How big tobacco bought the big screen

Anne Ishii anne.ishii
Fri Sep 26 12:59:03 EDT 2008


could this have simply to do with japanese tobacco being a state-run  
monopoly through the 80s?
and if it's film of the 40s, the very same government was tightly  
monitoring film content for militarist incongruence, right?

On Sep 26, 2008, at 12:43 PM, Paul Roquet wrote:

> I have been thinking about cigarettes in Japanese film as well,  
> after watching Shina no Yoru (China Nights, 1940) earlier this week.  
> Every time Hasegawa and Ri Koran look all ready to kiss, out comes  
> the box of cigarettes instead, with Ri seductively striking a match  
> and lighting her man's tobacco. I'm not sure if they were sponsored  
> to light up, but it certainly seems like an effective way to add to  
> add to the allure...
>
> Come to think of it, Yamaguchi/Ri Koran's character slides into  
> femme fatale mode for at least the middle part of the film - perhaps  
> that's where she picked up the habit.
>
> Paul
>
>
> On Sep 26, 2008, at 1:47 AM, Roger Macy wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know if there is any smoking gun connecting the tobacco  
>> industry with Japanese cinema?
>> I noticed this report about Hollywood in the Guardian on-line
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/sep/26/tobaccoindustry.smoking
>> and it is, doubtless, reported elsewhere.
>>
>> I've been watching as many films as I can of the 'Japan in Black'  
>> season here at San Sebastian.  The 'noir' elements of many of the  
>> films are debatable (as the organisers readily admit).  Femmes  
>> fatales are passing rare, along with private detectives, etc. etc.   
>> Train scenes figure strongly and memorably, but all the films share  
>> two elements: they were popular films that featured well- 
>> photographed scenes of stars, smoking (or was it " stars' smoking ").
>> Roger
>

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