Satsuo Yamamoto

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satsuo Yamamoto
Satsuo Yamamoto.jpg
Satsuo Yamamoto in 1950.
Born(1910-07-15)July 15, 1910
Kagoshima City, Japan
DiedAugust 11, 1983(1983-08-11) (aged 73)
Tokyo
OccupationFilm director

Satsuo Yamamoto (山本 薩夫, Yamamoto Satsuo, July 15, 1910 – August 11, 1983) was a Japanese film director.[1]

Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima City. After leaving Waseda University, where he had become affiliated with left-wing groups, he joined the Shochiku film studios in 1933, where he worked as an assistant director to Mikio Naruse.[2][3] He followed Naruse when the latter moved to P.C.L. film studios (later Toho) and debuted as a director in 1937 with Ojōsan.[2][3] During World War II he directed the propaganda films Winged Victory and Hot Winds[1][4] before being drafted and sent to China.[3]

After returning to Japan, Yamamoto's first film was the 1947 War and Peace (not based on the Leo Tolstoy novel),[5] co-directed with Fumio Kamei.[1][4] Being a communist and an active supporter of the union during the Toho labour strikes, he left the studio in 1948 after the strikes' forced ending and turned to independent filmmaking.[3][6] The left-wing production company Shinsei Eiga-sha, formed by former Toho unionists, produced his commercially successful Street of Violence (1950)[4][6] and the anti-war film Vacuum Zone (1953), which film historian Donald Richie called "the strongest anti-military film ever made in Japan" in 1959.[4] The 1959 Ballad of the Cart was produced by the National Rural Film Association.

In the 1960s, Yamamoto again worked for major companies like Daiei and Nikkatsu, directing films like Band of Assassins (1962), The Ivory Tower (1966) and Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967).[7] He died in Tokyo on August 11th 1983 at the age of 73.[2]

Selected filmography[]

  • 1950: Street of Violence (ペン偽らず 暴力の街, Pen itsuwarazu, boryoku no machi)
  • 1952: Vacuum Zone (真空地帯, Shinkū chitai)
  • 1959: Ballad of the Cart (荷車の歌, Niguruma no uta)
  • 1966: Ivory Tower (白い巨塔, Shiroi kyotō)
  • 1967: Zatoichi the Outlaw (座頭市牢破り, Zatōichi rōyaburi)
  • 1970: Men and War (戦争と人間 第一部 運命の序曲, Senso to nigen)
  • 1974: Karei-naru Ichizoku
  • 1976: Barren Land (不毛地帯, Fumō chitai)
  • 1979: Nomugi Pass (あゝ野麦峠, Ā, Nomugi tōge)

Awards[]

Kinema Junpo Awards

Yamamoto received the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Director for Ivory Tower, which was also awarded Best Film.

Blue Ribbon Awards

Yamamoto won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Director for Shōnin no isu and Nippon dorobō monogatari (both 1965).[8] Ivory Tower was awarded Best Film the following year.

Mainichi Fim Awards

Yamamoto was awarded Best Director at the Mainichi Film Awards for Ballad of the Cart and Ningen no kane (both 1959),[9] Ivory Tower,[10] Men and War[11] and Barren Land.[12] Ivory Tower, Barren Land and Nomugi Pass[13] were winners in the Best Film category.

Festival prizes

Ivory Tower was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it was awarded the Silver Prize.[14]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "山本 薩夫 (Satsuo Yamamoto)". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "山本 薩夫 (Satsuo Yamamoto)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
  5. ^ "戦争と平和 (War and Peace)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Hirano, Kyoko (1992). Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation, 1945–1952. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 978-1-56098157-2.
  7. ^ "山本 薩夫 (Satsuo Yamamoto)". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  8. ^ "ブルーリボン賞ヒストリー (Blue Ribbon Award)" (in Japanese). Cinema Hochi. Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  9. ^ "14th Mainichi Film Awards 1959" (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  10. ^ "21st Mainichi Film Awards 1966" (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  11. ^ "25th Mainichi Film Awards 1970" (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  12. ^ "31st Mainichi Film Awards 1976" (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  13. ^ "34th Mainichi Film Awards 1979" (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  14. ^ "5th Moscow International Film Festival (1967)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

External links[]

Bibliography[]

  • Yamamoto, Satsuo (2017). My life as a filmmaker. Chang, Chia-ning. Baltimore, Maryland: Project Muse. ISBN 9780472122493. OCLC 990075123.
Retrieved from ""