Kenji Mizoguchi

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

In Mark Le Fanu's BFI published Mizoguchi and Japan there is a filmography at the back listing extant films with a short synopsis and a list of lost films.

[Michael Kerpan]

I _think_ this reflects the current state of things:

Furusato no uta / The Song of Home (1925)
Tokyo koshin-kyoku / Tokyo March (1929) only a "digest" version exists (with all sub-plots completely eliminated)
Asahi no kagayaku (1929) partially preserved, Mizoguchi was a co-director (and his part may be mostly missing)
Fujiwara Yoshie no furusato (1930)
Tojin okichi (1930) short fragment survives
Taki no shiraito / The Water Magician (1933)
Orizuru Osen / The Downfall of Osen (1935)
Maria no Oyuki / Oyuki the Virgin (1935)
Gubijinsô / Poppies (1935)
Ojo okichi (1935) not originally credited to Mizoguchi, except as "advisor" (so probably not really his work)
Naniwa erejî / Osaka Elegy (1936)
Gion no shimai / Sisters of the Gion (1936)
Aien kyo / The Straits of Love and Hate (1937)
Zangiku monogatari / The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939)
Genroku chushingura / The 47 Ronin (1941)
Miyamoto Musashi / Musashi Miyamoto (1944)
Meito bijomaru / The Famous Sword Bijomaru (1945)
Josei no shôri / The Victory of Women (1946)
Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna / Five Women Around Utamaro (1946)
Joyû Sumako no koi / The Love of Sumako the Actress (1947)
Yoru no onnatachi / Women of the Night (1948)
Waga koi wa moenu / My Love Has Been Burning (1949)
Yuki fujin ezu / Portrait of Madame Yuki (1950)
Oyû-sama / Miss Oyu (1951)
Musashino fujin / The Lady from Musashino (1951)
Saikaku ichidai onna / The Life of Oharu (1952)
Ugetsu monogatari / Ugetsu (1953)
Gion bayashi / Gion Festival Music / A Geisha (1953)
Sanshô dayû / Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Uwasa no onna / The Woman in the Rumor (1954)
Chikamatsu monogatari / The Crucified Lovers (1954)
Yôkihi / Empress Yang Kwei Fei (1955)
Shin heike monogatari / Legend of the Taira Clan (1955)
Akasen chitai / Street of Shame (1956)

[EddieLarkin]

That's great*, thanks for taking the time Michael.

edit: *and also horrifying. About the same amount of films Ozu has extant, despite Mizoguchi directing nearly twice as many. God it's not even 50% of his output.

[Michael Kerpan]

That's great, thanks for taking the time Michael.

I mostly cut and pasted from a list I did 8(!!!) years ago on the KineJapan mailing list -- plus added a few updates. I note that, at that point, I had already seen everything (complete-ish) except the one I just saw last night.

[longstone]

yes , thanks for posting that

[Michael Kerpan]

yes , thanks for posting that

You're welcome. Seeing the list again made me feel quite nostalgic. ;-}

[longstone]

regarding officially released versions with English subs, the best versions I have are ,
the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray box ,
the Artificial Eye Blu-ray set ,
the Eclipse fallen Women set ,
Criterion Life of Oharu Blu-ray,
the Artificial Eye Lady of Musashino DVD,
the French Tiara Clan DVD ,
Australian 47 Ronin
and two Talking Silents DVDs from Japan,
does anyone know is there anything else available easily with English subtitles that fills any of the gaps ?

[Michael Kerpan]

regarding officially released versions with English subs, the best versions I have are ,
the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray box ,
the Artificial Eye Blu-ray set ,
the Eclipse fallen Women set ,
Criterion Life of Oharu Blu-ray,
the Artificial Eye Lady of Musashino DVD,
the French Tiara Clan DVD ,
Australian 47 Ronin
and two Talking Silents DVDs from Japan,
does anyone know is there anything else available easily with English subtitles that fills any of the gaps ?

There is this release of Musashi Miyamoto: http://www.japanesesamuraidvd.com/.sc/ms/dd/ee/209" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[longstone]

regarding officially released versions with English subs, the best versions I have are ,
the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray box ,
the Artificial Eye Blu-ray set ,
the Eclipse fallen Women set ,
Criterion Life of Oharu Blu-ray,
the Artificial Eye Lady of Musashino DVD,
the French Tiara Clan DVD ,
Australian 47 Ronin
and two Talking Silents DVDs from Japan,
does anyone know is there anything else available easily with English subtitles that fills any of the gaps ?

There is this release of Musashi Miyamoto: http://www.japanesesamuraidvd.com/.sc/ms/dd/ee/209" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thanks very much , I've not seen that film

[Michael Kerpan]

Mizoguchi's MM is not like any other version you may have seen of this story. (I personally like it, however).

[ando]

My recollection of the Le Fanu book is that it mostly ranged between mediocre and somewhat poor.

Not at all. It's certainly not a comprehensive study of the whole of Mizoguchi's output (focusing on his more well known films) but I'm finding it quite useful as a primer to viewing the films during the current retro in NYC. I'd recommend it.

[Michael Kerpan]

Here is a pretty accurate review of the book by Freda Freiberg:

http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/book-rev ... and-japan/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

She captures what is good AND problematic. I happen to to have found the more problematic aspects offputting enough to impair those aspects that others might find quite useful. My strongest recollection of the book now is one of having been repeatedly been aggravated by it (in a non-productive fashion).

[ando]

Yes, I posted that link earlier. She's quibbling - sure Le Fanu makes assumptions about the tastes of most western audiences and regurgitates old debates from "the high point of auterism", but if he "assiduously researched the historical background, critical reception, production history, theatrical and literary sources, socio-political context and narrative construction of all the extant Mizoguchi films", what more do you need from a primer? Of course, he may not have intended it to be an intro but it's certainly works as one.

[whaleallright]

did he really "assiduously research" all of that? I've noticed a tendency for film books to be advertised as "thoroughly researched" (etc.) when they basically are a synthesis of secondary material. for example, there was a Barbara Stanwyck bio out a few years back that the publisher claimed to have lots of original research, but it didn't seem to have hardly any. the newer bio (the first in what will likely be a multi-volume series) genuinely is the product of extensive, long-running research. Le Fanu's track record isn't exactly encouraging--his Dreyer book features a lot of opinions and analyses and little if any new information.

of course, some of my students think "research" means "two clicks beyond Google" so YMMV.

[Michael Kerpan]

jonah -- you probably need to look at this for yourself. My feeling was this was usually felt pretty superficial, "assiduous research" or not. It recycled a lot of what seemed like "conventional wisdom". MUCH more real substance in Bordwell's chapter on Mizoguchi than in LeFanu's whole book.

I just took a look at random pages -- and it looks like it has quite a few mistakes -- but don't have time at the moment to double check things. For instance, he definitely mis-describes how bunraku was/is performed.

[whaleallright]

maybe I'll take a look.

also: if you read French (or Japanese), the volume of reflections by Mizoguchi's regular screenwriter Yoda Yoshikata is quite valuable.

[Michael Kerpan]

I'll tackle this someday (in French), I wish I had been able to get the Ozu Notebooks (in French) before they went out of print -- and got too expensive.

[whaleallright]

yes, I had an opportunity to purchase those at a suburban Paris film fair, and for some reason passed them up.

i also passed up a chance to get this amazing poster for I Was Born, But...--made for what I believe was the film's first release in France, in the 1980s:



](*,)

[Michael Kerpan]

My son could have bought the Ozu notebooks when he was in France on a summer student exchange years ago. I would have happily wired him the extra money. ;-}

Awesome poster.

[YnEoS]

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to two of the recommendations I got in this thread, Utamaro and His Five Women and Portrait of Madame Yuki, but I was able to see Crucified Lovers today.

My overall impression is that it did seem quite a bit better than any previous Mizoguchi's I've watched, but it still wasn't quite up to the same level of reaction I get out of an average Naruse/Ozu/Shimizu/Yamanaka/etc. I might be oversimplifying the other Mizoguchi's I've seen in memory, but it seemed one thing that helped make this film a lot better was that there were more changes in character relationships within each scene, so it never felt as monotone as I remember other Mizoguchi films being.

I didn't notice any really overt complexly blocked long takes that Bordwell pointed out in his essay, but there was a lot of good blocking with the way characters positioned themselves and changed posture over the course of the scene, and once I got more attuned to that I was much more absorbed in the drama. The scene of the two lovers fleeing on the boat stands out as particularly effective.


I had to squeeze this screening in the middle of a bit of a busy weekend, so I was a bit tired and not 100% properly mentally hyped for the film walking in, so I might have a better appreciation of it with a second viewing. Still overall it was a pretty positive viewing experience and has given me a slight glimmer of hope of appreciating more Mizoguchi in the future.

[Michael Kerpan]

Glad you did like Crucified Lovers, hopefully it will be a start towards getting attuned to the Mizoguchian wavelength.

[movielocke]

For denizens of the Los Angeles Environs, UCLA begins a 35mm retrospective of Mizoguchi today. Unfortunately it's not nearly as comprehensive as the other recent retrospectives mentioned upthread, not a single rare film is playing, so it only affords the possibility to see all the films that are available from Vidiots and Eddie Brandt albeit in better quality than VHS.

https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2015 ... dium=email" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[FrauBlucher]

NY Times on the restored The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum. There are spoilers......

[Tommaso]

I didn't know about this before. Are they talking about a newer restoration than the one that is on the Artificial Eye release? If so, a clear case for a Criterion release (I hope).

[Calvin]

I didn't know about this before. Are they talking about a newer restoration than the one that is on the Artificial Eye release? If so, a clear case for a Criterion release (I hope).

Indeed, it's a new (2015) 4K restoration from Shochiku that's already been released on Blu-Ray in Japan