Sadao Yamanaka

[HerrSchreck]

Sadao Yamanaka (1908 - 1938)



"I hear it said, 'Yamanaka's hobby is drinking
and watching films'. How is it a hobby that a film
person should watch a film? It is his profession to
watch a film, as well as to make one. What about
drinking? How should I answer that? I confess I love
drinking together with an intimiate friend or friends.
And I find that while exchanging words slowly at a
tranquil pace, I forget about the drowsiness of drinking,
and get drowsy with the tastefulness of the words
uttered by a friend, and even by myself. If what
drinkers say is lively when utilized in a film, I may
insist that drinking is part of my profession."

With that quote in mind:




Filmography

English partial:

Ninjo kami fusen / Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) R2 Masters of Cinema

Uminari kaido (1936)

Kochiyama soshun (1936) R2 Nikkatsu Yamanaka Sadao DVD Box (good luck)

Kaito Shirozukin: Kohen / The White Hood (1936)

Kaito Shirozukin: Zempen (1935)

Tange Sazen yowa: Hyakuman ryo no tsubo / Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935) R2 Nikkatsu Yamanaka Sadao Box (Good luck once more!)

Ashigaru shusse-tan (1934)

Bangaku no issho (1933)

Satsuma-bikyaku: Kenkô aiyoku-hen (1933)

Iso no Genta: Dakine no nagawakizashi (1932)

A more complete Japanese filmography


Forum Discussion

Humanity and Paper Balloons

New MoC Titles?

MoC speculation on more Yamanaka

viz Ozu

Scattered references in Eureka-MoC

viz Shimizu

CC Speculation

viz Kurosawa

Eclipse speculation

viz Naruse

Mentions are scattered thru the above threads, and to a lesser extend throughout the forum.
It's impossible to discuss the early years of Ozu, Naruse, Toho, Nikkatsu, the jidai-geki, or
Japanese film in general without mentioning Yamanaka.


Web Resources

Filmreference on Japan's First Golden Age

Strictly Film School on Yamanaka & H&PB

Wiki

Jidai-geki Knights on Tange Sazen

imdb

CITWF

Midnight Eye on H&PB

Yamanaka Sadao wo miyo (Great Japanese site w/excellent photo-annotated filmography).


In Print

Books:

In Japanese

In Japanese

Donald Richie, A Hundred Years of Japanese Film

Articles:

Sato, Tadao (1982). Currents In Japanese Cinema: essays

And, because you can never have too many pictures of Yamanaka.. from the topmost Japanese title:

[Awesome Welles]

From June 2007

Nick, any chance as to a hint as to whether there will be a release of more Yamanaka i.e. Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo?:D

I won't blame you if you can't say, I understand that it's very complex with licensing and schedules etc. I don't know whether I should get a dodgy copy with fan subs off ebay or if I'll be wasting my time when I only have to wait six months...

Hopefully.

I'd love to put out the remaining Yamanaka, one of my faves, but I heard that a certain other ace company was doing it, and didn't want to duplicate the effort.

Until then, the fan-sub of TANGE SAZEN is well worth picking up. It's pretty darn good (and the film is amazing). Hope this helps.

Still nothing, I wonder if this release is still on the cards for the distributor. I never did buy the bootleg in the hope that a Yamanaka box would come out at some point.