It should be stressed here that the aforesaid chronology of the crime film is developed in regard to the American and European cinematography. The South East Asia countries are remarkable for their original evolvement in regard to cinema art. In Japan, the first silent films appeared in 1898-9 (Komatsu 1997). They relied on the traditions of the kabuki and Noh theatre.
Despite the shooting of dramas with contemporary subjects [Shinpa], as well as comedies, trick films, sceneries, and travelogues – the genres well-known for the European and American viewer – “similarities with western cinema were superficial, and Japanese films preserved a unique flavour throughout the 1910s” (Komatsu “Japan: Before the Great Kanto Earthquake” 1997, p. 178). There were two types of originally Japanese movies: Shinpa (New School) films which “dealt with contemporary subjects, often adapted from newspaper serials or foreign fiction, in a melodramatic style” (Komatsu 1997, p. 178), and Kyuha (Old School) films referring to histories of samurais. Besides there was the rensageki, or chain drama, “a combination of stage play and cinema using films for the scenes that were difficult to represent live on the stage” (Komatsu 1997, p. 178).
In Japan, the first Americanised film – The Amateur Club [Kisaburo Kuri hara] was produced by Kurihara in 1920 and featured the unusual for the national mentality scenes with “bathing beauties, chase scenes, slapstick” (Komatsu 1997, p. 181). The crime plots are traced back to the 1920s.
Director Suzuki shot the four-reel Ningen-ku ['Anguish of a human being'] (1923) narrating about a rich man, who ran bankrupt and committed suicide after killing his wife. Some of the film features – “a grim mise-en-scene of rainy streets, gas lamps, flowing muddy water, and dilapidated buildings” (Komatsu 1997, p. 182) – prophesised the emergence of the film noir that became popular in Europe in the late 1940s. One of the pioneer directors, Daisuke Ito (1898-1981), shot the film Oatsurae Jirokichi goshi ('The chivalrous robber Jirokichi', 1931) that is considered to be almost the first crime movie in the Japanese context.
Whereas the American crime movie concentrated on that period’s burning issues of big heists and western adventures, and the European cinema explored the psychological underlining of mysterious crimes, the Japanese cinematography turned to the samurai past (Tomiyasu Ikeda’s Sonno joi ['Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians'], ] 1927, and Jiraika gumi ['Jiraika group'], 1927-8); Ito’s Chusingura ['The loyal forty-seven Ronin'], 1934) in the so-called jidaigeki, or period drama (Komatsu 1997).
Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956) shot a number of detective stories at the earlier stages of his career. From 1924 to the early 1930s, the Japanese cinematography started to utilise the styles and methods of new European art cinemas. Partly it happened due to the introduction of sound techniques in 1927. During the 1930s recreation of jidaigeki genre, Mansaku Itami made the film Yamiuchi tosei ['The life of a foul murderer'] (1932) and Tomu Uchida directed the sword-film Adauchi senshu ('The revenge champion'] (1931).
These narratives can be compared to the European and American examples of the detective story and the ‘avenger’ type of the crime film. To put it in a nut shell, it seems that historically the Japanese cinematography was interested rather in human psychology and either social or realistically melodramatic plots than in the depiction of crimes.
Source: law aspect
Despite the shooting of dramas with contemporary subjects [Shinpa], as well as comedies, trick films, sceneries, and travelogues – the genres well-known for the European and American viewer – “similarities with western cinema were superficial, and Japanese films preserved a unique flavour throughout the 1910s” (Komatsu “Japan: Before the Great Kanto Earthquake” 1997, p. 178). There were two types of originally Japanese movies: Shinpa (New School) films which “dealt with contemporary subjects, often adapted from newspaper serials or foreign fiction, in a melodramatic style” (Komatsu 1997, p. 178), and Kyuha (Old School) films referring to histories of samurais. Besides there was the rensageki, or chain drama, “a combination of stage play and cinema using films for the scenes that were difficult to represent live on the stage” (Komatsu 1997, p. 178).
In Japan, the first Americanised film – The Amateur Club [Kisaburo Kuri hara] was produced by Kurihara in 1920 and featured the unusual for the national mentality scenes with “bathing beauties, chase scenes, slapstick” (Komatsu 1997, p. 181). The crime plots are traced back to the 1920s.
Director Suzuki shot the four-reel Ningen-ku ['Anguish of a human being'] (1923) narrating about a rich man, who ran bankrupt and committed suicide after killing his wife. Some of the film features – “a grim mise-en-scene of rainy streets, gas lamps, flowing muddy water, and dilapidated buildings” (Komatsu 1997, p. 182) – prophesised the emergence of the film noir that became popular in Europe in the late 1940s. One of the pioneer directors, Daisuke Ito (1898-1981), shot the film Oatsurae Jirokichi goshi ('The chivalrous robber Jirokichi', 1931) that is considered to be almost the first crime movie in the Japanese context.
Whereas the American crime movie concentrated on that period’s burning issues of big heists and western adventures, and the European cinema explored the psychological underlining of mysterious crimes, the Japanese cinematography turned to the samurai past (Tomiyasu Ikeda’s Sonno joi ['Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians'], ] 1927, and Jiraika gumi ['Jiraika group'], 1927-8); Ito’s Chusingura ['The loyal forty-seven Ronin'], 1934) in the so-called jidaigeki, or period drama (Komatsu 1997).
Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956) shot a number of detective stories at the earlier stages of his career. From 1924 to the early 1930s, the Japanese cinematography started to utilise the styles and methods of new European art cinemas. Partly it happened due to the introduction of sound techniques in 1927. During the 1930s recreation of jidaigeki genre, Mansaku Itami made the film Yamiuchi tosei ['The life of a foul murderer'] (1932) and Tomu Uchida directed the sword-film Adauchi senshu ('The revenge champion'] (1931).
These narratives can be compared to the European and American examples of the detective story and the ‘avenger’ type of the crime film. To put it in a nut shell, it seems that historically the Japanese cinematography was interested rather in human psychology and either social or realistically melodramatic plots than in the depiction of crimes.
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