Nikkatsu Action Cinema

[Captain Japan]

Mark Schilling has a new book out in July: No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema. Amazon says: Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan, restarted production in 1954 after WWII. To survive in Japan's brutally competitive film market, it launched a new genre called Nikkatsu Action. Nikkatsu Action defined cool for a generation and drawing inspiration from Hollywood and the French New Wave, it found salvation in Yujiro Ishihara, a hot new star who was Japan's Elvis Presley and James Dean Nikkatsu Action pictures blended East and West fantasies, showing the gritty reality of life in postwar Japan, from the hot jazz clubs and glam cabarets of the Ginza to the foggy loneliness - and danger - of the Yokohama docks at midnight. In the 1960s, Nikkatsu went Pop with a bang in films like Black Tights Killers, Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. ● Packed with illustrations, including color posters and stills ● History of the studio ● Profiles of stars and directors ● Film reviews ● Career interviews with Joe Shishido, Toshio Masuda and Seijun Suzuki.

Since Nikkatsu was a studio that made quite a few yak flicks in the '60s, I would guess it is unavoidable that there will be some overlap with The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films.

[jingai]

Thanks Cap'n. I have enjoyed a number of these films myself and will have to check out the book. "Black Tight Killers" is a load of cheesy fun if you can find it. I didn't appreciate "Branded to Kill" when I first saw it on VHS but later watched it at the Cleveland Cinemateque and realized it was meant to be watched as a comedy with the audience laughing throughout.

The Yakuza Movie Book is also excellent, by the way.

Plug for my aging site: http://www.jingai.com/yakuza/

[Captain Japan]

I've got a region-free version of "Black Tight Killers." Good stuff. The FG in that movie comes out of nowhere and is hilarious! "Branded to Kill" is a strange one. I was surprised that the dialogue is so limited in parts. The DVD of it that I have has about three different versions. I don't remember but I believe director Suzuki Seijun got into a fix due to the film's explicit content. So I guess multiple versions of the film were released.

[Captain Japan]

I don't know why I wrote what I did about Suzuki. He got into trouble when the film tanked at the box office.

Got my copy of "No Borders No Limits" yesterday. It's really slick and has many profiles of the figures who were popular at the time.

[Kuang_Grade]

I'm about half way through it myself....It starts out a bit choppy, zipping from star/film to another but seems to settle down when it starts to talk about specific actors/actresses. Lots of nice photos.

On a similar note, It looks like the book is having some impact in the US...More than a few Nikkatsu action films mentioned in the book are being shown in various US cities over the next few months (Chicago, LA, Boston, San Francisco, NYC, Columbus Ohio?) and they are trying to release some of the films on DVD in the US as well.

Details can be found here on the second post

http://outcastcinema.blogspot.com/

[Buraku]

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