Senkichi Taniguchi
1912 - 2007Senkichi Taniguchi (February 19, 1912 – October 29, 2007) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, he attended Waseda University but left before graduating due to his involvement in a left-wing theater troupe. He joined P.C.L. (a precursor to Toho) in 1933 and began working as an assistant director to Kajirō Yamaguchi alongside his longtime friend, acclaimed Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa. He made his feature film directing debut in 1947 with Snow Trail, which was written by Kurosawa. Snow Trial starred Toshirō Mifune in his film debut and actress Setsuko Wakayama. It helped establish Taniguchi's reputation for action film.
Taniguchi and Wakayama married in 1949 (he had earlier been married to the screenwriter Yōko Mizuki), but the couple divorced in 1956. Taniguchi married his second wife, actress Kaoru Yachigusa, in 1957. Yachigusa and Taniguchi remained together for over fifty years until his death in 2007.
Taniguchi was the screenwriter for the 1949 film, The Quiet Duel, which Kurosawa directed and which also starred Mifune. His most acclaimed film as a director was Escape at Dawn, a controversial anti-war work from 1950 about a Japanese soldier and a "comfort woman" that got into trouble with Occupation era censors. Taniguchi continued to direct movies throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but the quality of his work declined. His films from the time period include Man Against Man, The Gambling Samurai, Man In The Storm and The Lost World of Sinbad. His 1965 film International Secret Police: Key of Keys has been famously re-dubbed and re-released as What's Up, Tiger Lily? by Woody Allen. He was chosen as the supervising director of the official documentary of Expo '70.
Senkichi Taniguchi died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo, Japan, on October 29, 2007, at the age of 95.
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ジャコ万と鉄
Senkichi Taniguchi
Toshirō Mifune, Ryūnosuke Tsukigata
In a village subsisting on it herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu, decides to overthrow Jakoman and his cohorts.
Jakoman and Tetsu
Godzilla Fantasia
Ishirō Honda, Senkichi Taniguchi
Akira Ifukube has arranged music from his fantastic films into a three-movement symphony, presented here with scenes from the films the music was originally written for. The second half features Makoto Inoue's synthesizer arrangements of Ifukube's music. In this portion, all the music is by Ifukube, but it shows scenes from films Ifukube did not work on. Showcases footage from various monster and science fiction films from Ishiro Honda as well as scenes from Senkichi Taniguchi's Adventure of Kigan Castle.
Godzilla Fantasia
Kuro-obi sangokushi
Senkichi Taniguchi
Toshirō Mifune, Shin Saburi
Masahiko Koseki, a judo master, gets in several fights as a result of protecting a young woman. Despite his success, Koseki is expelled from his judo school because of his propensity for street fighting. He goes to work for a gangster named Joji, but when he realizes that Joji is mixed up in the slave trade, Koseki helps the police in their attempts to foil Joji.
Rainy Night Duel
金の卵
Yasuki Chiba
Toshirō Mifune, Rentaro Mikuni
Once an average and seemingly ordinary Tokyo girl, she suddenly finds herself as a TV star owing to her discovery by a casting company, which noticed photographs that her cousin had sent. When another actress falls ill she is given the role instead. Her first film is a success propelling the young actress to popularity, her own fans, money and a house. While everything looks dandy from the outside not all is well within the family however.
Kin no tamago: Golden girl
暁の脱走
Senkichi Taniguchi
Ryō Ikebe, Yoshiko Yamaguchi
Mikami, a Japanese soldier, is captured by Chinese forces. Although able to escape, he is treated with contempt by his peers. After falling in love with a prostitute named Harumi, she convinces him to desert the army and live with her.
Escape at Dawn
Ai to nikushimi no kanata e
Senkichi Taniguchi
Ryō Ikebe, Mitsuko Mito
A young man, convicted of a crime and imprisoned in the penitentiary, comes to believe that his wife is being unfaithful to him. He contrives his escape from the prison in order to seek her out and learn the truth, but the police give chase and he must flee into the mountains.
Beyond Love and Hate
男対男
Senkichi Taniguchi
Toshirō Mifune, Ryō Ikebe
Kikumori runs a cabaret on the docks, while his friend Kaji operates transport boats. When a gang of drug dealers tries to force the pair to cooperate in a smuggling scheme, conflict arises between the two friends. Falsely blamed for murder, Kikumori is blackmailed into an attempt to sabotage Kaji's boats and kill him. But the friendship between the two men proves an obstacle to the gangleader's plans.
Man Against Man
銀嶺の果て
Senkichi Taniguchi
Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura
Three bank robbers, Eijima, Nojiri, and Takasugi, flee the police and escape into the mountains. At an inn high in the Japanese Alps, Eijima and Nojiri encounter a young woman and her father, as well as Honda, a mountaineer. The inn folk do not realize their guests are wanted criminals and the visitors are treated with great kindness. Honda volunteers to lead them over the mountains, but Eijima's paranoia endangers all of them as they make the perilous trip.
Snow Trail
