Subtitles in Japanese Theaters in the 1930s

[Michael McCaskey]

An American who lived in Japan in the 1930s once told me that European and American films shown in Japanese theaters not only had Japanese subtitles, but even at times a benshi to narrate, while the original sound track was going. I believe this person also said that sometimes there might be a second set of subtitles--perhaps English ones (?), if the sound track was in a Continental European language.

This would have been between 1935 and 1941, so it would have been unlikely that any of the films were silent. The titles were displayed directly on the picture screen--not inter-titles. 

I was quite young, not paying full attention when I heard all this. Some people on this list are experts on 1930s Japan and film, so perhaps someone could shed some light on whether the actuality was anything at all like these shaky third-party recollections.

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.