Der japanische Film : Von der Einführung des Mediums bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs

The article first covers pre-war silent film in Japan and describes the introduction of the new medium at the beginning of the 20th century. The main focus is on the relationship between Japanese silent films and traditional theater, the role of film narrators (benshi) and the attempts of Japanese filmmakers to establish film as an independent art. The article then moves on to the further development of Japanese films about historical (jidaigeki) and contemporary society (gendaigeki), containing analysis of different film genres such as Japanese tendency films (keikô eiga) which were a reaction to the worsening economic situation of large parts of the Japanese population at the end of the 1920s. The text then deals primarily with the introduction of sound in film and the further development of the Japanese film industry during the 1930s, while the counrtry underwent a political radicalization and militarization which led to the participation of Japan in World War 2. Finally, the text analyses the circumstances under which the Japanese film industry produced films during World War 2 when film production was severely restricted by the guidelines of state censorship.