After Chinese talkie films appeared in 1931, Cantonese films began to be mass-produced in south China. This paper examines the film production conditions of Cantonese films before 1941, by analyzing some of the Cantonese films and cinema magazines of that period.

In 1936, as a part of its nation-building project, the National Government in Nanjing tried to outlaw the production of films in dialects, in an attempt to foster linguistic unity in the country. At that time, China was under constant threat of attack from Japan. The Cantoness film industry survived by capitalizing on anti-Japanese feeling. Almost sixty-six Cantonese “national defense films” were made before 1941.

Although some Cantonese “national defense films” can be seen as a countermeasure to the prohibition of dialect films, Chinese national identity was nevertheless constructed partially in these films made in Hong Kong.

Most of the sixty-six films do not depict “the dreadful Japanese enemy.” Their major theme was the importance of eliminating “others” who betray the War of Anti-Japanese Resistance.

Die vorliegende Abhandlung untersucht am Beispiel einiger deutscher Filme aus dem Jahre 1931 u.a. M von Fritz Lang, wie der Film sein mediales Wesen in sich reflektiert.

Zunächst wird das Motiv,,eine Stadt, die einen Mörder sucht“ in M zum Vergleich mit dem ähnlichen Motiv, das sich in WO IST COLETTI? (Max Mack 1913) abspielt, herangezogen. Dieses Motiv entspricht bei M dem Begriff,,Netz“, der eine wesentliche Rolle, nämlich die Gestaltung des medialen Raums im Film zu entscheiden, spielt. Der Begriff stellt sich jedoch als paradox heraus. Dieses Paradox ermöglicht es der modemen Stadt, ein latentes Verbrechen zu,,produzieren“, wie es in den Darstellungen in M zu beobachten ist.

Das zweite Kapitel betrachtet am Beispiel von EMIL UND DIE DETEKTIVE (Gerhard Lamprecht 1931) das Verhältnis des Individuums zum medialen, städtischen Raum, um die abenteuerliche Jagd der Protagonisten auf Täter durch die Bezeichnung ,,der Umgang mit den städtischen Medien“ zu erläutern. Zum Schluss werden die Figuren, die zur Selbsterkenntnis als mediales Wesen kommen, in den o.g. Filmen einer näheren Untersuchung unterzogen.

At one time, Toei’s plain period films were very popular. Those films were supported by the star system. But this system became too old, and the novelty of Kurosawa Akira’s Yozinbo (1961) and Tsubaki Sanjuro (1962) disclosed the fiction of Toei’s period films. After that, Toei’s plain period films became unpopular.

Around that time, the “Yagyu Books of Military Arts” series started. Until the fourth installment, they were plain period films. But from the fifth work, the stories became serious and the sword fights became realistic. And group fights were emphasized. This series revealed various experiments in period cinema.

Seventeen Ninja (1963) and Thirteen Assassins (1963) were epoch-making because of the many nameless people that fight desperately in those films. But the stars still hardly became dirty.

Konoe Jushiro starred in Ninja Hunting (1964) and Jubei’s Assassinative Sword (1964). In those films the group fights finished in the middle stage, and in the climax Konoe fought desperately against the powerful enemies. Especially in Jubei’s Assassinative Sword the fight between Jubei and his enemy Makuya Daikyu is one never found in previous period films. Because Konoe was a second-class star, he was active in the group period films.