Tendency film
Encyclopedia
A is a name given to the socially conscious, left-leaning films produced in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s. These were in general produced by the commercial studios, in contrast to the politically radical independent films of the Proletarian Film League of Japan
. However, with the rise of Japanese militarism in the 1930s, tendency films (as well as any works that were not actively supportive of the war effort in China and the Pacific) were frowned upon or outright censored.
Daisuke Itō
's jidaigeki
include some well known tendency films, such as 1929's Man-Slashing, Horse-Piercing Sword. Tomu Uchida's A Living Puppet and Kenji Mizoguchi
's Metropolitan Symphony (both 1929) were also tendency films, and Shigeyoshi Suzuki's tendency film What Made Her Do It? was one of the big hits of 1930.
Proletarian Film League of Japan
The was a left-wing film organization, known as Prokino for short, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Japan. Associated with the proletarian arts movement in Japan, it primarily used small gauge films such as 16mm film and 9.5mm film to record demonstrations and workers' lives and show...
. However, with the rise of Japanese militarism in the 1930s, tendency films (as well as any works that were not actively supportive of the war effort in China and the Pacific) were frowned upon or outright censored.
Daisuke Itō
Daisuke Itō (film director)
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who played a central role in the development of the modern jidaigeki and samurai cinema.-Career:Born in Ehime Prefecture, Itō joined the actors school at Shōchiku in 1920, but soon began writing screenplays under the recommendation of Kaoru Osanai. He...
's jidaigeki
Jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
include some well known tendency films, such as 1929's Man-Slashing, Horse-Piercing Sword. Tomu Uchida's A Living Puppet and Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
's Metropolitan Symphony (both 1929) were also tendency films, and Shigeyoshi Suzuki's tendency film What Made Her Do It? was one of the big hits of 1930.