Eizo Tanaka
Born: 1886-11-03 in Chūō, Tokyo, Japan
Died: 1968-06-13
Known For: Directing
Biography
Tanaka initially trained as a stage actor in the shingeki movement under Kaoru Osanai, but eventually joined the Nikkatsu film studio in 1917. He debuted as a director in 1918 but mostly had to work with shinpa stories, not the shingeki techniques he was used to although two early films, The Living Corpse (Ikeru shikabane) and The Cherry Orchard (Sakura no sono) were based on Tolstoy and Chekhov respectively.[3] Working in parallel with the Pure Film Movement, Tanaka made two films, Kyōya eirimise (1922) and Dokuro no mai (1923), based on his own screenplays, that were highly praised for their cinematic technique.[1] He remained a rather conservative filmmaker and still used oyama (male actors) in female roles, including in his masterpiece Kyōya eirimise, a melodrama about a merchant's destructive love for a geisha. He used actresses for the first time in Dokuro no mai, a story of a monk reminiscing about his youth and early loves.
Filmography
1955
1953
- Tower of Lilies
- The Wild Geese as Zenkichi
1950
- Town of Violence as Hardware dealer
- Till We Meet Again
1949
- Stray Dog as Old Doctor
- The Blue Mountains: Part I as Principal Takeda
- A Woman's Life
1932
- Namiko ... (Director)
1927
- Five Women Around Him ... (Screenplay)
1926
- A Paper Doll's Whisper of Spring ... (Screenplay)
1923
- Skull Dance ... (Director)
1922
- The Lapel Shop ... (Director)
1921
- Woman in the Stream ... (Director)
- Before the Morning Sun Shines ... (Director)
- Scent of the White Lily ... (Director)
1918
- The Living Corpse ... (Director)
- Akatsuki ... (Director)