junpo, all of which have to do with the 
> China 
> Incident. (These include productions by Kamei, Monbusho, Rikugunsho 
> and 
> Kaigunsho, etc etc). Would the best way to try and view these films 
> be just 
> to ring up Toho and ask? As a film-studies novice I would 
> appreciate any 
> advice on this matter. Yoroshiku!
> 
> That's it from me for now, thanks in advance for the help. And 
> before I 
> forget, many thanks to Prof Miryam Sas for introducing me to Kinema 
> Club, 
> and to Mark Normes for encouraging me to go for the conference.
> 
> cheers
> Wei Ting
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward, 
> You can 
> only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the 
> dots will 
> somehow connect in your future." - Steve Jobs
> 






More information about the KineJapan mailing list