The gate of hell

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Movie
German title The gate of hell
Original title 地獄 門 Jigokumon
Jigokumon poster.jpg
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
Publishing year 1953
length 88 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Teinosuke Kinugasa
script Teinosuke Kinugasa, Masaichi Nagata
production Masaichi Nagata
music Yasushi Akutagawa
camera Kōhei Sugiyama
cut Shigeo Nishida
occupation

The Gate of Hell (original title: 地獄 門 Jigokumon ) is a feature film by the Japanese director Teinosuke Kinugasa from 1953 . The historical drama is based on a Heian-era play by contemporary author Kan Kikuchi . It tells of a samurai warrior (portrayed by Kazuo Hasegawa ) who is subordinate to his passion and who vies for the favor of a married woman ( Machiko Kyō ) by all means . The gate of hell was produced by the Japanese film studio Daiei .

The film was the result of conscious efforts on the part of film producer Masaichi Nagata to produce an award-winning film for overseas and long-term investments in film technology. A traditional Japanese fabric was successfully combined with the latest western color film standards. As with Rashomon - Das Lustwäldchen (1950) and Ugetsu - Tales under the Rainmoon (1953), Nagata contributed to the internationalization of Japanese cinema in the 1950s with Das Höllentor . The film was the first Japanese entry to win the main prize at the Cannes International Film Festival and was awarded two prizes at the Academy Awards . This was followed by other internationally successful Asian films based on the same pattern.

action

Japan, at the time of the Heiji Rebellion in 1159: Kiyomori rules the country in the name of the weak emperor . When rebels Minamotos attack the palace in Sanjō to take the emperor's daughter prisoner, they resort to a ruse - the lady-in-waiting Kesa voluntarily takes her place in the princess's carriage and leaves the palace, which distracts the attackers. Kesa is accompanied by the samurai Morito , who falls in love with the attractive woman. Morito can inform Kiyomori about the uprising in good time and can also kill a spy. This way the rebels can be defeated quickly. The heads of the killed rebel leaders are hung from the so-called "Hell Gate", the entrance to the palace.

As a thank you for Morito's commitment, Kiyomori grants him a wish. The warrior then asks for Kesa's hand. Surprisingly, she is already married to Wataru, whereupon the request cannot be granted. However, Morito insists on his demand and kidnaps the delicate lady-in-waiting. He pressures her and threatens Kesa to kill her and her family if she doesn't answer him. Kesa gives in on the condition that Morito first murder her husband.

Morito follows Kesa's instructions and breaks into Wataru's bedroom at night. He hits the apparently sleeping body with his sword and unwittingly kills Kesa. Convinced that her husband could never stand a duel against Morito, she had lured Wataru into her room and put him to sleep with gracefully served wine. To protect her husband and not lose her honor, she took his place in the bedchamber and waited for Morito.

After Kesa's murder, Morito places his life in the hands of the widower, who forgives him. According to Wataru, more blood should not be shed. Morito decides to pay off his debt as a monk.

History of origin

In the early 1950s, Masaichi Nagata, President of the Japanese film studio Daiei , did everything possible to repeat the success of Rashomon - Das Lustwäldchen (1950) abroad. Nagata was a prominent advocate for the internationalization of Japanese cinema and for technological progress. In his opinion, these two factors were mutually dependent. The use of the latest western technology was essential to enable Japanese films to compete in foreign markets. Conversely, international reputation and the returns from the overseas market were important for domestic innovation.

After Keisuke Kinoshita's first full color Japanese feature film, Carmen Returns Home (カ ル メ ン 故 郷 に 帰 る, karumen kokyo ni kaeru , 1951) , Nagata and his technical adviser Michio Midorikawa experimented with the Fuji color film used by Shōchiku . However, the local material was considered to be rather lackluster and poor in the representation of red tones. At the same time, it was very expensive and not usable when filming under artificial light. Both came to the conclusion not to use the Japanese film material. Instead, Nagata sent Midorikawa to the United States in 1952 to research current developments in color film technology. In the laboratories of Eastman Kodak , Midorikawa was able to work with the latest color film material, whereupon they decided on this manufacturer. Then Nagata sent the film director Teinosuke Kinugasa, the cameraman Kōhei Sugiyama and the lighting technician Ryu to the USA in the spring of 1953 . There they spent five weeks in Warner Bros. film studios receiving instruction in all aspects of color film photography, and Nagata had the latest American technology imported into Japan.

Like Rashomon , The Gate of Hell is based on a play set in the Heian period , but written by the contemporary author Kan Kikuchi (1888–1948). Nagata would later receive criticism for the fact that both The Gates of Hell and other films such as Ugetsu - Tales under the Rain Moon (1953) were specially made for export abroad. In his opinion, the Japanese sense of structure was too bizarre and complex for foreign audiences. “[…] For the foreign audience, we have to keep the story simple and handle the complexity through the characters. As a result, all of these films, 'Rashomon', 'Jigokumon' and 'Ugetsu', which won the main Cannes and film awards, only had two or three main characters. These films gave me real satisfaction, ” said Nagata.

The film was shot from July to September 1953. As in Rashomon or Ugetsu , the main female role was interpreted by Machiko Kyō .

reception

At The Gates of Hell it was the first studio production of Daiei in Eastman Color and the first Japanese color film, which was sold abroad. The color scheme, which was good and dramatically effective at the time, was supposed to attract attention from the specialist critics.

Japan and France

The Gate of Hell premiered in Japan on October 31, 1953. In France, the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival at the end of March / beginning of April 1954 and was released in French cinemas on June 25, 1954. The French film magazine Positif praised The Gate of Hell as a “masterpiece” that has not achieved such a “level of density in passionate feelings” since the Elizabethan tragedy . Director Teinosuke Kinugasa draws his inspiration from traditional Nō and Kabuki theater instead of being influenced by a foreign cinema. The color scheme of the film was also highlighted. Other French critics compared the story thematically with well-known European subjects such as Phaidra or Tristan and Isolde Cannes jury president Jean Cocteau is said to have been so enthusiastic about the film that he convinced the other jury members of its quality, who were less impressed by the Japanese contribution. For him, the aesthetics of Japanese tradition manifested itself in the film - the outward appearance of a Nō piece with the sound of true authenticity. Cocteau later provided an introductory text for the French version, La Porte de l'enfer .

Director Teinosuke Kinugasa himself was not satisfied with the film and rather met the praise of the foreign trade press with suspicion. In a statement intended for the Japanese press, after winning the Grand Prix in Cannes, he described The Hell Gate as an "empty film" and did not understand the awarding of the prize. Likewise, Japanese film critics saw the film's success entirely as a result of its exoticism and beautiful color photography. The gate to hell fell through with domestic critics and audiences, while it became an art-house success abroad .

Germany

A cinema release in the Federal Republic of Germany took place on October 22, 1954 in the distribution of Pallas .

The contemporary criticism of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung referred to the "splendid color show" with which only the "best European and American color films could compete" . The performance of the actors was also praised, who would act “incredibly lively” despite their ceremonial demeanor . The leading actress Machiko Kyō is surrounded by an unheard of erotic "magic" . You present yourself "in the representational means strong through extreme sparseness" . Nevertheless, the reviewer had problems how one could understand the samurai material in "today's, industrial, democratized Japan" . “Is the film an artistic masterpiece of reactionary, restorative authors? Or do the Japanese masses have a direct or indirect relationship to such an ethos? We do not know it. In any case, the work stands at the extreme opposite of Western emancipation. Perhaps we have to understand the film, in which the male vital violence is practically snorting and hissing with naturalistic means despite the formal boundaries of the knightly world, as a defense against certain Kinsey influences of the occupying power? " , So the critic.

The kfd described Höllentor as a ballad-like, strictly aesthetically stylized historical film about love, loyalty, courage and honor. The film would be “understandable even without words, just through its colors” .

Reclam's film guide saw the Japanese production as "an atmospheric ballad of courage, loyalty and passion" . The director staged his historical painting “stylishly” .

United States

In the United States, the film was first shown in New York on December 23, 1954 . There Das Höllentor stayed in the art house for over eleven months. Bosley Crowther ( The New York Times ) also praised the color scheme of the film and the leading actress Machiko Kyō. The story is "less complex or absurd" like that of the films Rashomon or Ugetsu . According to Crowther, the secret of Das Höllentor may lie in its “subtlety” , with which the “underground flood of great emotions” is combined with the “most splendid flood of emerging serenity” . Kyō play powerfully with a minimum of gestures and use her facial expressions with a maximum. Her “small mouth and nose” would convey “the feeling of sadness and despair” that the film does so well. Kinugasa achieves such “extraordinary emotional pressure” with his direction and his script that it borders on “true magic” .

Film historian Darrell William Davis was supposed to describe the film as "a brief stylization of Japanese things for Western consumption ." The two film historians Joseph L. Anderson and Donald Richie praised The Gate of Hell as “the most beautiful color photography that has ever graced the cinema screen” .

Awards

The Gate of Hell took part in the competition at the 7th Cannes International Film Festival in 1954 , where the production under jury president Jean Cocteau was the first Japanese contribution to be awarded the main prize ("Grand Prix"). In the same year, Kinugasa shared the main prize of the Locarno International Film Festival with four other films and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film .

In 1955, Sanzo Wada won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for a Color Film , while the production received an honorary award for Best Foreign Language Film. In the same year there was a nomination for the British Film Academy Award for best film , but this was awarded to the French contribution Wages of Fear by Henri-Georges Clouzot . In 1957, the leading actress Machiko Kyō was awarded the Finnish Jussi as best foreign actress.

literature

  • Midorikawa, Michio; Yamaguchi, Takeshi: カ メ ラ マ ン の 映 画 史: 碧川 道夫 の 步 ん だ 道 ( Kameraman no eigashi: Midorikawa Michio no ayunda michi ). Tokyo: Shakai Shisōsha, 1987.
  • Suzuki, Akinari: ラ ッ パ と 呼 ば れ た 男 映 画 プ ロ デ ュ ー サ ー 永田 雅 一 ( Rappa to yobareta otoko: eiga purodyūsā Nagata Masaichi ). Tokyo: Kinema Junpōsha, 1990.
  • Davis, Darrell William: Monumentalism, Orientalism, and Gate of Hell (1953) . In: Picturing Japaneseness: monumental style, national identity, Japanese film . New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1996. - ISBN 978-0-231-10231-5 . Pp. 219-227.
  • Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sharp, Jasper: Gate of Hell at midnighteye.com (accessed February 26, 2012).
  2. ^ Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . Pp. 54-55, p. 123.
  3. ^ Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . P. 28.
  4. ^ Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . P. 53.
  5. ↑ a b c Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . P. 54.
  6. ^ Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . P. 55.
  7. ↑ Box Office / Business in the Internet Movie Database (accessed February 27, 2012).
  8. ↑ Article by Jay S. Steinberg at tcm.com (English; accessed on February 27, 2012).
  9. ↑ a b The Gate of Hell . In: Krusche, Dieter: Reclam's film guide . Stuttgart: Reclam, 2008. - ISBN 978-3-15-010676-1 . Pp. 360-361.
  10. ↑ a b Release dates in the Internet Movie Database (English; accessed on February 27, 2012).
  11. ^ Critique in Positif 10 (1954), accessed via films-sans-frontieres.fr (French; accessed on February 27, 2012).
  12. ↑ a b Sadoul, Georges; Morris, Peter: Dictionary of Films. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1972. p. 165.
  13. ^ Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . P. 53.
  14. ^ Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . Pp. 54-55.
  15. ^ Williams, James S .: Jean Cocteau . Manchester [u. a.]: Manchester Univ. Press, 2006. - ISBN 978-0-7190-5883-7 . P. 9.
  16. ^ Tezuka, Yoshiharu: Japanese cinema goes global: filmworkers' journeys . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2012. - ISBN 9789888083336 . P. 62.
  17. ↑ a b The Gate of Hell . In: The new film lexicon . Munich: United-Soft-Media-Verl., 2006 (CD-ROM edition).
  18. ↑ The Gate of Hell: A Japanese Color Film . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 23, 1954, p. 12.
  19. ^ Balio, Tino: The foreign film renaissance on American screens, 1946–1973 . Madison, Wis. : Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2010. - ISBN 978-0-299-24793-5 . Pp. 122-123.
  20. ↑ Crowther, Bosley: The Screen in Review . In: The New York Times , December 14, 1954, p. 45.
  21. ↑ quoted from Schultz, Deanne: Filmography of world history . Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2007. - ISBN 978-0-313-32681-3 . P. 68.
  22. ^ Jury of the Cannes Film Festival 1954 at festival-cannes.fr (French; accessed on February 27, 2012).