Senkichi Taniguchi
Senkichi Taniguchi (谷口 千吉 Taniguchi Senkichi) (February 19, 1912 – October 29, 2007) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.[1]
Born in Tokyo, Japan, he attended Waseda University but left before graduating due to his involvement in a left-wing theater troupe.[2][3] He joined P.C.L. (a precursor to Toho) in 1933 and began working as an assistant director to Kajirō Yamamoto alongside his longtime friend, acclaimed Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa.[2] He made his feature film directing debut in 1947 with Snow Trail, which was written by Kurosawa.[1][3] Snow Trail starred Toshirō Mifune in his film debut and actress Setsuko Wakayama. It helped establish Taniguchi's reputation for action film.[2]
Taniguchi and Wakayama married in 1949 (he had earlier been married to the screenwriter Yōko Mizuki), but the couple divorced in 1956.[1] Taniguchi married his third wife, actress Kaoru Yachigusa, in 1957. Yachigusa and Taniguchi remained together for over fifty years until his death in 2007.[1]
Taniguchi was the screenwriter for the 1949 film, The Quiet Duel, which Kurosawa directed and which also starred Mifune.[1] His most acclaimed film as a director was Escape at Dawn,[2] a controversial anti-war work from 1950 about a Japanese soldier and a "comfort woman" that got into trouble with Occupation era censors.[4] Taniguchi continued to direct movies throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but the quality of his work declined.[2] His films from the time period include Man Against Man, The Gambling Samurai, Man In The Storm and The Lost World of Sinbad.[1] His 1965 film International Secret Police: Key of Keys has been famously re-dubbed and re-released as What's Up, Tiger Lily? by Woody Allen. He was chosen as the supervising director of the official documentary of Expo '70.[5]
Senkichi Taniguchi died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo, Japan, on October 29, 2007, at the age of 95.[1]
Filmography
Director
- Snow Trail (銀嶺の果て, Ginrei no hate) (1947)
- Escape at Dawn (暁の脱走, Akatsuki no dassō) (1950)
- Rangiku monogatari (乱菊物語) (1956)
- International Secret Police: Key of Keys (国際秘密警察 鍵の鍵, Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi) (1965)
Screenplay only
- The Quiet Duel (静かなる決闘, Shizukanaru kettō) (1949)
External links
- Senkichi Taniguchi at the Internet Movie Database
- Taniguchi Senkichi at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)
- Taniguchi Senkichi no shigoto 2010 retrospective of Taniguchi's work (in Japanese)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Blair, Gavin J. (2007-11-01). "Director Senkichi Taniguchi dies at 95". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Senkichi Taniguchi". The Times. November 16, 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
- 1 2 "Taniguchi Senkichi". Nihon jinmei daijiten + Plus (in Japanese). Kōdansha. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
- ↑ Hirano, Kyoko (1992). Mr. Smith goes to Tokyo: the Japanese cinema under the American occupation, 1945-1952. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 1-56098-157-1.
- ↑ "Taniguchi Senkichi ga shikyo". Kyōdō Tsūshin (in Japanese). 47 News. 31 October 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
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