Toshio Masuda
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
film director
. He developed a reputation as a consistent box office
hit-maker. Over the course of five decades, 16 of his films made the yearly top ten lists at the Japanese box office—a second place record in the industry. Between 1958 and 1968 he directed 52 films for the Nikkatsu
Company. He was their top director of action film
s and worked with the company's top stars, including Yujiro Ishihara
with whom he made 25 films. After the breakdown of the studio system
, he moved on to a succession of big-budget movies including the American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora!
(1970) and the science fiction
epic Catastrophe 1999: The Prophecies of Nostradamus
(1974). He worked on such anime
productions as the Space Battleship Yamato
series. His corporate drama Company Funeral (1989) earned him a Japanese Academy Award nomination and wins at the Blue Ribbon Awards
and Mainichi Film Awards. In Japan, his films are well remembered by fans and called genre landmarks by critics. He remains little known abroad save for rare exceptions of his post-Nikkatsu work such as Tora! Tora! Tora!. However, a number of his films were screened in a 2005 Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective
in Italy and a few have since made their way to the United States. At the age of 81, he is currently prepping to helm Uchū Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu hen
(2009).
, Japan
. His father was a seaman. He enrolled in a technical training school, however, his mindset did not mesh with the school's military indoctrination
and he was expelled in July 1945. He next attended the Osaka University of Foreign Studies
(now Osaka University
) where he specialized in Russian literature
. There he became enamoured with French cinema
which led him away from Russian grammar
and towards a career in the film industry
. He thought he would have been bored as a salaryman
and that filmmaking would better suit him but suggested he probably would not have followed through had his friends not sought similar careers. After graduating in 1949, he moved to Tokyo to study screenwriting
at the Shintōhō
Studio's Scenario Academy.
Company hired Toshio Masuda. He worked as screenwriter
and an assistant director
under Umetsugu Inoue
, Nobuo Nakagawa
and Mikio Naruse
. He served as 2nd AD on Naruse's Ginza Cosmetics
(1951) and Mother (1952). Inoue became a mentor figure to Masuda. They began collaborating on scripts and Masuda moved in with Inoue. He also wrote rough drafts for a number of Inuoe's scripts.
Company, having ceased film production during World War II
, restarted in 1954 and lured assistant directors from other companies. Masuda joined the studio as an assistant director and writer. He continued to write scripts for and with his mentor Inoue, who had also made the switch. He served as 1st AD to Kon Ichikawa
on the sets of The Heart (1955) and The Burmese Harp (1956). Masuda was promoted to director in 1957 and debuted with A Journey of Body and Soul the following year. It was a B movie
, a low-budget film meant to fill out a double feature
, but he quickly ascended to the A list that same year.
Rusty Knife
(1958) marked Masuda's third film and first major hit. It starred Nikkatsu's top Diamond Line stars Yujiro Ishihara
and Akira Kobayashi
. They play two hoodlum brothers who attempt to go straight but witness a murder and find themselves pursued by the killers. The script was written by Ishihara's older brother, and future governor of Tokyo, Shintarō Ishihara
. Yujiro Ishihara was by far the studio's biggest star and Nikkatsu frequently paired their young stars with young directors in order to make "new types of films". Masuda, who turned 30 during the production, made a total of 25 films with Ishihara, more than any other director at the studio. Rusty Knife also marked the first in a succession of hits for Masuda which would serve to keep him in the action genre
throughout the next decade. Masuda and Ishihara's follow-up, Red Quay
(1958), was based on the 1937 French film Pépé le Moko
. In 1962, the duo's Hana and Ryu was the studio's number one hit. It was also Masuda's first jidaigeki
(period drama) and predated the popularity of the ninkyo
(honour versus duty) sub-genre which began in 1963 and continued late into the decade. However, Masuda's biggest hit was Red Handkerchief in which Ishihara stars as a disgraced police detective–cum–construction worker who shoots and kills his girlfriend's father. It was the third-highest grossing domestic film of 1964 and a blueprint to the mood action sub-genre, action–romantic drama hybrids in a film noir
–like setting which were popular in the mid 1960s. He also worked frequently with Kobayashi and Rusty Knife was credited with making the actor a star.
By the late 1960s, Ishihara had scaled back his Nikkatsu output in favour of other studios and his own production company. Nikkatsu viewed new Diamond Line star Tetsuya Watari
as a potential successor and they had Masuda remake a number of Ishihara films with him. Masuda loosely remade his own Red Quay into Velvet Hustler (1967) which stars Watari as a "happy-go-lucky" hitman
who goes on the run after killing a yakuza boss. The character was partially based on Jean-Paul Belmondo
's character in the French New Wave
film Breathless (1960). The vigor and humour of the film was something of a departure for the both men. The two returned to regular modus operandi in Gangster VIP (1968), which was based on the memoirs of real-life yakuza Goro Fujita. It was the first in what has been called Watari's signature film series
and his breakthrough role. Masuda only directed the first film in the series but it provided another blueprint, this time to the studio's New Action sub-genre, films which increased the sex and violence quotient while mirroring the tumultuous times of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Nikkatsu's box office
returns suffered in the late 1960s and many stars and directors left the studio. Masuda himself was not happy with the studio system
at the time and, in 1968, he quit to become a freelance director—only a few years before Nikkatsu ceased making action films and began producing softcore
Roman Porno films in order to remain profitable.
Corporation to co-direct the blockbuster
American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora!
(1970) after renowned director Akira Kurosawa
left the project. Fox producer Elmo Williams
had recommended him based on his Red Handkerchief and reputation as a "creative mind and a disciplined worker". The film depicts the attack on Pearl Harbor
from the perspectives of both sides of the conflict. Masuda was responsible for the Japanese segments and asked director Kinji Fukasaku
to join him, while American director Richard Fleischer
filmed the American segments. The film was poorly received in the United States but did well in Japan. Throughout the next 20 years Masuda helmed a string of major studio productions including the science fiction
disaster film
Catastrophe 1999: The Prophecies of Nostradamus
(aka Last Days of Planet Earth, 1974) and three more big-budget war film
s for the Toei Company
, The Battle of Port Arthur (1980), The Great Japanese Empire (1982) and The Battle of the Sea of Japan: Go to Sea (1983).
Masuda became involved in animated films when producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki decided to make his own product. Nishizaki wanted to meld a live action influence into an anime
series and was a fan of Nikkatsu Action, including Masuda's films with Yujiro Ishihara. He invited Masuda to direct on Leiji Matsumoto
's science fiction television and film series Space Battleship Yamato
(aka Star Blazers). Between 1977 and 1983, Masuda directed or co-directed all five Yamato films. The original series has been credited as Japan's first animated television space opera
. The eponymous first film gained popularity when it played against Star Wars
(1977) in Japanese theatres and it has been cited as the beginning of the golden age of anime.
He also made room for more intimate subject matter such as his High Teen Boogie (1982), in which a teenage biker falls in love with a straight-laced girl. The corporate drama Company Funeral (1989) was selected for the Kinema Junpo
magazine's annual Best Ten list. Masuda's most recent feature film was the crime thriller Heavenly Sin (1992). It starred Sayuri Yoshinaga as a detective in near-future Tokyo and Omar Sharif
as a Chinese Triad boss. Sharif replaced Yusaku Matsuda
who had died of cancer. The film was a critical and commercial failure. Masuda continues to direct and write for television.
and screenwriter
at both Shintōhō
and Nikkatsu
Studios, Toshio Masuda apprenticed under a number of directors. He has said Mikio Naruse
had the greatest impact on him. He credited Kon Ichikawa
with teaching him how to use the camera. His primary mentor at Nikkatsu was Umetsugu Inoue
from whom he learned the value of linking together large setpiece
s to drawn in audiences. Masuda was more inclined towards drama
than his mentor and created the setpieces but then incorporated character-based drama into his work.
Masude quickly climbed the Nikkatsu ranks to become a top director. The financial success of his star-studded action films, beginning with Yujiro Ishihara
in Rusty Knife
, ensured that studio heads would continue to assign him top stars and action films. He continued to write for his own films but mostly due to time constraints as he would have preferred to hire other writers, which did after he left the studio. The films were made quickly and largely without studio supervision. In one example, Ishihara began drawing huge audiences with The Guy Who Started a Storm which was released during the 1957 New Years
season. Theatre owners were displeased that there were no further Ishihara films scheduled before Golden Week of the following year. The studio then order Masuda to make a film with Ishihara in 10 days. Producer Takiko Mizunoe brought him a script by Shintarō Ishihara
. Masuda found it much too long to be completed in the given time, rewrote it and then completed the film within 12 or 13 days.
Many of the settings and style he used in his films came from European
and Hollywood cinema
but he framed it all in a Japanese context, in the spirit of "borderless" action cinema. He did not want to make typical films and the more European flavour of his work set him apart from many of his contemporaries. He made many yakuza film
s but considered them "youth films" put in a yakuza setting, favouring human drama over verisimilitude
. The actors were also favoured over a distinctive visual style which, as writer Jasper Sharp suggested, may have accounted for his popular success in the star-based studio system. Despite production line genre work forming the bulk of his oeuvre, Masuda has always been able to express his views, even subversive ones, and reflect on societal issues through his films.
, Toshio Masuda was a major figure in defining the Nikkatsu Action style. He has been called the studio's top action director and worked with the studio's biggest stars. He produced box office hits which are fondly remembered by Japanese fans into the 21st century and are regarded as genre landmarks by Japanese critics. Masuda developed a reputation as a "pro's pro", who delivered consistently strong work in the difficult, fast-paced, production line environment of the Nikkatsu
Company and did so on time and within budget. His films from this period remain little known outside of Japan, largely eclipsed by the cult fame of Nikkatsu enfant terrible Seijun Suzuki
. While preparing a Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective
for the 2005 Udine
Far East Film Festival, author and critic Mark Schilling found it likely that none of the five Masuda films he selected had previously been screened abroad.Schilling, Mark (2007). Ibid. pp. 5–10. though Velvet Hustler was released on VHS
cassette by Home Vision Entertainment on September 21, 2001 in North America.
After the collapse of the studio system, Masuda's career continued unabated. His best known film in the West is the blockbuster American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora!
, although his contributions are somewhat overshadowed by co-directors Richard Fleischer
and Kinji Fukasaku
—the latter of which later achieved international cult notoriety for his own yakuza film
s, among others—despite having been responsible for the lion's share of the Japanese segments of the film. Masuda's animated works, especially the Space Battleship Yamato
series, are remembered by anime
fans worldwide. The first Yamato film originally reached overseas audiences in 1978, including theatrical screenings in England and American television. The series has since expanded into a full blown franchise
.
A comprehensive, Japanese language
book detailing Masuda's career was released in 2007, titled Masuda Toshio: The Complete Action Films of Giant Star Toshio Masuda ( Eiga kantoku Masuda Toshio: akushon eiga no kyosei Masuda Toshio no subete). It includes an extensive interview with Masuda, approximately 500 pictures, poster images of his 52 Nikkatsu films and notes on all 82 feature films. Widely neglected by Western critics, writer Mark Schilling dedicated a section of his 2007 book No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema to Masuda, predominately focusing on said cinema. Musician and writer Chris D.
has expressed an interest in doing likewise. No Borders, No Limits is an expanded edition of the version that accompanied the Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective
Schilling programmed for the Far East Film Festival. Abridged versions of the retrospective have appeared in the United States. The Criterion Collection
has since optioned a number of films from the retrospective to be made available for the first time in the North American home video
market but the titles have not yet been announced.
's Readers' Choice Award for Best Film for the same film. In 1990, he was again nominated for Best Director at the Japanese Academy Awards for Company Funeral. He won in the same category at the Blue Ribbon Awards
and the Mainichi Film Awards.
Company. He developed a reputation as a "hitmaker" and 16 of his films breached the top ten list for domestic Japanese box office
revenues. Only one other director has superseded that record. The following is a list of the 16 films.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. He developed a reputation as a consistent box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
hit-maker. Over the course of five decades, 16 of his films made the yearly top ten lists at the Japanese box office—a second place record in the industry. Between 1958 and 1968 he directed 52 films for the Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
Company. He was their top director of action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
s and worked with the company's top stars, including Yujiro Ishihara
Yujiro Ishihara
was a Japanese actor and singer born in Kobe. His elder brother, Shintaro Ishihara, is an author, politician, and the current Governor of Tokyo. Yujiro debuted in 1956 in "Season of the Sun," based on a novel written by his brother...
with whom he made 25 films. After the breakdown of the studio system
Studio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
, he moved on to a succession of big-budget movies including the American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...
(1970) and the science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
epic Catastrophe 1999: The Prophecies of Nostradamus
Prophecies of Nostradamus
also known as The Last Days of Planet Earth or Catastrophe: 1999 is an experimental 1974 feature film by Toshio Masuda, inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. The film credits Toshio Yasumi as principal screenwriter, though Yasumi did not actually work on the film...
(1974). He worked on such anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
productions as the Space Battleship Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers...
series. His corporate drama Company Funeral (1989) earned him a Japanese Academy Award nomination and wins at the Blue Ribbon Awards
Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
and Mainichi Film Awards. In Japan, his films are well remembered by fans and called genre landmarks by critics. He remains little known abroad save for rare exceptions of his post-Nikkatsu work such as Tora! Tora! Tora!. However, a number of his films were screened in a 2005 Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
in Italy and a few have since made their way to the United States. At the age of 81, he is currently prepping to helm Uchū Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu hen
Uchū Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu hen
The Japanese animation film, Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection , is the first part of a planned series of films which are the latest addition to the Space Battleship Yamato saga. Rebirth is set in the year 2220, 21 years after the first Yamato story and 17 years after the story of the last...
(2009).
Early life
Toshio Masuda was born in KobeKobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. His father was a seaman. He enrolled in a technical training school, however, his mindset did not mesh with the school's military indoctrination
Recruit training
Recruit training, more commonly known as Basic Training and colloquially called Boot Camp, is the initial indoctrination and instruction given to new military personnel, enlisted and officer...
and he was expelled in July 1945. He next attended the Osaka University of Foreign Studies
Osaka University of Foreign Studies
, abbreviated to OUFS or , , or is a public coeducational research university in Minoh, Osaka, Japan. It is dedicated to area studies and the study of foreign languages and their related cultures.-History:...
(now Osaka University
Osaka University
, or , is a major national university located in Osaka, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan as the Osaka Prefectural Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan...
) where he specialized in Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
. There he became enamoured with French cinema
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
which led him away from Russian grammar
Russian grammar
Russian grammar encompasses:* a highly synthetic morphology* a syntax that, for the literary language, is the conscious fusion of three elements:** a Church Slavonic inheritance;...
and towards a career in the film industry
Film industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
. He thought he would have been bored as a salaryman
Salaryman
refers to someone whose income is salary based; particularly those working for corporations. Its frequent use by Japanese corporations, and its prevalence in Japanese manga and anime has gradually led to its acceptance in English-speaking countries as a noun for a Japanese white-collar...
and that filmmaking would better suit him but suggested he probably would not have followed through had his friends not sought similar careers. After graduating in 1949, he moved to Tokyo to study screenwriting
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
at the Shintōhō
Shintoho
was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big-6 film studios during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Tōhō Company...
Studio's Scenario Academy.
Career
In 1950, the ShintōhōShintoho
was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big-6 film studios during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Tōhō Company...
Company hired Toshio Masuda. He worked as screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and an assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
under Umetsugu Inoue
Umetsugu Inoue
was a Japanese film director and scriptwriter. He directed 115 movies, wrote 101 screenplays, and is credited with the original story for five films...
, Nobuo Nakagawa
Nobuo Nakagawa
was a Japanese film director, most famous for the stylized, folk tale-influenced horror films he made in the 1950s and 1960s.-Career:Born in Kyoto, Nakagawa was early on influenced by proletarian literature and wrote amateur film reviews to the Kinema Junpō film magazine. He joined Makino Film...
and Mikio Naruse
Mikio Naruse
was a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed some 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967.Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook...
. He served as 2nd AD on Naruse's Ginza Cosmetics
Ginza Cosmetics
is a 1951 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Mikio Naruse. It follows the life of a quite geisha,single mother of a young boy, in the lively Tokyo quarter of Ginza...
(1951) and Mother (1952). Inoue became a mentor figure to Masuda. They began collaborating on scripts and Masuda moved in with Inoue. He also wrote rough drafts for a number of Inuoe's scripts.
Nikkatsu
The NikkatsuNikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
Company, having ceased film production during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, restarted in 1954 and lured assistant directors from other companies. Masuda joined the studio as an assistant director and writer. He continued to write scripts for and with his mentor Inoue, who had also made the switch. He served as 1st AD to Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
on the sets of The Heart (1955) and The Burmese Harp (1956). Masuda was promoted to director in 1957 and debuted with A Journey of Body and Soul the following year. It was a B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
, a low-budget film meant to fill out a double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
, but he quickly ascended to the A list that same year.
Rusty Knife
Rusty Knife
Rusty Knife is a 1958 action Japanese film directed by Toshio Masuda. ""Rusty Knife"" was part of the Nikkatsu film studio's wave of Japanese noir films, in order to compete with popular American and French films in Japanese box offices...
(1958) marked Masuda's third film and first major hit. It starred Nikkatsu's top Diamond Line stars Yujiro Ishihara
Yujiro Ishihara
was a Japanese actor and singer born in Kobe. His elder brother, Shintaro Ishihara, is an author, politician, and the current Governor of Tokyo. Yujiro debuted in 1956 in "Season of the Sun," based on a novel written by his brother...
and Akira Kobayashi
Akira Kobayashi
is a Japanese actor. His nickname is .- Biography :He successfully became an actor in the Nikkatsu Corporation. He attended Meiji University but left before graduating. Kobayashi made his debut in 1959 in the film Nangoku Tosa o Ato ni Shite . He also starred in the TV series "Wataridori" and...
. They play two hoodlum brothers who attempt to go straight but witness a murder and find themselves pursued by the killers. The script was written by Ishihara's older brother, and future governor of Tokyo, Shintarō Ishihara
Shintaro Ishihara
is a Japanese author, actor, politician and the governor of Tokyo since 1999.- Early life and artistic career :Shintarō was born in Suma-ku, Kobe. His father Kiyoshi was an employee, later a general manager, of a shipping company. Shintarō grew up in Zushi...
. Yujiro Ishihara was by far the studio's biggest star and Nikkatsu frequently paired their young stars with young directors in order to make "new types of films". Masuda, who turned 30 during the production, made a total of 25 films with Ishihara, more than any other director at the studio. Rusty Knife also marked the first in a succession of hits for Masuda which would serve to keep him in the action genre
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
throughout the next decade. Masuda and Ishihara's follow-up, Red Quay
Red Quay
Red Quay is a 1958 black-and-white action Japanese film directed by Toshio Masuda.Red Quay was one of the many successful collaborations between director Toshio Masuda and actor Yujiro Ishihara which defined the Nikkatsu action film genre....
(1958), was based on the 1937 French film Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko is a 1937 French film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Jean Gabin. It depicts an infamous gangster, Pépé le Moko who tries to escape the police by hiding in the casbah of the city of Algiers...
. In 1962, the duo's Hana and Ryu was the studio's number one hit. It was also Masuda's first jidaigeki
Jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
(period drama) and predated the popularity of the ninkyo
Yakuza film
is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, also referred to as the Japanese Mafia.-Ninkyo eiga:...
(honour versus duty) sub-genre which began in 1963 and continued late into the decade. However, Masuda's biggest hit was Red Handkerchief in which Ishihara stars as a disgraced police detective–cum–construction worker who shoots and kills his girlfriend's father. It was the third-highest grossing domestic film of 1964 and a blueprint to the mood action sub-genre, action–romantic drama hybrids in a film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
–like setting which were popular in the mid 1960s. He also worked frequently with Kobayashi and Rusty Knife was credited with making the actor a star.
By the late 1960s, Ishihara had scaled back his Nikkatsu output in favour of other studios and his own production company. Nikkatsu viewed new Diamond Line star Tetsuya Watari
Tetsuya Watari
is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. He made his screen debut in 1964, in Isamu Kosugi's .He is now the president of Ishihara Promotion.He has a younger brother, Tsunehiko Watase, who is also an actor.-Filmography:-External links:* *...
as a potential successor and they had Masuda remake a number of Ishihara films with him. Masuda loosely remade his own Red Quay into Velvet Hustler (1967) which stars Watari as a "happy-go-lucky" hitman
Contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary, or otherwise. The hiring party may...
who goes on the run after killing a yakuza boss. The character was partially based on Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Belmondo is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s.-Career:Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, Belmondo did not perform well in school, but developed a passion for boxing and football."Did you box professionally very long?" "Not very long...
's character in the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
film Breathless (1960). The vigor and humour of the film was something of a departure for the both men. The two returned to regular modus operandi in Gangster VIP (1968), which was based on the memoirs of real-life yakuza Goro Fujita. It was the first in what has been called Watari's signature film series
Film series
A film series is a collection of related films in succession. Their relationship is not fixed, but generally share a common diegetic world. Sometimes the work is conceived as a multiple-film work, for example the Three Colours series, but in most cases the success of the original film inspires...
and his breakthrough role. Masuda only directed the first film in the series but it provided another blueprint, this time to the studio's New Action sub-genre, films which increased the sex and violence quotient while mirroring the tumultuous times of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Nikkatsu's box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
returns suffered in the late 1960s and many stars and directors left the studio. Masuda himself was not happy with the studio system
Studio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
at the time and, in 1968, he quit to become a freelance director—only a few years before Nikkatsu ceased making action films and began producing softcore
Softcore
Softcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or erotica that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography. It is intended to tickle and arouse men and women. Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic...
Roman Porno films in order to remain profitable.
Freelance work
Remaining a sought after talent, Masuda was approached by the Twentieth Century-Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
Corporation to co-direct the blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...
(1970) after renowned director Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
left the project. Fox producer Elmo Williams
Elmo Williams
Elmo Williams is an American film and television editor, director, producer, and executive. His work on the film High Noon received the Academy Award for Film Editing...
had recommended him based on his Red Handkerchief and reputation as a "creative mind and a disciplined worker". The film depicts the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
from the perspectives of both sides of the conflict. Masuda was responsible for the Japanese segments and asked director Kinji Fukasaku
Kinji Fukasaku
was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer...
to join him, while American director Richard Fleischer
Richard Fleischer
-Early life:Fleischer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Essie and animator/producer Max Fleischer. He started in motion pictures as director of animated shorts produced by his father including entries in the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman series.His live-action film career began in 1942 at the RKO...
filmed the American segments. The film was poorly received in the United States but did well in Japan. Throughout the next 20 years Masuda helmed a string of major studio productions including the science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
disaster film
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...
Catastrophe 1999: The Prophecies of Nostradamus
Prophecies of Nostradamus
also known as The Last Days of Planet Earth or Catastrophe: 1999 is an experimental 1974 feature film by Toshio Masuda, inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. The film credits Toshio Yasumi as principal screenwriter, though Yasumi did not actually work on the film...
(aka Last Days of Planet Earth, 1974) and three more big-budget war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
s for the Toei Company
Toei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
, The Battle of Port Arthur (1980), The Great Japanese Empire (1982) and The Battle of the Sea of Japan: Go to Sea (1983).
Masuda became involved in animated films when producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki decided to make his own product. Nishizaki wanted to meld a live action influence into an anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series and was a fan of Nikkatsu Action, including Masuda's films with Yujiro Ishihara. He invited Masuda to direct on Leiji Matsumoto
Leiji Matsumoto
is a well-known creator of several anime and manga series. His wife is also known as a manga artist.-Space opera:Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato...
's science fiction television and film series Space Battleship Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers...
(aka Star Blazers). Between 1977 and 1983, Masuda directed or co-directed all five Yamato films. The original series has been credited as Japan's first animated television space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
. The eponymous first film gained popularity when it played against Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
(1977) in Japanese theatres and it has been cited as the beginning of the golden age of anime.
He also made room for more intimate subject matter such as his High Teen Boogie (1982), in which a teenage biker falls in love with a straight-laced girl. The corporate drama Company Funeral (1989) was selected for the Kinema Junpo
Kinema Junpo
, commonly called , is a Japanese film magazine which began publication in July 1919. The magazine was founded by a group of four students, including Saburō Tanaka, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology . In that first month, it was published three times on days with a "1" in them. These first three...
magazine's annual Best Ten list. Masuda's most recent feature film was the crime thriller Heavenly Sin (1992). It starred Sayuri Yoshinaga as a detective in near-future Tokyo and Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
as a Chinese Triad boss. Sharif replaced Yusaku Matsuda
Yusaku Matsuda
was a Japanese actor. Yusaku was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi to a Zainichi Korean mother. His father is not known. His date was wrongly recorded as 1950 on his birth records due to a parental error in filing a report.-Career:...
who had died of cancer. The film was a critical and commercial failure. Masuda continues to direct and write for television.
Filmmaking
As an assistant directorAssistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
at both Shintōhō
Shintoho
was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big-6 film studios during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Tōhō Company...
and Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
Studios, Toshio Masuda apprenticed under a number of directors. He has said Mikio Naruse
Mikio Naruse
was a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed some 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967.Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook...
had the greatest impact on him. He credited Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
with teaching him how to use the camera. His primary mentor at Nikkatsu was Umetsugu Inoue
Umetsugu Inoue
was a Japanese film director and scriptwriter. He directed 115 movies, wrote 101 screenplays, and is credited with the original story for five films...
from whom he learned the value of linking together large setpiece
Setpiece
In film production, a setpiece is a scene or sequence of scenes the execution of which requires serious logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money. The term setpiece is often used more broadly to describe any important dramatic or comedic highpoint in a film or story, particularly...
s to drawn in audiences. Masuda was more inclined towards drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
than his mentor and created the setpieces but then incorporated character-based drama into his work.
Masude quickly climbed the Nikkatsu ranks to become a top director. The financial success of his star-studded action films, beginning with Yujiro Ishihara
Yujiro Ishihara
was a Japanese actor and singer born in Kobe. His elder brother, Shintaro Ishihara, is an author, politician, and the current Governor of Tokyo. Yujiro debuted in 1956 in "Season of the Sun," based on a novel written by his brother...
in Rusty Knife
Rusty Knife
Rusty Knife is a 1958 action Japanese film directed by Toshio Masuda. ""Rusty Knife"" was part of the Nikkatsu film studio's wave of Japanese noir films, in order to compete with popular American and French films in Japanese box offices...
, ensured that studio heads would continue to assign him top stars and action films. He continued to write for his own films but mostly due to time constraints as he would have preferred to hire other writers, which did after he left the studio. The films were made quickly and largely without studio supervision. In one example, Ishihara began drawing huge audiences with The Guy Who Started a Storm which was released during the 1957 New Years
Japanese New Year
The is one of the most important annual festivals, with its own unique customs, and has been celebrated for centuries. Due to the importance of the holiday and the preparations required, the preceding days are quite busy, particularly the day before, known as Ōmisoka.The Japanese New Year has been...
season. Theatre owners were displeased that there were no further Ishihara films scheduled before Golden Week of the following year. The studio then order Masuda to make a film with Ishihara in 10 days. Producer Takiko Mizunoe brought him a script by Shintarō Ishihara
Shintaro Ishihara
is a Japanese author, actor, politician and the governor of Tokyo since 1999.- Early life and artistic career :Shintarō was born in Suma-ku, Kobe. His father Kiyoshi was an employee, later a general manager, of a shipping company. Shintarō grew up in Zushi...
. Masuda found it much too long to be completed in the given time, rewrote it and then completed the film within 12 or 13 days.
Many of the settings and style he used in his films came from European
Cinema of Europe
Cinema of Europe refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Europe. Some notable European film movements include German Expressionism, French Impressionist Cinema, Poetic realism, Italian neorealism, French New Wave, Polish Film School, New German Cinema, Portuguese Cinema...
and Hollywood cinema
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
but he framed it all in a Japanese context, in the spirit of "borderless" action cinema. He did not want to make typical films and the more European flavour of his work set him apart from many of his contemporaries. He made many yakuza film
Yakuza film
is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, also referred to as the Japanese Mafia.-Ninkyo eiga:...
s but considered them "youth films" put in a yakuza setting, favouring human drama over verisimilitude
Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude is the quality of realism in something .-Competing ideas:The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be closer to the truth than another false theory...
. The actors were also favoured over a distinctive visual style which, as writer Jasper Sharp suggested, may have accounted for his popular success in the star-based studio system. Despite production line genre work forming the bulk of his oeuvre, Masuda has always been able to express his views, even subversive ones, and reflect on societal issues through his films.
Legacy
Within the studio systemStudio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
, Toshio Masuda was a major figure in defining the Nikkatsu Action style. He has been called the studio's top action director and worked with the studio's biggest stars. He produced box office hits which are fondly remembered by Japanese fans into the 21st century and are regarded as genre landmarks by Japanese critics. Masuda developed a reputation as a "pro's pro", who delivered consistently strong work in the difficult, fast-paced, production line environment of the Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
Company and did so on time and within budget. His films from this period remain little known outside of Japan, largely eclipsed by the cult fame of Nikkatsu enfant terrible Seijun Suzuki
Seijun Suzuki
, born Seitaro Suzuki on May 24, 1923, is a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility...
. While preparing a Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
for the 2005 Udine
Udine
Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps , less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. Its population was 99,439 in 2009, and that of its urban area was 175,000.- History :Udine is the historical...
Far East Film Festival, author and critic Mark Schilling found it likely that none of the five Masuda films he selected had previously been screened abroad.Schilling, Mark (2007). Ibid. pp. 5–10. though Velvet Hustler was released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
cassette by Home Vision Entertainment on September 21, 2001 in North America.
After the collapse of the studio system, Masuda's career continued unabated. His best known film in the West is the blockbuster American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...
, although his contributions are somewhat overshadowed by co-directors Richard Fleischer
Richard Fleischer
-Early life:Fleischer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Essie and animator/producer Max Fleischer. He started in motion pictures as director of animated shorts produced by his father including entries in the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman series.His live-action film career began in 1942 at the RKO...
and Kinji Fukasaku
Kinji Fukasaku
was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer...
—the latter of which later achieved international cult notoriety for his own yakuza film
Yakuza film
is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, also referred to as the Japanese Mafia.-Ninkyo eiga:...
s, among others—despite having been responsible for the lion's share of the Japanese segments of the film. Masuda's animated works, especially the Space Battleship Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers...
series, are remembered by anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
fans worldwide. The first Yamato film originally reached overseas audiences in 1978, including theatrical screenings in England and American television. The series has since expanded into a full blown franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
.
A comprehensive, Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
book detailing Masuda's career was released in 2007, titled Masuda Toshio: The Complete Action Films of Giant Star Toshio Masuda ( Eiga kantoku Masuda Toshio: akushon eiga no kyosei Masuda Toshio no subete). It includes an extensive interview with Masuda, approximately 500 pictures, poster images of his 52 Nikkatsu films and notes on all 82 feature films. Widely neglected by Western critics, writer Mark Schilling dedicated a section of his 2007 book No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema to Masuda, predominately focusing on said cinema. Musician and writer Chris D.
Chris D.
Chris D., real name Chris Desjardins, is a punk poet, rock critic, singer, writer, actor and filmmaker. Chris D. is best known as the lead singer and founder of the early Los Angeles punk/deathrock band The Flesh Eaters. Desjardins was a feature writer at Slash magazine in 1977, when he formed a...
has expressed an interest in doing likewise. No Borders, No Limits is an expanded edition of the version that accompanied the Nikkatsu Action Cinema retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
Schilling programmed for the Far East Film Festival. Abridged versions of the retrospective have appeared in the United States. The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
has since optioned a number of films from the retrospective to be made available for the first time in the North American home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
market but the titles have not yet been announced.
Awards
At the 1981 Japanese Academy Awards, Toshio Masuda was nominated for Best Director for his film Port Arthur. He won Kinema JunpoKinema Junpo
, commonly called , is a Japanese film magazine which began publication in July 1919. The magazine was founded by a group of four students, including Saburō Tanaka, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology . In that first month, it was published three times on days with a "1" in them. These first three...
's Readers' Choice Award for Best Film for the same film. In 1990, he was again nominated for Best Director at the Japanese Academy Awards for Company Funeral. He won in the same category at the Blue Ribbon Awards
Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
and the Mainichi Film Awards.
Filmography
Between 1958 and 1992, Toshio Masuda directed 82 feature films, 52 of those over the course of his decade with the NikkatsuNikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
Company. He developed a reputation as a "hitmaker" and 16 of his films breached the top ten list for domestic Japanese box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
revenues. Only one other director has superseded that record. The following is a list of the 16 films.
| Year | Title | Japanese | Romanization | | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Rusty Knife Rusty Knife Rusty Knife is a 1958 action Japanese film directed by Toshio Masuda. ""Rusty Knife"" was part of the Nikkatsu film studio's wave of Japanese noir films, in order to compete with popular American and French films in Japanese box offices... |
Sabita naifu | 7 | |
| 1959 | The Man Who Risked Heaven and Earth | Ten to chi o kakeru otoko | 10 | |
| 1960 | The Brawler | Kenka Tarō | 4 | |
| 1960 | Man at the Bullfight | Togyu ni kakeru otoko | 3 | |
| 1962 | Hana and Ryu | Hana to Ryu | 2 | |
| 1964 | Red Handkerchief | Akai hankachi | 3 | |
| 1973 | The Human Revolution | Ningen kakumei | 2 | |
| 1974 | Catastrophe 1999: The Prophecies of Nostradamus Prophecies of Nostradamus also known as The Last Days of Planet Earth or Catastrophe: 1999 is an experimental 1974 feature film by Toshio Masuda, inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. The film credits Toshio Yasumi as principal screenwriter, though Yasumi did not actually work on the film... |
Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen | 2 | |
| 1976 | The Human Revolution 2 | Zoku ningen kakumei | 1 | |
| 1978 | Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato is the second theatrical film based on the classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato .-Plot:... |
Saraba uchu senkan Yamato: Ai no senshitachi | 2 | |
| 1980 | Port Arthur | Ni hyaku san kochi | 3 | |
| 1980 | Be Forever Yamato Be Forever Yamato is the third theatrical film based on the classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato . The film is unique for switching from monaural VistaVision to Quadraphonic CinemaScope when the Yamato enters the Double Galaxy.-Plot:The Black Nebula Empire, last seen in Yamato: The New Voyage, lands a... |
Yamato yo towa ni | 5 | |
| 1982 | The Great Japanese Empire | Dainippon teikoku | 3 | |
| 1982 | High Teen Boogie | Hai tiin bugi | 2 | |
| 1985 | Love: Take Off | Ai: Tabidachi | 7 | |
| 1991 | Doten | Dōten | 9 |
Further reading
External links
- Midnight Eye interview: Joe ShishidoJoe Shishidois a Japanese actor most recognizable for his intense, eccentric yakuza film roles and his artificially enlarged cheekbones. He has appeared in some 300 films but is best known in the West for his performance in the cult film Branded to Kill...
and Toshio Masuda