Japanese Cinema of the 1930's

By: Frank W

The 1930’s were an extremely productive period for Japanese cinema with a highlight of 562 films made in 1937. Unfortunately, many of these films were lost in war bombings and only a small number of these films have been found and restored. To give you an idea of the great loss; of the 1249 films made at Shochiku Kamata between 1920 and 1936, only 50 films remain. Of that enormous amount of films made in the 1930’s this is only a small list made out of films I’ve seen and the ones I’ve yet to watch.

List
Our Neighbour, Miss Yae (1934, Shimazu)
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939, Mizoguchi)
The Only Son (1936, Ozu)
Arigato-san (1936, Shimizu)
Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937, Yamanaka)
Wife! Be Like A Rose! (1935, Naruse)
Osaka Elegy (1936, Mizoguchi)
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (1935, Naruse)
Burden of Life (1935, Gosho)
Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935, Yamanaka)

The Straits of Love and Hate (1937, Mizoguchi)
Apart From You (1933, Naruse)
Sisters of Gion (1936, Mizoguchi)
An Inn in Tokyo (1935, Ozu)
Dancing Girl of Izu (1933, Gosho)
Fighting Soldiers (1939, Kamei)
A Woman’s Sorrows (1937, Naruse)
Passing Fancy (1933, Ozu)
Earth (1939, Uchida)
Nightly Dreams (1933, Naruse)

The Masseurs and a Woman (1938, Shimizu)
Woman of Tokyo (1933, Ozu)
Four Seasons of Children (1939, Shimizu)
The Whole Family Works (1939, Naruse)
Children in the Wind (1937, Shimizu)
I was Born, But… (1932, Ozu)
Priest of Darkness (1936, Yamanaka)
The Girl in the Rumor (1935, Naruse)
Woman of the Mist (1936, Gosho)
Morning’s Tree-lined Street (1936, Naruse)

What Made Her Do It? (1930, Suzuki)
Poppies (1935, Mizoguchi)
The Trio’s Engagement (1937, Shimazu)
Tokyo Chorus (1931, Ozu)
The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine (1931, Gosho)
A Story of Floating Weeds (1934, Ozu)
Avalanche (1937, Naruse)
The Road I Travel With You (1936, Naruse)
Japanese Girls at the Harbour (1933, Shimizu)
Sincerity (1939, Naruse)

Oyuki the Virgin (1935, Mizoguchi)
Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro (1938, Naruse)
The Actress and the Poet (1935, Naruse)
What did the Lady Forget? (1937, Ozu)
Man of the House (1936, Naruse)
Learn from Experience (1937, Naruse)
Five Men in the Circus (1935, Naruse)
The Lady and the Beard (1931, Ozu)
Flunky, Work Hard (1931, Naruse)
The Lion Dance (1936, Ozu)

To watch
Your Sin (1930, Sasaki)
Kid Commotion (1935, Saito)
Policeman (1933, Uchida)
Unending Advance (1938, Uchida)
Okoto and Sasuke (1935, Shimazu)
The Lights of Asakasu (1937, Shimazu)
I Flunked, but…. (1930, Ozu)
Walk Cheerfully, (1930, Ozu)
That Night’s Wife (1930, Ozu)
Where are the Dreams of Youth? (1932, Ozu)
Dragnet Girl (1933, Ozu)
A Mother Should be Loved (1934, Ozu)
The Water Magician (1933, Mizoguchi)
The Downfall of Osen (1935, Mizoguchi)
Mistress of a Foreigner (1935, Mizoguchi) incomplete
Not Blood Relations (1932, Naruse)
Street Without End (1934, Naruse)
Capricious Young Man (1936, Itami)
The New Earth (1937, Itami)
A Pebble By The Wayside (1938, Tomotaka)
Five Scouts (1938, Tomotaka)
Don’t Tell Your Wife About it (1937, Shibuya)