This paper is a study of the reception of Chinese cinema in Japan focusing on postwar Chinese cinema. In the post World War II period, the traditions of Chinese Cinema, which were built up in Shanghai, the center of Chinese cinema in the prewar days, were entirely broken in socialist China. With a new movie system, the so-called “People’s Cinema,” a political propaganda organization appeared in China. In this paper the writer uses materials in Japanese to research how the “People’s Cinema,” serving the political policies and socialist ideologies of the Communist Party, had been accepted by a Japan that was searching for her own ways to achieve postwar democratic cinema. Through this research, the actual ways Japan looked at Chinese cinema in the postwar period will be made clear. In addition, the unknown sides of the movie critical field in Japan will be brought into relief.

The first stage of the “People’s Cinema” is divided into two periods. The first period, from 1949 to 1953, is a time of stagnation in Chinese cinema that can be attributied to a political movement of the Chinese Communist Party. This political movement was created by criticiging The legends of Wu Xun. The second period, from 1953 to 1957, is an age of Chinese cinema developming due to the all viation of verify the responses to Chinese cinema in Japan by referring to the ups and downs of Chinese cinema.

映画監督内田吐夢（1898-1970）は歌舞伎および浄瑠璃を原作とした時代劇映画を4本手がけ、それらは「古典芸能四部作」として知られている。本論文は、その一作目であり近松門左衛門の浄瑠璃を原作とする『暴れん坊街道』（1957年）を取り上げ、企画の成立過程と作品分析を行う。

第1節では、まず敗戦後、民族主義的な言説を背景に左派的な近松の読み直しと、近松作品の映画化が進んだことについて概観する。そして内田吐夢が敗戦後満州（中国東北部）滞在において伝統芸能への郷愁を核に民族意識を変化させたことを明らかにし、左派映画人を交えて『暴れん坊街道』の企画が練られた過程を複数の台本の検討を通して論じる。

第2節では、当時国文学および歴史学の分野で盛んになった封建制批判の観点からの近松解釈に沿うようにして、本作における登場人物の身分の剥奪が、自己同一性と深く関わる「名前」の与奪によって描かれ、身分の異なる者たちが街道という空間で出会い、関係しあうことを論じる。

第3節では、原作の見せ場である「重の井子別れ」を含む二つの愁嘆場が、メロドラマ的な要素に満たされ、感情の抑圧と情動の爆発を伴いながら、感情的な同一化よりもむしろ人物たちの置かれた状況への知覚に観客を向けるものとして演出されていることを明らかにする。

This research explores the use of Cantilever chairs as seen in Japanese films between 1945 and 1952. These chairs were used in 19 out of 107 selected films. Several conclusions may be drawn from a comparison of the types of chairs and the scenes in which they were used in, in their respective films during World War II: 1) Two films in 1946 and 1947 depict scenes featuring Cantilever chairs in pre-war and wartime periods. 2) One may conjecture that the Cantilever chairs used in films after 1947 ware manufactured after the war; however, bamboo plywood chairs emulating pre-war design appeared more frequently than expected in post-war films. 3) When compared to films from the pre-war period, the chairs are mostly depicted in scenes within commercial establishments, especially downtown entertainment venues such as cabaret clubs and dance halls. There is, however, just one instance of the use of Cantilever chairs in wealthy family’s private residence. 4) The use of Cantilever chairs in films reached its peak in 1949 and subsequently dwindled. From this information, we can surmise that the pre-war sense of modernism prevailed until around the 1950s.

This paper examines a genre of army comedy, called Heitai Kigeki and its transition from the postwar period to 1960’s. Historically based on Heitai Rakugo by Kingoro Yanagiya, Heitai Kigeki emerged out during the war. Ore Wa Suihei (1935) starring Kingoro and supported by the Department of the Navy aimed at whipping up public sentiment and succeeded to get critical reputations also. Soon after the WW II, Japanese films mainly depicted the last war from the victim’s point of view or cried against the military. Nitouhei Monogatari (1951), the first postwar Heitai Kigeki, had, like other films, a antimilitary position and made Japanese audience weep itself.

In Heitai Kigeki like Gunkanki series (1957~1958) which were made under the influence of Nitouhei Monogatari, tears and antiwar feeling faded away. When the war combined with the actions, the comical elements came out at first. Dokuritsu Gurentai (1959), clearly affected with Hollywood Western films, was criticized for its losing a perpetrator feeling. The criticism against the Emperor system started with another Heitai Kigeki, Haikei Tennou Heika Dono (1963).

In most of Heitai Kigeki the main character is not an officer but a soldier, which has a personality of marginality like a clown in a comic film. Heitai Kigeki was a genre derived from the resistance to the way in which other Japanese films represented the memory of the war.

This paper analyzes the unique film personae of HASEGAWA Kazuo and FURUKAWA Roppa just before and during the Pacific War in order to demonstrate how these actors’ performances were deeply influenced by the wartime conditions.

HASEGAWA was a handsome actor, and appeared in many jidaigeki melodramas, while FURUKAWA was a popular comedian and was especially known for his work in musical comedies. However, though their characters were totally opposite, their combination was very popular. They appeared together as a team in five movies from 1941 to 1944: Hasegawa-Rappa no Yemitsu to Hikoza (1941, MAKINO Masahiro); Otoko no Hanamichi (1941, MAKINO); Onna Keizu (1942, MAKINO); Zoku Onna Keizu (1942, MAKINO); and Shibai Do (1944, NARUSE Mikio).

By examining their pairing in the context of the war, I will show how the dynamics between HASEGAWA and FURUKAWA’s characters changed from a Pre-Oedipal homosexual relation to Oedipal homosocial relation under the greater and greater oppression of the militaristic nationalism of Japan.

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.