Tomu Uchida
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Tomu Uchida
debuted with Kyoso Mikkakan/ Three Days of Competition (1927),
followed by Ikeru Ningyo/ Living Dolls (1929),
but
emerged only at the end of the following decade, after having directed a dozen costume farces, notably with
the satirical period comedy Adauchi Senshu/ Vengeful Player (1931)
and
the gangster film Keisatsukan/ Policeman (1933).
To the new realism he contributed Jinsei Gekijo/ Theater of Life (1934),
about the enthusiasms and illusions that flounder in the world of money,
and
Hodaka no Machi/ The Town of Hodaka (1937),
another harsh apologue on modern society,
Kagirinaki Zenshin/ Endless Advance (1937),
about the melancholy end of a lonely pensioner,
and
Tsuchi/ Earth (1939),
almost a contemplative documentary on peasant life.
These films were critical of contemporary Japan, which drew the ires of the military caste.
Sent to the Chinese front during World War II, he defected to the other side and organized the cinematic services for the Maoists.
For ten years after the war, he taught in China, contributing to its cultural rebirth.
He then focused on jidaigeki films such as Chiyari Fuji/ Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji (1955) and Tasogare Sakaba/ Twilight Saloon (1955), but also directed Jibun no Ana no Nakade/ A Hole of My Own Making (1955), the perio drama Dai-bosatsu Toge/Swords in the Moonlight (1957), and Naniwa no Koi no Monogatari/ Chikamatu's Love in Osaka (1959), adapted from Chikamatsu Monzaemon's puppet play "Daikyoji Mukashi Goyomi" (1715), and the contemporary drama Mori to Mizuumi no Matsuri/ The Outsiders (1958), about the oppressed indigenous minority of Ainu on Hokkaido island. Jinsei Gekijo: Seishun-hen/ Theater of Life: Youth Chapter (1958) Jinsei Gekijo: Hisho-hen/ Theater of Life: Flight Chapter (1959) Later films include: Sake To Onna To Yari/ The Master Spearman (1960), Yoto Monogatari - Hana no Yoshiwara Hyakunin-giri/ Hero of the Red-Light District (1960), the trilogy Dai-Bodhisattva Toge/ The Great Bodhisattva Pass (196061), Miyamoto Musashi (1961), Koiya Koi Nasuna Koi/ The Mad Fox (1962), another period drama, and Kiga Kaikyo/ A Fugitive from the Past (1965), one of his best.
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