Nishizumi Senshacho-den

[Peter High]

Re: Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi--
1) Most certainly NOT a documentary. Based on an actual incident reported widey in the press (c. 1/1938), but the film itself is a highly fictionalized hagiography. Dircted by Yoshimura Kozaburo, screenplay by Ozu's chief script collaborator, Noda Kogo.
2) One (rather poorly) dubbed copy on video casset available at Nagoya University.
3) For a short time some twenty years ago, Shochiku was selling vc copies of the film, but a pressure group made up of "fans"--"worshipers" might be more accurate--of novelist Kikuchi Kan caused its withdrawal from sale. Kikuchi wrote the first short story based on the above-mentioned news reports and this was the inspiration for the film. The Kikuchi Kan fan group was worried that the film (which credits the original short story) would resurrect the on going debate--was Kikuchi kan a genuine wartime collaborator? (of course he was and was actually banned from publishing for a short time in the immediate aftermath of the war as punishment...he died before his case could get a full hearing)
4)Highly unlikely the film was ever subtitled in English. Perhaps there was an Italian (or French?) -titled copy used when the film won top prize at Venice film festival in 1940, but have never heard anything about it.
5) For an analysis of the film see  my IMPERIAL SCREEN (U of Wisconsin Press, pp. 211-215)
 
Peter B. High

 
--- On Wed, 5/20/09, Wei Ting Jen <intewig at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Wei Ting Jen <intewig at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Rép. : Re: self-introduction and request
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 9:17 AM


Hi Mia -

(and greetings to Nate and Dick)

Nathan is right, the National Film Center does have copies but they are not subtitled in English.

I did my Master's thesis on a similar topic, researching Japanese film from the 1936-1945 era (specifically, how the portrayal of "Shina" evolved from the Manchurian Incident news films to Ri-Koran, etc etc). Many KineJapan members helped me with finding original sources in Japan back then, for which I am still indebted to. 

I've actually been wanting to upload my thesis somewhere (I never bothered with publishing it cos I left academia and the writing was so-so only ;)), mainly because I reviewed many rare films from a wide range of sources from the National Film Center, Showa Institute, Asahi News Film Archives, Ikeda Bunko in Osaka, etc etc which should be a useful resource to list members out there. Can anyone offer to help? 

Best regards
Wei Ting




2009/5/20 Nate Shockey <nshockey at gmail.com>

The National Film Center in Tokyo definitely has a copy of the Nishizumi tank battalion film; I saw it there at a private screening several years ago with another list member (Wei Ting, are you reading this?). It is not a documentary, at least not in any conventional sense, but rather a feature length action film, albeit a pretty boring one, as I recall that all three attendees at that screening may have drifted off in the middle. That copy didn't have any subtitles, but I suppose it's possible that other archives' copies may.

-Nate Shockey 





On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 11:41 PM, Dick Stegewerns <dick.stegewerns at xs4all.nl> wrote:


The two films you mention are not documentaries and they should have copies at the Film Center. English subtitled copies may exist, because I recollect there was a showcase of Japanese propaganda/war films in the US  ten years or more ago.

Dick Stegewerns



Mia Webster さんは書きました: 




Hello Sybil
Thank you for your reply.
 
I did however already checked out the Tokyo Modern Museum of Art Film Center.  I understood that they do not have documentaries, shorts, animation films nor foreign films, and that their feature films are only in Japanese.  I therefore presumed they would not have copies of these two documentaries, which ideally I would like in English.  I also tried searching their data base, but didn't find these films.  http://search.artmuseums.go.jp/search_e/
 
Do you know someone there I could contact about this?  I really appreciate your help,
Mia

>>> Sybil Thornton <camford1989 at yahoo.com> 2009-05-20 00:17 >>>





Hi,
The Tokyo Modern Museum of Art Film Center has copies.
Cheers,
SAT

--- On Tue, 5/19/09, Linda Ehrlich <linda.ehrlich at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Linda Ehrlich <linda.ehrlich at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: self-introduction and request
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 8:42 AM


Mia: I believe the Library of Congress has copies, but not for general circulation. Only for viewing there (a very interesting experience in itself). Linda Ehrlich


On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Mia Webster <Mia.Webster at radio-canada.ca> wrote:



Name: Mia Webster
Institutional affiliation or job: Visual researcher for CBC / Radio-Canada (French language Canadian public broadcaster)
City and country: Montréal, Canada
Research projects or publications: Currently working on doc on WWII
Interests with regard to Japanese film and moving image media: 
 
For this current documentary project, I would like to view the following two Japanese films:
- Chokoreto to heitai (Chocolate and soldiers), directed by Takeshi Sato, first aired in Osaka Nov 30, 1938
- Nishizumi Senshacho-Den (The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi), directed by Kosaburo Yoshimura, first aired at the Kokusai cinema, Nov 29, 1940

I haven't been able to find them on the web, at Amazon.ca nor Amazon.com, at any of our specialized video stores, at zip.ca...  I contacted the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute in Japon, as well as The Asian Film Archives but they couldn't help.  I searched the websites of the National Film Center of the NMOMA in Tokyo, and NHK but have come up with nothing.  I also contacted the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre here in Montreal, the Canada-Japan Society, the Japanese consulat of Canada, the Japan Society of New York, the Center for Asian American Media, and the Canadian association of Asiatic Studies, but no-one was able to offer any other suggestions of where I might find these.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you, much appreciated,
 
Mia


-- 
-------------------------------------------
www.lindaehrlich.com







      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20090520/43fc3557/attachment.html