About

Known credits:
35
Birthday:
1909-11-07
Place of birth:
N/A
Website:
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Sadao Yamanaka

Overview

Sadao Yamanaka (山中 貞雄, Yamanaka Sadao, November 7, 1909 – September 17, 1938) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed 26 films between 1932 and 1938. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the jidaigeki, or historical film. Yamanaka began his career in the Japanese film industry at the age of 20 as a writer and assistant director for the Makino company.

In 1932, he began working for Kanjuro Productions, a small, independent film company similar to many others founded during the same period as it was centered around a popular jidaigeki film star, this time Kanjuro Arashi. Here, he began directing his first films, all of which were jidaigeki. During his first year at Kanjuro, he made six films. He was "discovered" by the critic Matsuo Kishi and gained a reputation for creating films that escaped clichés and focused on social injustices. Early on, he had stated an interest in blurring the lines between several genres: comedy, historical epics, and comedy-dramas focusing on average people. Viewers and critics note in his surviving films the genesis of ideas later explored by the internationally successful Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujirō Ozu and Seijun Suzuki. He formed the Narutaki-gumi with his friends, and they wrote under the pseudonym Kimpachi Kajiwara. Yamanaka has been characterized as a minimalist, one whose style favoured elegance and rhythm. During the 1930s he moved between several film companies, eventually settling in Kyoto and working for the Nikkatsu Company. Most of his films were silent films as sound did not gain a prominence in Japan until 1935-36. He worked twice with the Japanese theatre troupe Zenshin-za: first on The Village Tattooed Man (Machi no Irezumi-mono, 1935) and on his final film, Humanity and Paper Balloons.

Yamanaka died of dysentery in Manchuria after being drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army. He is the uncle of the Japanese film director Tai Kato, who wrote a book about Yamanaka, Eiga kantoku Yamanaka Sadao. Only three of his films survive in nearly complete form.

Description from the Wikipedia article Sadao Yamanaka, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Known for

Directing
1937 Humanity and Paper Balloons Directing Director 60
Fair
1937 Ishimatsu from the Forest Directing Director N/A
N/A
1936 Priest of Darkness Directing Director 59
Average
1935 The Village Tattooed Man Directing Director N/A
N/A
1935 Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo Directing Director 60
Fair
1935 Kunisada Chūji Directing Director N/A
N/A
1934 Gantaro Path Directing Director N/A
N/A
1934 The Elegant Swordsman Directing Director N/A
N/A
1933 Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: Edo Reel Part 2 Directing Director N/A
N/A
1933 Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: Edo Reel Directing Director N/A
N/A
1933 Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: The Journey Directing Director N/A
N/A
1933 Bangaku no issho Directing Director N/A
N/A
1933 Satsuma Courier Part 2: The Passionate Sword Directing Director N/A
N/A
1932 Ogasawara Ikinokami Directing Director N/A
N/A
1932 Iso-no-genta's Sword Directing Director N/A
N/A

Writing
1963 Love And Order Writing Original Story N/A
N/A
1959 Saga of the Vagabonds Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1956 朱鞘罷り通る Writing Original Story N/A
N/A
1939 The Day Before Writing Story N/A
N/A
1937 Ishimatsu from the Forest Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1935 The Village Tattooed Man Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1935 Mito Komon - The Bloody Swords Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1935 Kunisada Chūji Writing Story N/A
N/A
1935 Mito Komon - The Secret Letter Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1934 Mito Kômon: Rai Kunitsugu no maki Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1934 The Elegant Swordsman Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1933 Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: Edo Reel Part 2 Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1933 Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: Edo Reel Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1933 Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: The Journey Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1933 Bangaku no issho Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1933 Satsuma Courier Part 2: The Passionate Sword Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1932 Ogasawara Ikinokami Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1932 Iso-no-genta's Sword Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1930 Detective Umon's Diary, Story No. 6 Writing Writer 59
Average
1929 Umon's First Exploit Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A