It is common knowledge that Japan has produced one of the most extraordinary national cinemas in the history of film. This book, written by the internationally-recognized expert on the subject, makes Japanese movies accessible to Western audiences as never before.

It is; first of all, a succinct history of Japanese film, from the beginning through 1970. It is also, however, an exploration of Japanese culture-and the Japanese mind.

The author relates the films to the other art forms, and the traditions and attitudes of the Japanese people. He is thus able to refute the occasional Westernl5bjections that Japanese movies are sentimentat, or boring, or full of cliches. The book discusses not only the well-known classics of such directors as Kurosawa and Mizoguchi, but also the popular "entertainment" films as well. It establishes the historical basis for the important post-war films that first brought Japanese cinema to the attention of the world. Above all, this book explores the unique vision of the Japanese film-makers, the vision "which is the aesthetic of Japan-and which has created some of the most beautiful and truthful films ever made."

This volume is complete with numerous stills from the films, an appendix with information about 16 mm. distribution in the United States, and an index.

Cover Design by Sydney Butchkes
Cover Photograph, Double Suicide, Courtesy of Toho Motion Picture' Company, Ltd., Tokyo

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Paperback: 261 pages
Author: Donald Richie
Publisher: Doubleday (January 1971)
ISBN-10: 0385094418
ISBN-13: 978-0385094412

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INTRODUCTION
THE JAPANESE FILM, WHICH WAS AMONG THE LAST TO achieve an individual flavor, is now the last to retain this individuality. It continues to show, for all who care to see, the most perfect reflection of a people in the history of world cinema.

This profile of Japan is easy to catch; the likeness is unmistakable, yet difficult to define. In the broadest of generalizations, it might be this: if the American film is strongest in action, and if the European is strongest in character, then the Japanese film is richest in mood or atmosphere, in presenting characters in their own surroundings.

The relationship between man and his surroundings is the continual theme of the Japanese film, one which quite accurately reflects the oneness with nature that is both the triumph and the escape of the Japanese people. The Japanese regards his surroundings as an extension of himself, and it is this attitude that creates the atmosphere of the Japanese film at its best. ...

About Donald Richie

DONALD RICHIE has long been the internationally acclaimed expert on the Japanese film. He is a former member of Uni-Japan Film and film critic for The Japan Times, and is presently Curator of the Film Department at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He designed and presented the Kurosawa and Ozu retrospectives, as well as the massive 1970 retrospective at the museum, The Japanese Film.

His book on The Films of Akira Kurosawa has been called a C'virtual model for future studies in the field." Mr. Richie has been a resident of Japan for the past twenty-five years.

Film books by Donald Richie:
The Cinematographic View: A Study of the Film. 1958.
The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. 1959. Co-authored with Joseph L. Anderson.
Japanese Movies. 1961.
The Japanese Movie: An Illustrated History. 1965.
The Films of Akira Kurosawa. 1965.
George Stevens: An American Romantic. 1970.

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