The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years' War, 1931-1945

by Peter B. High

From the late 1920s through World War II, film became a crucial tool in the state of Japan. Detailing the way Japanese directors, scriptwriters, company officials, and bureaucrats colluded to produce films that supported the war effort, The Imperial Screen is a highly-readable account of the realities of cultural life in wartime Japan. Widely hailed as "epoch-making" by the Japanese press, it presents the most comprehensive survey yet published of "national policy" films, relating their montage and dramatic structures to the cultural currents, government policies, and propaganda goals of the era. Peter B. High’s treatment of the Japanese film world as a microcosm of the entire sphere of Japanese wartime culture demonstrates what happens when conscientious artists and intellectuals become enmeshed in a totalitarian regime.

Genres: Film, History, Japanese History, Japan, Nonfiction

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2003

About the author

Peter B. High is professor of film and language at Nagoya University in Japan.

Reviews

[Benemint · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction was interesting but a bit disappointed at the lack of explanation of how "kondankai" worked for "tenko" of film makers. Only read through ch.3, so the rest might be more insightful.

[Peter Nishi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly impressive work of well thought out historical research. The amazing thing is that in many paces it reads like a novel, with characters and situations that make for compelling reading.