Musume (1926) in Europe

[Jasper Sharp]

Not sure if this answers your question, Beat, but the London Film Society screened a number of Japanese
films in the 1930s, with Murata Minoru’s Nikkatsu production The
Street Juggler
(Machi
no tejinashi,
1925) screening on 30 May 1926, followed by Nomura Hôtei’s The
Tragedy of the Temple Hagi
(Haji-dera
shinjû,
1923) on 8 January 1928, Kinugasa’s Crossroads
(as
Crossways)
on 26 January 1930, and Murata’s Ashes
(Kaijin,
1929) on 20 November 1932.

I actually believe a number of these came from the programme at the Studio des Ursulines - I think it says as much in the Close Up catalogues at the time. I've no idea who had a hand in the original Paris programme though, but it would have been the first time Japanese films would have been screened in Europe as "Art" for non-Japanese audiences.
best

Jasper



Jasper Sharp: Writer & Film Curator Homepage
http://jaspersharp.com/

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Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:34:49 +0100
From: beatfrey at gmx.ch
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Musume (1926) in Europe


    


    
    
        While doing research on the reception of Japanese cinema in Switzerland, I found a review of a movie called "Musume" which was published by the Journal de Genève in 1926 without mention of the director. The same newspaper claims in a later article that this was the first Japanese (fiction) film to be shown in Europe. It was part of a programme originally set up by the cinema Studio des Ursulines in Paris (the other titles being the collection of short films "20 minutes de cinéma d'avant-garde" and René Clair's "Le voyage imaginaire"). Three questions on this: 1. Is this Gosho Heinosuke's "Musume" released in Japan in the same year? 2. Does a copy or do stills of the film still exist? 3 At least from what I know, Kinugasa's "Jujiro" and "Kurutta ippeji" or Mizoguchi's "Kyoren no onna shisho" are usually the titles mentioned to be the first Japanese films having been shown in Europe - or is this view now longer valid?
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Beat


    


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