AW: Lost Japanese Films

Michael Raine mjraine
Sat Dec 13 18:18:09 EST 2008


Excellent news! Can anyone confirm that the films are available for purchase or rental? I'd certainly like to take a look at them. Mysterious shamisen also sounds fascinating. 

Michael

Michael Raine
Assistant Professor in Japanese Cinema
The University of Chicago
mjraine at uchicago.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: eigagogo at free.fr [mailto:eigagogo at free.fr] 
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 12:03 PM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: RE: AW: Lost Japanese Films

i saw  these two movies in a french retrospective end of '05 (if i'm correct,
Tom was also here!).
Arima neko features surprising  fight scenes (and KK reference), Mysterious
Shamisen has a great experimental final
http://www.mcjp.asso.fr/psept2005/cine/pgm_matou.html

These movies were provided by Japan Fondation, their print copy was quite good
(at least, far better than their Somai's Love Hotel!).
I am pretty sure these movie are available on vHS

http://www.mcjp.asso.fr/psept2005/cine/pgm_matou.html

Selon Jasper Sharp <jasper_sharp at hotmail.com>:

>
> Roland,Thanks for this fascinating information about the film, and especially
> about Zensho Kinema.I would be interested to find out what the different
> versions of the films were - I just assumed they were two parts of a larger
> whole.Also, what films by Zensho still survive?It's so depressing that such
> huge swathes of Japanese film history have vanished!Martin, that's very
> interesting, and quite a coincidence - I just came across this Shinko Kinema
> tile earlier today. The director's name seems to have been transliterated in
> a number of ways: I've seen it as Kito Shigeru and Kifuji Shigeru in Western
> sources, but as Mokutou Shigeru in Japanese. Does anyone know which one it is
> for sure? He seems to have been fairly prolific.I am also really interested
> where you saw the film. I know Matsuda Productions in Japan have both a
> poster of this film (http://www.matsudafilm.com/matsuda/f_pages/f_6e.html),
> which seems to have been revived in Japan in the 1960s, and also it appears a
> print (http://www.matsudafilm.com/matsuda/e_pages/e_d_2e.html), along with a
> another of Shinko's bakeneko films with Takako Irie, The Ghost Cat and the
> Mysterious Shamisen from 1938. Did you see the film screened, or was it on
> DVD. thanks,JasperMidnight Eye
> www.midnighteye.com> Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:50:53 +0100> From:
> eigagogo at free.fr> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu> Subject: Re: AW:
> Lost Japanese Films> > Just to point out that 'Arima neko' (KITO Shigeru,
> 1937) have a final 'tower'> sequence that is an obvious reference to King
> Kong.> > > > Selon Roland Domenig <roland.domenig at univie.ac.at>:> >> Hi
> Jasper,>>>> actually there were two Edo ni arawareta Kingu Kongu films made:
> Edo ni>> arawareta Kingu Kongu Henka no maki (released March 18, 1939) and
> Edo ni>> arawareta Kingu Kongu Ogon no maki (released April 5, 1938). Both
> were>> directed by Kumagai Soya at Zensho Kinema's Ayameike Studio in Nara.
> The>> studio was established by Ichikawa Utaemon, one of the jidaigeki stars
> of the>> prewar era, who in 1927 left Makino Production and founded his own
> production>> company Ichikawa Utaemon Production aka Uta Puro. He rented a
> parcel of land>> of the Awameike Amusement Park and build a film studio
> there. Uta Puro>> continued to make films until 1936 when Utaemon joint
> Shochiku. Uta Puro was>> absorbed by Shochiku; their last film was Akutaro
> shishi by Nakagawa Nobuo>> who had made his directorial debut with Uta Puro
> in 1934. A few month after>> the closing of the studio Utaemon's elder
> brother, Yamaguchi Tenryu, founded>> the production company Zensho Kinema and
> reopened the Ayameike Studio. Zensho>> Kinema lasted until 1941. In 1940 it
> had come under the control of Shochiku>> which eventually absorbed Zensho
> Kinema. In January 1941 the Ayameike Studio>> closed its doors and fell into
> oblivion. The last of the about 170 films>> produced by Zensho Kinema (and
> almost all lost) was directed by Kumagai Soya,>> the director of the King
> Kong films.>> As Alex Jacoby already mentioned, Saito Torajiro made a
> Japanese King Kong>> version (Wasei Kingu Kongu) for the Shochiku Kamata
> Studios as early as 1933,>> only a few months after the release of the
> original King Kong film.>>>> Roland Domenig>> Vienna University>>>>>>
> ________________________________________>> Von:
> owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>>
> [owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] im Auftrag von Jasper Sharp>>
> [jasper_sharp at hotmail.com]>> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 10. Dezember 2008 18:29>>
> An: kinejapan>> Betreff: RE: Lost Japanese Films>>>> Talking of lost films,
> something that keeps coming up in conversations>> recently has been the
> following title:>>>>>> King Kong Appears in Edo (Edo ni arawareta Kingu
> Kongu,>> ????????????????????????????????????, Kumaga S??ya, 1938)>>>> It's
> listed in the jmdb simply as ??????????????????>>>> Can anyone confirm it
> ever existed? It seems to good to be true.>> There's some information on the
> web, namely>> http://www.tcat.ne.jp/~oguchi/Ape%20Movie%201900-1939.html>>>>
> It appears it only screened for one week only at most then disappeared, but>>
> I've never even heard of its production company Zenshou Kinema (Zenkatsu>>
> Kinema?) before - it makes me realise just how much weird stuff in the
> prewar>> period there was. So sad its all vanished!>>>> Jasper>>>> Midnight
> Eye www.midnighteye.com>>>>>>>> ________________________________>> Date: Wed,
> 3 Dec 2008 13:39:06 +0000>> From: macyroger at yahoo.co.uk>> To:
> KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>> Subject: Re: Lost Japanese Films>>>>
> Dear Christiane Gruen,>> You ask ->> "Therefore we ask if anybody knows of
> any Japanese films, which are believed>> lost, that they please post to the
> list or get in touch with me at the email>> address listed below.">> Alas,
> for Japan, the question is overwhelming, if not mocking, since most>>
> Japanese films are lost.  Of the many thousands of films made before 1940>>
> (such as to be found on the JMDb website) all but a few hundred, I believe,>>
> are lost.  And plenty after this date are also lost - for example, Jasper>>
> Sharp points out, in his new book that most pink films have not been>>
> preserved.>> So, for practical reasons, our focus is on what films are
> preserved.  We have>> had recent threads on this list as to the availability
> of information on>> which films are preserved - see 'Film archive catalogues'
> and 'Japanese>> governmental agencies/film culture promotional policies'.
> Due to the lack of>> easy availability of preservation information, Professor
> High's pointer to>> his book is particularly useful.>>>> The discussion on
> your website as to what might constitute a 'lost film' is>> valuable.  But
> whilst we have your attention, may I ask one question and make>> one
> suggestion, please?>>>> Question: (Assuming the Deutsche Kinemathek is the
> institution in Germany>> that holds information on films preserved in
> Germany,)  Is it one of those>> institutions that puts on line the listing of
> those films it has preserved?>> If so, what is the link, please.  If not, a
> listing of any East Asian films>> up to 1945 that are held would interest
> scholars, particularly as there are a>> few films that may have reached
> Berlin via Moscow.>>>> Suggestion: There is another category of found films
> that are hidden, in so>> far as there is no budget to produce projection
> copies.  Publicity for these>> might produce the positive result of procuring
> sponsorship for their>> projection and distribution.  For example, the only
> copy of a 1923 film by>> Conrad Wiene, DIE MACHT DER FINSTERNIS, (with
> Russian actors and, presumably,>> a Russian script) exists at Waseda
> University, Tokyo with English titles ->> see the report by Dr. Uli Jung in
> Filmblatt, Summer, 2003.  Perhaps your>> institution could find the budget to
> combine the revival of this hidden>> German film with that of a Japanese film
> in a similar state?>>>> sincerely,>> Roger Macy>>>> ----- Original Message
> ----->> From: "Christiane Gruen">>
> <Christiane.Gruen at gmx.de<mailto:Christiane.Gruen at gmx.de>>>> To:>>>
>
<kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu<mailto:kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state..edu>>>>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 3:52 PM>>
> <http://www.gmx.net/de/go/multimessenger>>>>>
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