Sadao Yamanaka

Biography

Sadao Yamanaka (山中 貞雄, Yamanaka Sadao, November 7, 1909 – September 17, 1938) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed 26 films between 1932 and 1938. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the jidaigeki, or historical film. Yamanaka began his career in the Japanese film industry at the age of 20 as a writer and assistant director for the Makino company. In 1932, he began working for Kanjuro Productions, a small, independent film company similar to many others founded during the same period as it was centered around a popular jidaigeki film star, this time Kanjuro Arashi. Here, he began directing his first films, all of which were jidaigeki. During his first year at Kanjuro, he made six films. He was "discovered" by the critic Matsuo Kishi and gained a reputation for creating films that escaped clichés and focused on social injustices. Early on, he had stated an interest in blurring the lines between several genres: comedy, historical epics, and comedy-dramas focusing on average people. Viewers and critics note in his surviving films the genesis of ideas later explored by the i…

Directed

1. Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) — Director
2. Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935) — Director
3. Priest of Darkness (1936) — Director
4. Bangaku no issho (1933) — Director
5. Gantaro Path (1934) — Director
6. Iso-no-genta's Sword (1932) — Director
7. Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: The Journey (1933) — Director
8. The Village Tattooed Man (1935) — Director
9. Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: Edo Reel Part 2 (1933) — Director
10. Ishimatsu from the Forest (1937) — Director
11. Jirokichi the Rat-Kid: Edo Reel (1933) — Director
12. The Elegant Swordsman (1934) — Director
13. Satsuma Courier Part 2: The Passionate Sword (1933) — Director
14. Ogasawara Ikinokami (1932) — Director
15. Kunisada Chūji (1935) — Director