Japanese musicals in the 30s and 40s

[Roger Macy]

"in 2006" - it suggests that it may have been a candidate for Udine. It didn't make the catalogue but does get a paragraph in Mark Schilling's survey :-
"Another Hollywood-influenced musical was Suzuki Denmei's Murmurs of the Pavement, 1936, which starred Betty Inada as a jazz singer cheated out of her pay by an unscrupulous promoter. She meets a bandmaster (Nakagawa Saburo) also down on his luck and they end up dancing and singing their way to victory in a contest, à la Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Nakagawa also sings a solo, umbrella-less in the rain, that pre-dates Gene Kelly's in Singing in the Rain."
The characters for 'Sadao' the photographer are quite different from the writer-director, although it's uncanny how his career stops abruptly in 1936, if actually not that unusual.
It's interesting to compare the take on the PFA link you provided on what is clearly the same film. Is Jeanne Finley the author of the PFA piece? "although the print has no English subtitles, it is quite easy to follow; a synopsis will be provided" It's quite easy for us to construct a narrative, but is it the same?
I was fascinated by the back-stories you have found, William, on Betty Inada and also the donor of the print - does anyone know if that has been written up? How did she conserve her stock-in-trade in the internment period ?
Roger
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ReelDrew at aol.com 
  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
  Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2012 5:23 PM
  Subject: Re: Japanese musicals in the 30s and 40s



  As a follow-up to my message on the 1936 musical, Hodo no Sasayaki, I just came across the information that in 2006, the Pacific Film Archive received a grant of $12,500 from the National Endowment of the Arts to produce a DVD of the film. Does anyone here know what became of that project? I can find no evidence that the film is currently available for purchase on DVD.

  William M. Drew

  In a message dated 2/5/2012 4:51:41 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, macyroger at yahoo.co.uk writes:
    We haven't yet mentioned the catalogue 'Asia Sings' from Udine Far East Film in 2006. Most of the films are from the fifties, but it does include Oshidori utagassen.  Each entry is in Italian and English and includes the survey by Mark Schilling, 'Japanese Musical - The Genre That Almost Wasn't'' pp103-133, his interview with Inoue Umetsugu [active from the 50s], and 'Snapshot: Misora Hibari by Ishi Kimiko', pp152-5. Mark Schilling's survey rapidly steps from one film to another, but does give you a feel for the star-centered arena in which these films thrived.

     

    The Japanese films in the catalogue are

    The Eagle and the Hawk, 1957, Washi to taka, 鷲と鷹, INOUE Umetsugu

    The Guy Who Started a Storm, 1957, Arashi o yobu otoko, 嵐を呼ぶ男, INOUE Umetsugu

    The Performers, 1970, Misora Hibari, Mori Shin'ichi no Hana to namida to honoo, 実空ひばり。森進一の 花と涙と炎, INOUE Umetsugu

    Singing Lovebirds, 1939, Oshidori utagassen, 鴛鴦歌合戦, MAKINO Masahiro

    Tokyo Cinderella Girl, 1954, [Jazu onparēdo 1954-nen] Tōkyō Shindorera musume, [ジャズ。オンパレード1954年] 東京シンドレラ娘, INOUE Umetsugu

     Tokyo Kid, 1950, Tōkyō kiddo, 東京キッド, SAITŌ Torajirō

    The Winner, 1957, Shōrisha, 勝利者, INOUE Umetsugu

     

    The book is edited by Roger Garcia. I've changed a couple of typos but you may spot more.

    The book is available here 

    http://www.deastore.com/search/products/usr/keywords/Asia%20sings

    Mark Shilling describes Oshidori utagassen as "the most frequently revived Japanese pre-war musical".  Do any others survive ?

    Roger

    ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: =%ISO-8859-1?Q?J=E9r=E9mie_de_Albuquerque?= 
      To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
      Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2012 10:53 AM
      Subject: Re: Japanese musicals in the 30s and 40s


      Dear All,

      Thanks for all your interesting answers and references: I'll read the article mentionned by Mr. Gerow as soon as possible.
      If the movie Ongaku kigeki: Horoyoi jinsei still exists, I must see it: the pitch is quite funny, even if the movie is probably not as good as Oshidori Utagassen.

      Regards,

      Jérémie de Albuquerque
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20120205/4ed0faf4/attachment.html