Yutaka Abe (阿部 豊, Abe Yutaka, February 2, 1895 in Yamoto, Miyagi – January 3, 1977 in Kyoto) was a Japanese film director and actor. He went to America along with a younger brother to visit an uncle living in Los Angeles. There he enrolled in an acting school, and upon hearing that Thomas H. Ince was looking for Japanese extras to work in his studios, he applied and was accepted in 1914.[1][2] He appeared in such films as The Wrath of the Gods[2] and The Cheat with Sessue Hayakawa. He was often billed as "Jack Abbe" or "Jack Yutake Abbe."[2] He returned to Japan in 1925, finding work at the Nikkatsu studio, and soon made his debut as a director.[1] Among his early works was the 1926 silent film The Woman Who Touched the Legs (Ashi ni sawatta onna), a comedy about a writer and a woman thief. This film, along with most of Abe's early work, is now lost.[3] Before and during World War II, Abe directed a number of nationalistic propaganda films including Moyuru ōzora (Flaming Sky) and Ano hata o ute (Fire on That Flag).
Yutaka Abe | |
|---|---|
 As seen in The Golden Chance (1915) | |
| Born | February 2, 1895 Yamoto, Miyagi, Japan |
| Died | January 3, 1977 (aged 81) Kyoto, Japan |
| Occupation(s) | Actor Film director |
| Years active | 1915– |
After the war, he directed the 1950 film adaptation of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters, a film which brought him commercial success.[3] His later films include the 1959 satirical comedy Season of Affairs (Uwaki no kisetsu).[3]
Filmography
editActor
edit- The Wrath of the Gods (1914)[2]
- The Cheat (1915)
- Her American Husband (1918)
- The Tong Man (1919)
- The Pagan God (1919)
- A Tale of Two Worlds (1921)
Director
edit- A Mermaid On Land (Riku no ningyo) (1926)
- The Woman Who Touched the Legs (1926)
- Five Women Around Him (Kare o meguru gonin no onna) (1927)
- Children of the Sun (Taiyō no ko) (1938)
- Moyuru ōzora (燃ゆる大空) (1940)
- Ano hata o ute (あの旗を撃て−コレヒドールの最後) (1944)
- The Makioka Sisters (1950)
- Koibito no iru machi (1953)
- Battleship Yamato (Senkan Yamato) (1953)
- Hanran: Ni-ni-roku jiken (1954)
- Nihon yaburezu (Japan Undefeated) (1954)
- Season of Affairs (Uwaki no kisetsu) (1959)
References
edit- ^ a b "Abe Yutaka". Nihon jinmei daijiten (in Japanese). Kōdansha. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
- ^ a b c d Joanne Bernardi (1 January 2001). "Notes". Writing in Light: The Silent Scenario and the Japanese Pure Film Movement. Wayne State University Press. p. 316. ISBN 9780814340097. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- ^ a b c Jacoby, Alexander (2008). A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
External links
edit
