Hisatora Kumagai
2021指導物語
Hisatora Kumagai
Sadao Maruyama, Susumu Fujita
In this semi-documentary, an older locomotive driver is tasked with training younger ones and is currently training two in particular. The old man is finding the task overwhelming as it is hard work with practical lessons and classroom components. His wife has died, but he has three daughters with the oldest taking care of her younger siblings.
Story of Leadership
阿部一族
Hisatora Kumagai
Kan'emon Nakamura
“Widely acclaimed as the first full-scale historical film epic in Japan, Kumagai’s adaptation of Ogai Mori’s celebrated novel is an indictment of the bushido tradition of saving face through harakiri. The 19 vassals of Lord Hosokawa ask permission to commit harakiri with him, as a demonstration of their loyalty. Only Yaichiemon Abe is refused permission, forced instead into the vassalage of his lord’s successor. Humiliated and derided, Yaichiemon eventually commits harakiri without permission. His eldest son is then punished for Yaichiemon’s suicide, and when he resists, is sentenced to death. The entire Abe clan rebels upon the son’s execution, and the clan is annihilated.” --Alan Poul, Japan Society
The Abe Clan
上海陸戦隊
Hisatora Kumagai
Den Obinata, Sōji Kiyokawa
This film attempts to reconstruct the tension of the Battle of Shanghai through an episode in an understated way, introducting its story in a documentary mode. In the film story, Japan's marine regiment protects Japanese residents and Chinese refugees-women and young children-from rampant street fighting, Shanhai Rikusentai unsparingly uses its first eight minutes for an official-mannered self-justification of the war. From the viewpoint of explaining Japan's military operation,the narration refers to the city s spatial division in sync with maps on screen.
Shanghai Landing Party
