Mizoguchi and neo-realism

[Roland Domenig]

The first Italian neorealism films had indeed their Japanese release a year after Mizoguchi finished Yoru no onnatachi and it is very unlikely that he has seen any of them.  
Here are the Japanese release dates of some of the neorealism films. 

Paisà (Roberto Rossellini): September 6, 1949
Vivere in pace (Luigi Zamapa): October 4, 1949
Il nome della Legge (Pietro Germi): January 15, 1950
Sciuscià (Vittorio de Sica): March 21, 1950
Caccia tragica (Giuseppe de Santis): June 10, 1950
Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio de Sica): September 8. 1950
Roma, città aperta (Roberto Rossellini): November 7, 1950
Cuori senza frontiere (Luigi Zampa): September 1, 1951
Il mulino del Po (Alberto Lattuada): November 25, 1951
Riso Amaro (Giuseppe de Santis): March 20, 1952
Germania anno zero (Roberto Rossellini); July 6, 1952
La città si difende (Pietro Germi): September 1, 1952
Miracolo a Milano (Vittorio de Sica): November 1, 1952
Stromboli (Roberto Rossellini): October 31, 1953
I Bambini ci guardano (Vittorio de Sica): March 16, 1954
Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica): October 1, 1962

For some reason Visconti's early films haven't been shown in Japan in the 1950s. Japanese audiences had to wait until retrospectives in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Roland 

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu im Auftrag von Mathieu Capel
Gesendet: Sa 09.06.2007 11:59
An: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Betreff: 
 
Hello everyone,

Just a little question for mizoguchian specialists : a french critic,
Jean Douchet, wrote some ten years ago that Mizoguchi's Yoru no
onnatachi, released in 1948, was in some way influenced by italian
neo-realism. But if I'm not wrong, and Oshima Nagisa confirmed that in
his "taikenteki sengo eigaron", these italian movies had been all
released in Japan from 1949 to 1950...
I was just wondering if Mizoguchi ever had the chance to see these
movies before shooting his own Yoru no onnatachi... Could someone help
me for that ? Thanks a lot.

Mathieu Capel
Paris





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