The Loyal 47 Ronin / Chushingura (1958)

The story of the 47 Ronin had a particular resonance for Japanese audiences, and it has been told on screen numerous times. Thus, it is no surprise to find that Daiei, the studio that was most deeply committed to the jidai-geki and chanbara in the fifties and sixties, should turn to the story for one …

Spring Dreams / Haru no yume (1960)

As Japan moved into the sixties, we have seen a rather a lot of movies appear that questioned the traditional values of the society and/or the unbridled greed that seemed to be replacing those values. Spring Dreams manages to question both, but because it is written and directed by Kinoshita, the movie lacks the almost …

Tale of Genji / Genji monogatari (1951)

Murasaki's Genji Monogatari is of course unfilmable, if for nothing else due to its length, and so any attempt is always going to be a sampling at best. This particular sampling comes with the finest pedigree, with the basic adaptation made by Tanizaki, the screenplay by Kaneto Shindo, and direction by Yoshimura. The result is …