Eizo Tanaka

Biography

Tanaka initially trained as a stage actor in the shingeki movement under Kaoru Osanai, but eventually joined the Nikkatsu film studio in 1917. He debuted as a director in 1918 but mostly had to work with shinpa stories, not the shingeki techniques he was used to although two early films, The Living Corpse (Ikeru shikabane) and The Cherry Orchard (Sakura no sono) were based on Tolstoy and Chekhov respectively.[3] Working in parallel with the Pure Film Movement, Tanaka made two films, Kyōya eirimise (1922) and Dokuro no mai (1923), based on his own screenplays, that were highly praised for their cinematic technique.[1] He remained a rather conservative filmmaker and still used oyama (male actors) in female roles, including in his masterpiece Kyōya eirimise, a melodrama about a merchant's destructive love for a geisha. He used actresses for the first time in Dokuro no mai, a story of a monk reminiscing about his youth and early loves.

Known For

Stray Dog

Acting

1953

The Wild Geese

as

Zenkichi

1949

Stray Dog

as

Old Doctor

1949

The Blue Mountains: Part I

as

Principal Takeda

1950

Street of Violence

as

Hardware dealer

1950

Till We Meet Again

as

1953

Tower of Lilies

as

1949

A Woman's Life

as

Production

Crew

Directing

1921

Before the Morning Sun Shines

as

1921

Scent of the White Lily

as

1921

Woman in the Stream

as

1922

The Lapel Shop

as

1923

Skull Dance

as

1918

The Living Corpse

as

1918

Akatsuki

as

1932

Namiko

as