Question re 1940 Toho Musical Film Extravaganza

[Faith Bach]

Michael,
Out of curiosity I tracked down the video of SONGOKU and had a look.   
There is nothing remotely resembling color in it.  The timings are  
consistent with Galbraith's reckoning and there are no obvious gaps,  
so if there ever was any coloration it is lost to history.  (Nor is  
color mentioned in the liner notes by Yamane Sadao, who is v.good at  
such details...)

Incidentally it is a perfectly delightful film.  Lots of money was  
spent.  Great art direction and some really astounding production  
numbers.  The video was produced in 1983 as one of the Nihon Eiga  
Kessaku Zenshu series.  The original film title on the credits is  
simply SONGOKU, altho' the video is called "Enoken no Songoku," and  
of course comprises both halves, eliminating the opening credits for  
Part 2.  It is possible the video is taken from a postwar re-release,  
as is often the case with this video series.

Cheers
Faith


On Jun 9, 2009, at 3:33 AM, <mccaskem at georgetown.edu>  
<mccaskem at georgetown.edu> wrote:

> Many Thanks! I'm in the process of preparing course material for  
> the Fall, this
> part re Kurosawa's early years working under Yamamoto Kajiro, and I  
> only know
> about Enoken in that context, and as a performer in "Tiger's Tail."  
> From the
> pictures I'd seen of him, it seemed to me that somehow he must have  
> put on
> weight just for this role. Now, thanks to you, I know that was this  
> other
> performer, Kishiir.
>
> I just found out from Stuart Galbraith's "Emperor and the Wolf,"  
> 657, that
> Enoken no Songoku was a 2-part, 72 min. + 67 min. production. Both  
> parts
> were shown together in theaters.  Galbraith has it as Songoku, and  
> my other
> sources have it as Enoken no Songoku, and all put together in 1 entry.
>
> It's outstanding that there are people on this list like you, who  
> not only already
> know about this film, but know the performers!
>
> Best Wishes,
>
> Michael McCaskey
> Georgetown Univ.