Something Like an Autobiography - Akira Kurosawa [47]
I thought that my brother, having succeeded in life, had become snobbish about politics and was speaking lightly about something I took very seriously. But, as it turned out, my proletarian feelings subsided exactly as my brother had predicted. I was reluctant to admit that he was right, however, and stuck with the movement for several years. With my head crammed full of art, literature, theater, music and film knowledge, I continued to wander, vainly looking for a place to make use of it.
* It was a long time ago, so it’s very difficult to remember the exact dates. For the foreign films I have had to refer to their production and release dates in their countries of origin, and in some cases there was a gap of two or three years before they were shown in Japan.
1919 (Taishō 8). AK aged 9. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene; Passion, dir. Ernst Lubitsch; Shoulder Arms, dir. Charles Chaplin; Male and Female, dir. Cecil B. DeMille; Broken Blossoms, dir. D. W. Griffith.
1920 (Taishō 9). AK aged 10. Von Morgens bis Mitternacht, dir. Carl Martin; Die Bergkatze, dir. Ernst Lubitsch; The Phantom Carriage, dir. Victor Sjöström; The Last of the Mohicans, dir. Maurice Tourneur; Humoresque, dir. Frank Borzage; Sunnyside, dir. Charles Chaplin.
1921 (Taishō 10: Prime Minister Hara assassinated). AK aged 11. Way Down East, dir. D. W. Griffith; The Kid, dir. Charles Chaplin; The Three Musketeers, dir. Fred Niblo; Over the Hill to the Poor House, dir. Harry Millarde; The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, dir. Rex Ingram; Fool’s Paradise, dir. Cecil B. DeMille.
1922 (Taishō 11: Founding of Japan Communist Party). AK aged 12, first year at Keika Middle School. Dr. Mabuse, dir. Fritz Lang; The Loves of Pharaoh, dir. Ernst Lubitsch; The Little Prince, dir. Alfred Green; Blood and Sand, dir. Fred Niblo; The Prisoner of Zenda, dir. Rex Ingram; Pay Day, dir. Charles Chaplin; Foolish Wives, dir. Erich von Stroheim; Orphans of the Storm, dir. D. W. Griffith; The Distant Smile, dir. Sidney Franklin.
1923 (Taishō 12: Great Kanto Earthquake). AK aged 13, second year at KMS. The Pilgrim, dir. Charles Chaplin; The Thief of Bagdad, dir. Raoul Walsh; La Roue, dir. Abel Gance; Kick In, dir. George Fitzmaurice; The Covered Wagon, dir. James Cruze; Kean, dir. Alexandre Vilkoff; A Woman of Paris, dir. Charles Chaplin; Cyrano de Bergerac, dir. Augusto Genina.
1924 (Taishō 13). AK aged 14, third year at KMS. The Iron Horse, dir. John Ford; He Who Gets Slapped, dir. Victor Sjostrom; Die Niebelungen, dir. Fritz Lang; The Marriage Circle, dir. Ernst Lubitsch.
1925 (Taishō 14: Peace Preservation Law passed; first radio broadcasts). AK aged 15, fourth year at KMS. The Gold Rush, dir. Charles Chaplin; Master of the House, dir. Carl Dreyer; Feu Mathias Pascal, dir. Marcel L’Herbier; Beau Geste, dir. Herbert Brenon; Greed, dir. Erich von Stroheim; Lady Windermere’s Fan, dir. Ernst Lubitsch; The Big Parade, dir. King Vidor; The Salvation Hunters, dir. Josef yon Sternberg; The Last Laugh, dir. F. W. Murnau; The Joyless Street, dir. G. W. Pabst; Nana, dir. Jean Renoir; Variety, dir. E. A. Dupont.
1926 (Taishō 15: Farm Labor Party founded; death of Emperor Taishō). AK aged 16, fifth year at KMS. Three Bad Men, dir. John Ford; So This Is Paris, dir. Ernst Lubitsch; The Armored Vault, dir. Lupu Pick; Tartuffe, dir. F. W. Murnau; Faust, dir. F. W. Murnau; Metropolis, dir. Fritz Lang; Potemkin, dir. Sergei Eisenstein; Mother, dir. V. I. Pudovkin.
1927 (Showa 2: Financial panic; author Akutagawa Ryunosuke commits suicide; Disarmament Conference established). AK aged 17, graduates from KMS. Seventh Heaven, dir. Frank Borzage; Wings, dir. William Wellman; Barbed Wire, dir. Rowland