Kinugasa (was: eisenstein & montage in prole cinema)

[Alexander Jacoby]

I too generally find Kinugasa a bit disappointing, Page of Madness (which clearly is a masterpiece) aside. I think I've seen about ten of his films, which is obviously only a small selection of a very large oeuvre, but he does strike me as generally rather blandly academic in style. I only found Crossways mildly diverting, and Kinugasa's other really famous film in the West, Gate of Hell, is quite startlingly conventional.
   
  However, I hear very good things said about two films I've been unable so far to see: the 1940 Battle of Kawanakajima (an epic war film) and the 1947 Actress (the competing version of the story of pioneering actress Sumako Matsui, whose story was also filmed the same year by Mizoguchi). Does anyone on this list have strong opinions about those two films - or any other lesser-known works by Kinugasa?
   
  In fairness I think the jury is still out - a fuller exploration of his career might turn up some more gems.
   
  ALEX
   
  

Michael Kerpan <mekerpan at verizon.net> wrote:
              >  Have you looked at Kinugasa? Apparently he went to Russia in 1928 to contact and study
>  with Eisenstein.  

  I guess the lessons didn't "take".  ;~{

If there is a more uniformly disappointing big-name Japanese director of the era, I have yet to encounter him.




Leaving aside "Kurutta ippeji", which seems to have been a lucky fluke, did he make any truly worthwhile films.  I've seen "Jujiro" (1928), Yukinojo henge (1935) and "Uta andon" (1960) -- and have been massively unimpressed.

MEK
Boston




       
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