Covert dissent in wartime cinema?

[SYBIL.THORNTON@asu.edu]

Hi, Peter and all,

Well I did say my comments were worth two cents!

In any case, on the whole, censors have not shown themselves to be terribly 
acute.  Marc Ferro points out that Eisenstein's Strike was passed on the 
script:  one subtitle accords the Party credit for leading the Revolution.  
Nevertheless, the film itself is a strictly Marxist analysis (revolution 
initiated by the people).

Now, Furumi Takuji had a really interesting career.  His film Nikko no Enzo 
was cut--mostly titles with class conflict rhetoric.  On the other hand, 
Sensengai and Ken had visuals cut from them.  Still, the films were immensely 
popular--the ultimate message could not be cut out of the film itself.  In any 
case, Furumi was so angry about the cuts that he beat up a censorship official 
in his chair and was arrested.  He was later released as "crazy."  See his bio 
in the Kinema junpo Nihon eiga kantoku zenshu and Takenaka Tsutomu's Keiko 
eiga no jidai, which contains interviews with Furumi's son and his former 
wife, Benizawa Kyoko.

I always find your contributions most erudite and to the point.

Cheers,
SAT