Early Movies Depicting WWII

[Jonathan M. Hall]

Dear All,

Rob Smith raises, tentatively I see, an interesting question.  Was  
Kurosawa forced to make The Most Beautiful?  Was quitting his job a  
possibility? I wonder if the rhetoric of force is a contemporary  
means to deal with the question of life under fascism.  Of course,  
for those Americans on the list, we might be able to ask similar  
questions of ourselves?

Yours,
Jonathan

-----
Jonathan M. Hall
Japanese Film, Media, and Modern Literature
Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature / Film & Media Studies

320 Humanities Instructional Building
UC Irvine, Irvine CA 92697-2651 USA
office: 1-949-824-9778
fax: 1-949-824-1992

Co-Chair, Queer Caucus, Society for Cinema and Media Studies



On Apr 6, 2007, at 3:24 PM, Rob Smith wrote:

> This won't answer the question specifically, but Kurosawa's "The  
> Most Beautiful" might be worth taking a look at. It takes place in  
> an optical plant during WW2, and does depict a little bit of the  
> war during the climax, if I recall correctly.
> It's been a long time since I've read his own autobiography or  
> Stephen Prince's book (I've never seen the film itself), but it's  
> essentially a propaganda piece that he was, I think, forced to make  
> during the war against his will (it was made in '44).
> Hope that helps, even though it doesn't really address the central  
> issue of the question.
>
> On 4/6/07, Bruce Baird < baird at asianlan.umass.edu> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> This is a rudimentary question from a colleague (Steve Forrest--not  
> usually a KineJapan type) of mine here at UMass, but I thought that  
> one of you might know off the top of your head or already have a  
> previously typed file stored in your hard drive and thus could help  
> out faster than I can.
>
> Best,
>
> Bruce
>
> PS.  No need to trouble  yourself with responding directly to  
> Steve.  If you just hit reply and respond to me or the list, I can  
> forward replies on to him
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Stephen Forrest <sforrest at asianlan.umass.edu>
>> Date: April 6, 2007 2:04:37 PM EDT
>> To: Bruce Baird <baird at asianlan.umass.edu>
>> Subject: Movie history question
>>
>>
>> Hi Bruce,
>>
>> I'm wondering if know, or could look up (or suggest a good source  
>> for looking up), the earliest Japanese movies that depict WWII  
>> actions and events.  Between the end of the war and 1970 Tora! x3  
>> is the period I'm interested in, as of course there are all those  
>> victor's movies.  Any thoughts?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> 	Steve
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>>
>> Stephen M. FORREST,  Ph. D.
>> Exchange Program Director (Japan) and Assistant Undergraduate Advisor
>> Japanese Language and Literature
>> Dept. of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
>> University of Massachusetts Amherst
>>
>> office: Herter Hall 441              phone: (413) 545-4950
>>
>>          * Classical and Manuscript Japanese at UMass Amherst *
>> ______________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>
> Bruce Baird
> Assistant Professor
> Asian Languages and Literatures
> University of Massachusetts Amherst
> Butô , Japanese Theater, Intellectual History
>
> 717 Herter Hall
> 161 Presidents Drive
> University of Massachusetts Amherst
> Amherst, MA 01003-9312
> Phone: 413-577-4992
> Fax: 413-545-4975
> baird at asianlan.umass.edu
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> -rob
> http://www.robixsmash.com/


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