Subject Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Other library resource(s)
Asian film online: volumes 1 & 2 by Call Number: Electronic resourceAsian Film Online offers a view of Asian culture as seen through the lens of the independent Asian filmmaker. Through a selection of over 1,000 narrative feature films, documentaries and shorts curated by film scholars and critics, the collection offers highly relevant perspectives and insights onto themes relevant across Asia, including modernity, globalization, female agency, social and political unrest, and cultural and sexual identity. ...
日本映画 - Japan from Media History Digital Library by Call Number: Electronic resource... These cultural and industrial changes are detailed in the Cinema Year Book[s] of Japan below. Covering the years 1936–1938, these yearbooks, published in English, were intended to promote the exhibition of Japanese films abroad and introduce foreign markets to Japanese cinema. In addition to photos from films and publicity shots of Japanese stars, these books include film reviews, articles about Japanese cinema history and its characteristics, an essay on the exportation of Japanese films, and useful indexes related to film production and exhibition. The yearbooks offer insight into Japanese film production in the 1930s and into the globally-minded cinema culture of pre-WWII Japan, just before filmmaking came under state control in 1939.
Japanese cinema from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Japanese film became a major area of English-language film study in the 1960s, after the publication of Anderson and Richie’s groundbreaking work, The Japanese Film: Art and Industry, in 1959.
Internet resource(s)
- Japan Film CommissionJapan Film Commission (JFC) is a national film commission covering the entire country of Japan.
- Kinema ClubKinema Club is devoted to the study of Japanese moving image media, and is produced through the collaboration of many scholars around the world.
- Midnight EyeMidnight Eye was a major source of information on Japanese cinema in English. It stopped adding new content in 2015, but it still available for reading.
Introduction to Japanese cinema
Films were first shown in Japan in the late 1890s, with displays of the Edison Kinetoscope in 1896 and the Lumières’ Cinématographe in 1897. By the turn of the 20th century, local cameramen were shooting trick films (for example Shinin no sosei/Resurrection of a Corpse, 1898), scenes from Kabuki plays (Momijigari/Viewing Scarlet Maple Leaves, Tsunekichi Shibata, 1899)), and actualities. Japan’s first purpose-built cinema opened in 1903, and local production began in earnest in 1905 with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. Three years later, the first film studio opened, and by 1912 the industry had expanded to the extent that four of the largest studios consolidated themselves into a trust, Nikkatsu. A distinctive feature of Japanese cinema culture in these years was the benshi, a lecturer who narrated and explained films to audiences during screenings. ...
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Japan, film in. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 May. 2021
Searching the online catalog
There may be several subject headings you can use to find resources in the online catalog. The most direct subject heading is listed below. The call number range is also included.
- motion pictures japanCall number range PN 1993.5 .J3 on Baker Level 4.
- national characteristics, japanese AND motion picturesThis is a subject, keyword search in the online catalog.
Introductory reading(s)
The cinema of Japan & Korea by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 C56 2004ISBN: 9781904764120The Cinema of Japan and Korea is the fourth volume in the new 24 Frames series of studies of national and regional cinema, and focuses on the continuing vibrancy of Japanese and Korean film. The 24 concise and informative essays each approach an individual film or documentary, together offering a unique introduction to the cinematic output of the two countries. With a range that spans from silent cinema to the present day, from films that have achieved classic status to underground masterpieces, the book provides an insight into the breadth of the Japanese and Korean cinematic landscapes. ...
Historical dictionary of Japanese cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 S45 2011ISBN: 9780810857957The cinema of Japan predates that of Russia, China, and India, and it has been able to sustain itself without outside assistance for over a century. Japanese cinema's long history of production and considerable output has seen films made in a variety of genres, including melodramas, romances, gangster movies, samurai movies, musicals, horror films, and monster films. It has also produced some of the most famous names in the history of cinema. The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema is an introduction to and overview of the long history of Japanese cinema.
Japanese cinema: an introduction by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 R474 1990ISBN: 9780195849509Japanese film has recently emerged as one of the major national cinemas and now commands world respect and attention. Donald Richie provides the first ever introduction to Japanese cinema, offering both an up-to-date history and an investigation into the qualities of the jidai-geki (costume drama) and the gendai-geji (contemporary drama) that make Japanese film Japanese.- The Japanese filmography: a complete reference to 209 filmmakers and the over 1250 films released in the United States, 1900 through 1994 byCall Number: Baker-Berry Ref. PN 1993.5 .J3 G35 1996ISBN: 9780786400324This encyclopedic reference work treats a near-century's worth of Japanese films released in the United States in theaters or on video and the important actors, directors, producers and technical personnel involved in them. For people, each entry provides birth date, education, death when appropriate, a brief biography, and a filmography. The movies are arranged by original U.S. release titles, and include cast and production credits, studio, Japanese and U.S. distributor, sound format, running time in both the U.S. and Japanese versions, release dates in both countries, alternate titles, and rating, when appropriate, of U.S. release.
A new history of Japanese cinema: a century of narrative film by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780826417091Cinema, which first arrived in Japan in 1896 with the Kinetoscope prototype, came at the very time that Japan was transforming its economic base and society into that of a major international power. The first cinema, the Asakusa Denkikan, was opened in Tokyo in 1903 and within thirteen years three hundred cinemas had sprung up throughout the country. In A New History of Japanese Cinema: A Century of Narrative Film, Isolde Standish focuses on the historical development of Japanese film. She details an industry and an art form shaped by the competing and merging forces of traditional culture and of economic and technological innovation. ...
The Oxford handbook of Japanese cinema by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780199731664The reality of transnational innovation and dissemination of new technologies, including digital media, has yet to make a dent in the deep-seated culturalism that insists on reinscribing a divide between the West and Japan. The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Cinema aims to counter this trend toward dichotomizing the West and Japan and to challenge the pervasive culturalism of today's film and media studies.
What Is Japanese cinema?: a history by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 N542513 2019ISBN: 9780231191630What might Godzilla and Kurosawa have in common? What, if anything, links Ozu's sparse portraits of domestic life and the colorful worlds of anime? In What Is Japanese Cinema? Yomota Inuhiko provides a concise and lively history of Japanese film that shows how cinema tells the story of Japan's modern age. Discussing popular works alongside auteurist masterpieces, Yomota considers films in light of both Japanese cultural particularities and cinema as a worldwide art form. ...
Selected book title(s)
An actor's revenge = Yukinojō henge by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997 .Y85 B74 1995ISBN: 9780851705248A discussion of the film An Actor's Revenge.
The attractive empire: transnational film culture in Imperial Japan by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 B38 2008ISBN: 9780824832230Because imperialism has had such an appalling ideological reputation, we've lost sight of its excitement, the breathless anticipation of adventures in far-off lands. The Attractive Empire is a tour de force of enthralling historical scholarship that puts the appeal, and seductions, of imperialism on display, without underestimating its ugly consequences. Like its chosen subject, the book covers an astonishing array of texts, events, people, and issues. ...Censorship of Japanese films during the U. S. Occupation of Japan by
Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 S65 2009ISBN: 9780773446731Numerous books on Japanese film have focused on important directors, such as Gosho, Naruse, Kurosawa and Ozu, and many fine histories of Japanese film have been written. Sorensen's English-language book focuses exclusively upon the occupation period and its effects on cinema. By offering this interpretation of cinema during the occupation, Sorensen gives us a new cultural history of the period.
A hundred years of Japanese film: a concise history, with a selective guide to videos and DVDs by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 R47115 2001ISBN: 9784770026828In A Hundred Years of Japanese Films, Richie offers an insider's look at the achievements of Japanese filmmakers. He begins in the late 1800s, when the industry took its inspiration from the traditional stories of Kabuki and NOH theater, and finishes in the present with the latest award-winning dramas showcased at Cannes. In between, Richie explores the roots of Japan's contribution to world cinema. He discusses the careers of Japan's rising stars and celebrated directors, and also offers a fascinating view of the strategies and politics of the movie studios themselves. ...
Writing in light: the silent scenario and the Japanese pure film movement by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .J3 B47 2001ISBN: 9780814329610While most people associate Japanese film with modern directors like Akira Kurosawa, Japan's cinema has a rich tradition going back to the silent era. Japan's "pure film movement" of the 1910s is widely held to mark the birth of film theory as we know it and is a touchstone for historians of early cinema. Yet this work has been difficult to access because so few prints have been preserved. Joanne Bernardi offers the first book-length study of this important era, recovering a body of lost film and establishing its significance in the development of Japanese cinema. Building on a wealth of original-language sources--much of it translated here for the first time--she examines how the movement challenged the industry's dependence on pre-existing stage repertories, preference for lecturers of intertitles, and the use of female impersonators. ...
Finding journal articles
Articles and other writings about Japanese film can be found in many publications. Our collection does not include any journal titles which look exclusively at Japanese film. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find articles or use the search box at the top of the page.
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about this national cinema.
Screen studies collection by Call Number: Electronic resourceA comprehensive survey of current publications related to film scholarship alongside detailed filmographies. This collection includes the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and the detailed and complementary filmographies created by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the British Film Institute.
The web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Selected movie titles
Find more Japanese title films in the library's online catalog.
Blood and bones by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #8010Kim is a despicable man who physically and emotionally assaults everyone around him. He abuses the workers at his fish cake factory, his mistress, his estranged wife, and his entire family. He has ruthlessly pursued success at any cost and wastes his earnings while keeping the people closest to him in desperate need.
Hula girls by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #7792 discs 1 - 2ISBN: 1934244074When a coal-mining town in northeastern Japan falls on hard times, its citizens unite to create a "Hawaiian Center", in hopes of boosting tourism. A group of coal miners' daughters devote themselves to the cause, and train to become professional hula dancers.- Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen women byCall Number: Jones Media DVD #8232 discs 1 - 4Naniwa ereji = Osaka elegy (1936) -- Gion no shimai = Sisters of the Gion (1936) -- Yoru no onnatachi = Women of the night (1948) -- Akasen chitai = Street of shame (1956). Stories about the lives of women.
Noruwei no mori = Norwegian wood by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #15154ISBN: 9781422918739Tokyo, the late 1960s. Students around the world are uniting to overthrow the establishment and Toru Watanabe's personal life is similarly in turmoil. At heart, he is deeply devoted to his first love, Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman. But their complex bond has been forged by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Watanabe lives with the influence of death everywhere. That is, until Midori, a girl who is everything that Naoko is not, outgoing, vivacious, and supremely self-confident, marches into his life and Watanabe must choose between his past and his future.
Jitsuroku, Rengō Sekigun: Asama Sansō e no mich = United Red Army by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #13134In February 1972, five members of the United Red Army hold the wife of the lodge manager as a hostage at Asama Sansō in Nagano Prefecture. They all got arrested after 10-day standoff and gunfight with police while the entire nation witnessed the incident via TV broadcasting.
Three films by Hiroshi Teshigahara: the supplements by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9979ISBN: 9781934121672Teshigahara and Abe: a collaboration; Hokusai; Ikebana; Tokyo 1958; Ako. Issued as the special features disc in set: Three films by Hiroshi Teshigahara which includes Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another.
Keeping up with the journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for a national or regional cinema? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's you can download and read the articles you want.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.