Makino, Masahiro

The early years

Masatada Makino (such is his real name) was born in 1908 . This year, his father, Shozo Makino, first turned to filmmaking. Masahiro began acting in his father’s films before he went to school (at the age of three). But even when the boy went to study at Kyoto City High School, his father allowed him to attend classes often only on rainy days, when shooting in kind was impossible ^[1] . Having received secondary education, Masahiro at the age of 17 came to the studio, founded by his father and began working as an assistant director, gradually learning the basics of filmmaking, although he continued to work as an actor, just like his brothers and sisters. Masahiro Makino as an actor performed only in childhood and adolescence, having starred in 171 films from 1912 to 1928 ^{[2] [3]} . Masahiro started writing scripts early and his first original script, “A Doll with Blue Eyes,” he will have to put on by himself, replacing a sick director on the set ^[1] .

Movie career

Silent Movie

Masahiro Makino made his film directorial debut in 1926 when he was only 18 years old. Soon, the young director achieved success among professional critics. His film “Ronin Street. Story 1: Beautiful Booty ”won the Kinema Jumpo magazine award as the best film of 1928 ^[4] , and two other Makino works of the same year were nominated:“ Revenge at the Shojenji Temple ”won the 4th place in the top ten according to the results of the critics of the magazine nominees, and the film "Fighting Cocks" - 7th place ^[4] . No less successful for the newcomer in directing was the following 1929 , when for the second time in a row his film “On the Block” will be named the best film of the year at the next presentation of the Kinem Jumpo film award ^[4] . His other picture, the final part of the trilogy on unemployed samurai “Street of ronin. Story 3: Demons ”, which won an honorable third place ^[4] .

His best silent films: the Ronin Street trilogy (1928–1929) is an epic tale of a group of unemployed samurai in Edo (the watch fragment preserved from all the trilogy films illustrates the life of the lower classes during the Tokugawa shogunate with a strong emphasis on the boredom of everyday life ) But due to the growing militarism and nationalistic aspirations in the country, even this popular movie series was subjected to severe censorship by the authorities ^[1] ; And also the film “On the Scaffold” (1929), which tells the story of Ronin, falsely accused of committing a crime and who cannot prove his innocence.

Nevertheless, these important works for the beginning director, despite the high praise from critics and left-oriented youth, failed at the box office. Makino Film Productions was close to bankruptcy, and not only due to poor fees from Makino Jr.'s films, but Shouzo Makino himself was involved in studio debts worth 370,000 yen ^[2] . In the summer of 1929, Shoujo Makino died. The successor of his father’s business, not yet experienced in business, Masahiro barely kept afloat, but still unable to pay off his debts and establish film production in his former form, he still closed the studio ^[5] and hired in 1932 to work in one of leading in those years, the Japanese film companies Nikkatsu .

1930s

Two years later, in 1934, Makino was fired from Nikkatsu for participating in one of the studio strikes, but already in the next 1935 the director found the opportunity and means to create his own small studio Makino Toki Seisakusho. In 1937, due to financial difficulties, this studio will still be closed and Makino will return to the Nikkatsu film company.

In the 1930s, the Japanese film industry flourished, and although Makino was not among the favorites of filmmaking in those years, which were then considered Yasujiro Shimazu , Yasujiro Ozu , Kenji Mizoguchi , Teinosuke Kinugasa , he was nevertheless revered along with Daiske Ito ^[5] alone of the recognized masters of the Jidaigeki genre and was highly respected ^[1] . That is why the Nikkatsu film company again accepted him into its ranks, despite the recent dismissal. But Masahiro Makino also had enough ill-wishers. He was reproached mainly for the large number of delivered tapes. In 1936 alone , the director directed 30 films (that is, an average of 12 days was spent on the production of each of them), and for example, the time spent filming the film “The Monk and Edo Flowers” ​​of the same 1936 was only 28 hours ^[6] . Critics of his work have always blamed Makino for this, first of all, these are the films put on stream when they say there is no time for the creative process. However, his defender, critic Sadao Yamane, claims that the accelerated practice of filming contributed to a more rhythmic style of Makino films ^[6] . The rhythm and pace is one of the components of the films in the zidigake genre and the films of the director were invariably saturated with action.

Years of World War II

The films shot in the late 1930s at Nikkatsu had more screen violence and realism than before in his works - this, as well as the participation in them of the popular stars of the Jizaigeki Tsumasaburo Bando (Tyuji Kunisada, 1937 ; “ Spilled blood in Takadanobaba ", 1937 ) and Tiezo Kataoka (" Dziraiya ", 1937 ;" Burning Dawn ", 1938 and others) finally secured well-deserved box office success ^[5] .

The most successful among the works of this period of his work are recognized as an epic historical drama with elements of the comedy “Spilled Blood in Takadanobaba” (1937), a pure example of the zidaigeki genre, now considered a masterpiece from the films of Makino, and the film portret “Singing of Bird Lovers” ( 1939 ).

In 1941, Masahiro Makino moved from Nikkatsu to Toho , where the zidigakei The Man Who Disappeared Yesterday (1941) was shot in an eccentric comedy form, based on material from the American comedy thriller Thin Man (1934, dir. V. S. Van Dyke), but the scene was moved to Japan of the Edo period ^[7] . The film starred the popular Japanese movie stars Kazuo Hasegawa , Isuzu Yamada and Hideko Takamine . Such borrowings from Hollywood cinema were quite unusual in that formidable wartime.

During the war years, Makino, like other directors, including Akira Kurosawa ^[1] (the film " The Most Beautiful ", 1944 ) was forced to shoot several propaganda films in support of the militarist regime. In his film "The Opium War" ( 1943 ), which takes place during the First World War , the Japanese attacked the British. But even in this picture, Makino again borrowed a plot from Hollywood history, namely, from David Wark Griffith ’s classic silent film Orphans of the Storm ( 1922 ), where the story of two sisters was shown against the backdrop of the French Revolution (the main roles were also played by the sisters Lillian and Dorothy Guiche ). Actresses Setsuko Hara and Hideko Takaminé play sisters suffering from British imperialism in China, but despite their talents, the film turned out to be pretty caricature ^[7] . However, this film was a big hit in the 1943 Japanese box office ^[1] .

In 1943, Masahiro Makino left the Toho film company and entered into an agreement with Shёtiku, where he would work until the end of 1947 . The film “Sinks of an unsinkable battleship”, set up by Makino in 1944, shows life at a factory where torpedoes are made and the process of making a projectile is shown in quite detail up to its successful launch against an American warship.

Post-war period

Since the American occupation authorities banned films with scenes of swordfights, since it was believed that they showed the militaristic spirit of the Japanese people, these were the years when the jidai-geki genre disappeared from the screens until 1952 , before the end of the Japanese occupation by the allied forces. During these years, Makino made films of female subjects ("The Waiting Woman", 1946 , "The Gates of the Flesh", 1948 , based on the novel by Taiziro Tamura and others).

In the post-war 1940s and 1950s, Masahiro Makino will make films in various film companies, without stopping anywhere for long. In 1948, Makino made a couple of films at the Dayay film company, then 4 films for the independent company C • C • C (however, the larger Toho company was involved in the rental of films in this studio), and worked in the Toyoko Eyga film companies in the 1950s ”(Owned by his brother Mitsuo Makino),“ Toei ”,“ Toho ”,“ ShinToho ”,“ Dayei ”,“ Shёtiku ”,“ Nikkatsu ”, Takarazuka Eiga.

In his brother’s film company Toyoko Eyga, Makino directed a film based on Akira Kurosawa’s script “Dampei Fencing Director” ( 1950 ) starring Utaemon Ichikawa . Beginning in 1952, after the occupation authorities left, Makino finally gets the opportunity to appeal to his favorite jidaigeki genre and shoots one of the brightest movie series (out of nine films) in the Toho company, “Jiroto: A Chronicle of Three Provinces” ( 1952 - 1954 , based on the novel by Genzo Murakami). This series of films was very successful and had many sequels. Makino himself subsequently made films in other film companies that supplemented the story told in this film series: for Nikkatsu, two films “The Chronicle of the Player of Jirotyo” ( 1955 ) and in the company “Toei” three films from the cycle “Days of the Youth of Jirotyo” ( 1960 - 1962 , starring Kinnosuke Nakamura ), the film "Jiroty and the Little Goblin: Violence on the Kosyu Road" (1962, starring Kinya Kitaoji and Kinnosuke Nakamura) and three episodes from the series "Kingdom of Jirotyo" ( 1963 - 1964 , the main performers roles of Koji Tsuruta and Junko Fuji ).

In the 1950s, Makino made many remakes from his own old films. The director twice re-shot the 1936 film "The Straw Hat of Yataro" (in 1952 at SinToho and in 1960 at Toei). The same fate befell the old film "Sadzen Tange" (1936), the plot of which he addressed first in 1953 to the film company "Dayai", and then in 1956 to "Nikkatsu". His other old films, Revenge at the Shojenji Temple (1928, 1957 ), Echo of Love (1937, 1959 ), and Kurama Tengu (1938, 1959), were also remade. The most successful in this series of new versions of old paintings was "Ronin Street" (a remake of 1957 from the 1928 film), made at the "Shёtiku" film company.

In 1960, the director began working on television, filming the drama series Hotel in Akiba live. In subsequent years, he shot another dozen TV series (the last in 1981 ).

One of the popular films of the 1960s director, Princess Sen and Hideyori (1962), about a princess whose happiness collapsed when her family, father and grandfather bring her beloved husband to death. Working primarily in the Toei film company in the 1960s , the director directed films in his new Ninkyo Eyga genre. In these films, he played popular representatives of this direction: Ken Takakura , Koji Tsuruta , Junko Fuji , Hiroyuki Nagato . The most popular films of this genre from the series "Japanese Yakuza" (nine films shot from 1964 to 1969 ) ^[7] .

The last film shot by Masahiro Makino for the big screen was The Blossoming Sakura Family from Kanto ( 1972 ), after which the director worked on television ^[2] until 1981 .

In 1977, Masahiro Makino published a book of memoirs. He died in 1993 at the age of 85, leaving fans of his talent a huge amount of films. His filmography, according to the Japan Film Base (JMDb), has 273 films (although many of his early films have not been preserved).

The cinematic dynasty of the Makino clan is quite representative: Masahiro’s brother-in-law, (1906-2003), was also a famous director. Another brother, Mitsuo Makino, was a major film producer, the youngest of the brothers, Shinzo Makino, also worked as a director (his wife was actress Tikako Miyagi, 1922-1996, who starred in films by Masahiro Makino). Sisters Masahiro Teruko Makino and Tomoko Makino (1907-1984) were actresses and both starred in his brother's films. Tomoko was married to actor (1905-1974) and gave birth to two sons from him, who became actors: (born 1940) and (1934-2011), each of whom married actresses. Masahiko Tsugawa’s wife is (born 1935), and Hiroyuki Nagato’s wife was (1933-2009). The actors are also the brother and sister of Kunitaro Savamura - (1910-1975) and (1908-1996). Almost all of the related actors starred in the films of Masahiro Makino, most of all Hiroyuki Nagato and his wife Yoko Minamida. The pseudonym that Masahiko Tsugawa took for himself when he became a film director - Masahiko, is a tribute to Masahiro.

Masahiro Makino was married twice. The first wife was the film actress Yukiko Todoroki (marriage registration in 1940, divorce in 1950), who starred in a lot of films in the spouse from 1937 to 1949). The son of this marriage, Masayuki Makino was the head of the . The second wife of Masahiro Makino was also an actress and one of their two daughters also followed in their parents' footsteps.

• The 17th award ceremony (1994) - a special award for his contribution to the cinema (posthumous) ^[8] .

Film award " Kinem Jumpo "

• 1929 - Award for the best film of 1928 - “Ronin Street. History 1: Beautiful Prey ” ^[9] .
• 1930 - Award for the best film of 1929 - “On the block” ^[9] .

• Masahiro Makino on the Internet Movie Database

• Jacoby Alexander . A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors. - Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press, 2008 .-- ISBN 978-1-933330