These are the characteristics one sees in the films of the Nikkatsu studio during the late Fifties and in to the Sixties. Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema. An audience beckoning for something fast moving, jazzy and action packed. Retrieved 13 September 2011. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. July, 1945: Japan's army is on the run. Daiei founder Masaichi Nagata, a former Nikkatsu employee, counter-proposed that three companies be formed and the suggestion was approved. A Colt is my Passport is the epitome of their reign outside of Seijun’s films of a more avant-garde venture (Rayns, 26). For the first time on DVD Arts Magic bring us … 1912 Nippon Katsudō Shashin K.K. By the end of Rusty Knife, I am Waiting, or Take Aim at the Police Van (1960) one witnesses what seems to be the formulaic ending for a picture dealing in gangster ideologies. Alastair Phillips and Julien Stringer .New York: Routledge, 2007, pp. Nikkatsu was founded on September 10, 1912, when several production companies and theater chains, Yoshizawa Shōten, Yokota Shōkai, Fukuhōdō and M. Pathe, consolidated under the name Nippon Katsudō Shashin. By 1971 the increased popularity of television had taken a heavy toll on the film industry and in order to remain profitable Nikkatsu turned to the production of Roman Porno (from the French word 'roman' for 'novel' and the English word 'porno') and pinku eiga or pink films, which focus on sex, violence, S&M and romance. The reformed Nikkatsu continued to prosper as an exhibition company but ceased all film production. Click Here for more information. Nikkatsu’s genre bending B- films of the Fifties and Sixties held influence from many international sources and yet retained a cultural significance with the youth culture under a new rising sun. Hope you find a few hidden gems in here you would have never have seen otherwise. Continuing on to the Sixties when Nikkatsu had begun their true run of great B-films. This extraordinary film from the Nikkatsu studio ‘Roman porn’ series is a subversive mood piece with an unforgettably wistful atmosphere. film production company: Genre: pornographic film; Location: Japan: Owned by: Nippon Television; Headquarters location: Bunkyō-ku (35°42′N 139°46′E) Inception : 1912; official website: Authority control Q201487 ISNI: 0000 0001 0691 7790 VIAF ID: 137233656 Library of Congress authority ID: n82145528 National Diet Library ID: 00295365. TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion. By the end of many of these Nikkatsu films the main character; whether he was an anti-hero, passive aggressive protagonist or reluctant knight would always face the ultimate bad guy, a man usually head of the organization that had been tormenting the protagonist and his love interest. AWARDS. The films Nikkatsu produced during this time were elemental sums of all genres, mixed in to a hybrid version of B-grade films. Over the last few years, Japan’s box office has been dominated by TV network-produced films, which are staffed by their own production crews — a trend that many in the industry believe is shutting out new directors. 幸いにも再起し製作を再開した 日活 に入社。 His legitimate son, Taketaro GOTO served as the first president of Nippon Katsudo Film company (the predecessor of Nikkatsu ). The films were challenging the censorship boards on both shores. The French nouvelle vogue could not have been possible without the American influence of films that came in after the war and American Film noir could not have been possible without the French, who coined the term. The films were based on the manga series by Takashi Ishii. Experiencing only a few Nikkatsu films one can see a great Film Noir aesthetic flowing through their productions. The influence of genre films like the Western, Gangster or cult / drive-in film is evident in many Nikkatsu films. Nikkatsu declared bankruptcy in 1993. Duncan, Paul (Ed.). [4] A graduate of Tokyo Keizai University, Hori had joined the company in 1951 after quitting his initial employment as the manager of Sanno Hotel (now rebuilt as Sanno Park Tower). Subjects: Yakuza -- Drama. Wind Velocity 75 Meters(1963) 6. Through the company’s outstanding history with a library of over 5000 films, Nikkatsu has unrivaled experience in film production, offering a diverse slate with a mix of genres, talent and budget – ranging from action, human drama, horror, family entertainment and art house masterpieces. Nikkatsu sums up a conglomerate of Western influences in an attempt to drive the Japanese film market in to a new and more youthful terrain. Taschen: Los Angelas. The Sushi Typhoon arm of Nikkatsu creates low-budget horror, science fiction, and fantasy films aimed at an international audience. 17-26. 1. Before the war their foremost style was realist cinema and directly after the war directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi and Imamura among many others worked under their production (Ibid). Nikkatsu. The films were based on the manga series by Takashi Ishii. Nikkatsu films often scattered gratuitous foreigners in the background of shots, but Crazed Fruit turns the novel’s anti-Americanism into a cultural style. 1912 Nippon Katsudō Shashin K.K. Both can be seen as attempts to create movies distinct from Toei Studio’s ninkyo eiga (“chivalry films”) that were very popular throughout the 1960s and offered a traditional view of the yakuza in particular and Japanese society in … The Japanese soundtrack is presented in mono with English subtitles. The Nikkatsu Corporation (日活株式会社, Nikkatsu Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It wasn’t until the inclusion of television around the seventies that popped the bubble that Nikkatsu was flying high on. Yujiro called himself something of an anti-Brando (Raine, 207). Nikkatsu, set to merge with the two weakest companies, Shinkō Kinema and Daito, were verbally displeased. Suzuki Seijun, Takashi Nomura and Takumi Furukawa were all able to turn out quota quickies to hone their skills in which they would be able to utilize later on in their careers. Hirasawa, Go. Schwarzacher, Lukas “Spotlight: Japan: Nikkatsu at 90: Studio Returns to Form After Seeing Softer Days” Variety 388:5 (16 September 2002-22 September 2002): pp. In September 2012, Nikkatsu celebrated its 100th anniversary. Pp. was established by the merger of four film companies: 1993 applied for Corporate Reorganization Act. The Nikkatsu produced films showcased this fatalistic attitude through their male body-minded protagonists (Raine, 206). Dark shadows, youthful sensibilities, deadly Gangsters, modern idealism and foreboding film noir atmosphere. 1956: Nikkatsu releases “Season of the Sun,” the film that launches the career of superstar Yujiro Ishihara. In conclusion, these films made between the late 1950’s and in to the late 60’s were calling cards to cinematic discourses of the past and, at the same time, addresses of the modern Japanese audience. The title itself resembles many crime novels written in the thirties that had so much of an effect on film noirs in America in the forties (Silver and Ursini, 12). Influence of Film Noir: [11], In 2011, the French director Yves Montmayeur produced a documentary about the Pink Film period at Nikkatsu called Pinku Eiga: Inside the Pleasure Dome Of Japanese Erotic Cinema. Hori resigned over the change in focus, and many stars and directors left the company. The name Nikkatsu amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". This is a list of the films in that series. [citation needed], The company made a few samurai films and historical dramas but by 1960 had decided to devote its resources to the production of urban youth dramas, comedy, action and gangster films. Nikkatsu's latest production strategy includes a special focus on international co-productions. Silver, Alain & Ursini, James. Like all pink films the major theme is sex, but there is plenty of violence involved as well. Youth of the Beast (1963) Yakuza Apocalypse (2015) Gate of Flesh (1964) Pigs and Battleships (1961) A Colt Is My Passport (1967) Attack on Titan (2015) We Are Little Zombies (2019) Previous. Color, detail and celluloid texture are all spot-on. Avant-garde films were films of the twenties and thirties in which Europeans were playfully interrupting and problematizing the everyday aspects of urban life. Raine, Michael. The structure of many of these Nikkatsu films are not filled with the same American narrative conventions as other international flare. The anti or sensitive heroes of 1950’s American films harbored an interesting influence in the iconic persona Inshihara Yujiro’s dandy hero (Raine, 207). During the late 70's they teamed up with manga-ka and director, Takashi Ishii where they produced five movies based upon his work "Angel Guts". This hybrid identity and incorporation of all of these factors make a series of films by very talented and young (at the time) filmmakers fascinating studies in film. Nikkatsu or "NIKKATSU CORPORATION" is a film and tv company production, a distribution company that started in japan in 1912-1928, they originally made romantic type films. His character and persona were much like Yujiro’s was only a few years earlier. They had a dark underbelly, a fatalistic point of view. It could even be called a resonance of pop art and modern ideals. Like all pink films the major theme is sex, but there is plenty of violence involved as well. Chuck Stevens names I am Waiting (1957) as the start of Nikkatsu’s run of great film noir / genre bending theatrical experiences. Take for instance two examples of recent films produced by Nikkatsu: Sion Sono’s Tokyo Tribe and Lee Sand-il’s Unforgiven, a remake of the Clint Eastwood film. List of Nikkatsu Roman Porno films — The Nikkatsu Roman Porno films were a popular, critically respected, financially successful and award winning series of mainstream, theatrical Japanese softcore pornographic films produced by Nikkatsu studios from November, 1971, until May, 1988 … Pp. : sound, color with black and white sequences ; 4 3/4 in. They were concentrating more on the body than the mind and were tapping in to the experimental culture of youth in Japan. They were pointing out the artificiality of linear narratives and reality as a cinematic norm (Miyao, 199). Gamera vs. Barugon (1966) 9. It wasn’t until the appearance of Yujiro Ishihara and his superstar rise to fame during the 1950’s and 1960’s (Raine, 207) that Nikkatsu saw a chance for change in their formula. The Nikkatsu Roman Porno films were a series of theatrical Japanese softcore pornographic "pink films" produced by the movie studio Nikkatsu from November, 1971, until May, 1988.This is a list of the films in that series. The gunfighters of Westerns past no longer wore white as a representation of chivalry but for aesthetic presentation. With a country struck by atomic destruction the films showcased a hero that never really wins, with a love interest who never really lives happily ever after. Since these Nikkatsu films share just as much influence with experimental avant-garde films as with genre pictures like the Gangster picture and their aesthetic visuals of a film noir; the ending to many of these films harkens back to the same argument all of these categories share with Nikkatsu films… They are in a sense a hybrid or all of these influences. By 2011, the company had produced seven feature films. A film which its very title evokes the sound of a western or adventure picture. These are the characteristics one sees in the films of the Nikkatsu studio during the late Fifties and in to the Sixties. It has co-produced films with Asian partners in Indonesia and Korea, as well as co-developing remakes from the company's library with mainstream Hollywood producers. “ATG’s Early Years and Underground Cinema”. Starting in 1971, homosexually-oriented magazines began to appear, including Barazoku. All about the producer Nikkatsu, films by Nikkatsu. Nikkatsu became famed throughout the 70's for their Roman Porno output. The academy award winning filmed Departures was produced in conjunction with Nikkatsu under Namco Ltd. Who bought them in 1997 (Ibid). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, U.K. Pp. Nikkatsu Roman Porno movies were once all the rage in Japan. Jiro, an ex-convict, comes back to the street after eight years. Woo told trade paper Screen, “This remake is my salute to the great films and filmmakers produced by Nikkatsu's 100 years in cinema history. It was during this boom that nearly one billion tickets were sold a year to Japanese audiences ( Schwarzacher, B2). He finally opens her heart but she rejects his advances. Film Noir. However, the films of Goddard and fellow nouvelle vogue filmmakers had began to pay tribute and deconstruct American genre pictures and turn them in to something one could call pop-art. In September 2012, Nikkatsu celebrated its 100th anniversary. Gamera (1965) 7. 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