Night School (1956 film)

Night School (夜間中学, Yakan chūgaku) is a 1956 Japanese film directed by Ishirō Honda.[2][3]

Night School
Original Japanese movie poster
Directed byIshirō Honda
Screenplay byYoko Mizuki
Starring
Production
company
Nihon University College of Art
Distributed byDaiei Film
Release date
  • 18 April 1956 (1956-04-18) (Japan)
Running time
44 minutes[1]
CountryJapan

Cast

  • Okinari Yoshioka as Senta
  • Michiyo Kogure as Senta's mother
  • Katsuyuki Nomura as Senta's younger brother
  • Takeshi Ando as Ryohei
  • Jūkichi Uno as Ryohei's father
  • Mitsue Hino as Ryohei's mother
  • Teiji Takahashi as Daytime Teacher
  • Keiju Kobayashi as Nighttime Teacher
  • Norihei Miki as a train passenger
  • Saburo Boya as a train passenger
  • Yutaka Nakayama as a train passenger

Production

Night School was director Ishirō Honda's only film ever directed outside of Toho.[4] The film was among the first about the topic of night schools.[4] The original idea for developing a film around night schools was from Kanesaku Toda, a Toho staff member who approached Honda and other ex-Nichidai men.[4] The team got the rights to the short story by Teiji Seta titled "Mail Desk" (Yubin zukue) which appeared in the children's magazine Boys and Girls.[4] Among the crew was Yoko Mizuki as the screenwriter, and other Nichidai grads including Keiju Kobayashi and Jukichi Uno who starred as a teacher and a student's father.[4] The film was produced by Nihon University College of Art with a low budget.[4] Most actors on set worked without pay.[4]

Honda and the films producers submitted Night School to the Japanese government's education department, hoping to secure a seal of approval to get the film approved for families and students.[4] The government advised Honda to change the title due to a stigma surrounding night schools, which Honda declined leading the funding being denied.[4]

Release

Night School was acquired by Daiei Film and distributed as a second feature on April 18, 1956.[4][1]

The film was not screened for decades.[5] It was revived at the 2009 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival retrospective titled "The Man Who Shot Godzilla".[4] Following the screening, a panel discussion was held with Shusuke Kaneko and Honda's son Ryuji.[5]

References

Footnotes

  1. Ryfle & Godziszewski 2017, p. 301.
  2. "夜間中学". Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. "夜間中学". Agency for Cultural Affairs 映画情報システム. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  4. Ryfle & Godziszewski 2017, p. 121.
  5. Ryfle & Godziszewski 2017, p. 122.

Sources

  • Ryfle, Steve; Godziszewski, Ed (2017). Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0819577412.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


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