Category Satire

1920s, Buses, Capitalism, Cinema, Cities, Class, Comedy, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Poverty, Satire, Silent Film, Silent Movie, Slapstick, Yuppies

Vanity Is Hell [comic short] (Kyoei wa jigoku, 虚栄は地獄), 1925

A young Japanese couple from the early 20th Century, shown relaxing at home, she playing a wind-up gramophone; he wearing a bathrobe and smoking a cigarette

Production Company Asahi Kinema Scenarist Unknown Source Japanese newspaper article (page three) Cinematographer Hayakawa Kiyoshi Performers Tatsuta Shizue (Natsuko); Hasegawa Kiyoshi (unknown role); Hanazawa Yoshiyuki (unknown role); Uchida Tomu (bus passenger) Status Extant (presumably complete) Photography Black-and-white Music Composer unknown…

RebelJack
June 25, 2025

17th Century, 1950s, 1960s, Ainu, Allegory, Bar, Cinema, Communists, Domestic drama, Drama, Feudalism, Film History, Foxes, Japan, Japanese Cinema, Koreans, Maoism, Mining, Politics, Poverty, Prostitution, Race, Samurai, Satire, Social justice, Tragedy, War

Uchida the Sellout?

An old Japanese man wearing a cap, sitting outdoors on a chair and holding a cigarette in his hand

Photo above: Uchida Tomu directing a film, probably Swords of Death (Shinken shōbu, 1971) Note: As I’ve already done several times for this blog, I am interrupting my series of reviews of the films of Uchida Tomu to post my…

RebelJack
July 1, 2023
2 Comments

1930s, Capitalism, Cinema, Comedy, Depression, Japan, Satire, Silent Film, Silent Movie, Slapstick, Uncategorized

Return to Heaven [Fragment] (Tengoku sono higaeri, 天国其日帰り), 1930

A 20th Century Japanese man in a bus driver's uniform looks up at somthing in a state of shock

Alternative titles: Heaven Day Return, Heaven Day Trip (literal English titles) Production Company Nikkatsu Uzumasa (Taiso) Scenarist Kobayashi Masashi Cinematographer Matsuzawa Matao Performers Tamura Kunio (Asahina Takuhachi, a bus driver); Sakuma Taeko (Kawai Kimiko); Mine Ginko (Kinoshita Akako); Miake Bontarō…

RebelJack
March 16, 2022

1930s, Capitalism, Cinema, Depression, Domestic drama, Japan, Madness, Satire, Surrealism, Uncategorized

Unending Advance (Kagirinaki zenshin, 限りなき前進), 1937

Other titles: Limitless advance (alternate English title); L’Avancée éternelle (alternate French title) Endless progress (literal English title) Production Company Nikkatsu Tamagawa (Chōfu) Scenarist Yagi Yasutarō Source Ozu Yasujirō (original story) Cinematographer Midorikawa Michio Music Yamada Eiichi Performers Kosugi Isamu (Tokumaru,…

RebelJack
December 21, 2021
6 Comments

16th Century, Feudalism, Japan, Madness, Samurai, Satire, Uncategorized, War

The Master Spearman (Sake to onna to yari, 酒と女と槍) (1960)

Image of a man in ancient Japan holding a spear while standing in front of a humble hut

Alternate Titles: Wine, Women and Spear (literal title); The Drunken Spearman; A Man’s Ambition Production Company Toei Kyoto Scenarist Ide Masato Source Kaionji Chōgorō (story) Cinematographer Washio Motoya Art Director Suzuki Takatoshi Music Kosugi Taiichirō Editing Miyamoto Shintarō Performers Ōtomo…

RebelJack
November 1, 2021
1 Comment

1920s, Cinema, Japan, Satire, Silent Movie, Uncategorized

Sweat (Kigeki: Ase, 喜劇・汗), 1929

A Japanese man in ragged clothes sits in the middle of a roadway, facing the camera

Other Titles: Perspiration (alternative English title); Comedy: Sweat (literal English title) Production Company Nikkatsu Uzumasa (Kyoto) Scenarist Kobayashi Masashi Cinematographer Matsuzawa Matao Set Decorator Ikeda Enjiro Performers Shima Kōji (Kitayama Heizaemon, a wealthy heir); Yoshii Yasushi (Gembei); Takihana Hisako (Oshizu);…