Book: Sessue Hayakaya

Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom by Daisuke Miyao



Sessue Hayakawa was one of Americas first famous non-white film actors. Gaining fame literally over night in The Cheat, Hayakawa played a villainous Japanese art dealer who blackmails a woman after she loses money for a Red Cross fund. His unique acting style and screen presence made him adored by white women and admired by critics. However Japanese Americans were negative for portrayal as it represented a negative stereotype that may influence more xenophobia towards Japanese which was already a problem at the time. To improve his star image Hayakawa later played mostly the hero characters, almost always falling for the white woman but never getting the girl due to controversies around miscegenation and in the end sacrificing himself in order to save the white American family. His popularity at the time was mostly due to the current famous in all things Japanese, mostly art, a great contrast on the times due to the Japanese being considered as the Yellow Peril and a threat to the nation because of their actions in Asia.

Hayakawa became a big part of the American propaganda train as the two Nations joined forces beliefly during the Great War. However afterwards Hayakawa's popularity declined as Japan continued to attack other Asian countries and the only films about Japan being made in America were all anti-Japanese.

After appearing in films in Europe and Japan Hayakawa was brought back to fame in the states with supporting roles in films such as Tokyo Joe, Three Came Home and the Oscar nominated role in Bridge over the River Kwei.

Throughout his silent career Hayakawa didn't just play Asian roles but also other races and nationalities such as Native Americans and Egyptians.

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Not having any experience with watching any of Sessue Hayakawa's films i became interested in the book after reading an article on it on JapanToday.com. Centered solely around his silent career the book is not only a simple biography but a fascinating history to both the film industry and America at the time. It tells us how the Hollywood system would not only mold other cultures to fit the films they made but also the actors themselves, for example fictionalizing Hayakawa's biography giving him a background in acting that never existed. The one aspect that grabbed me to read this book was the fact that Hayakawa was sometimes cast in non Asian roles, however this was actually a small handful. Hayakawa's story is in reality quite sad, often being shunned by his own country and fellow Japanese living in America as being a traitor for appearing in films that trivialized or mis-represented their culture but on the otherhand praised for creating a bridge between the two countries. But this parallel contrasting images seems to crop up a lot in his life, his acting style was admired for being minimalist but at the same time moments of becoming over the top.

The book is fascinating, a tale of an actor almost forgotten and the chapter of cinema I never knew existed. The only problems I really have with the book is that there isn't really any information on Hayakawa's transition from silents to talkies. A jump that left many stars of the silent era behind.

Now all I have to do is watch some of those silent films, The Cheat at least is available and The Dragon Painter is conveniently out on DVD this month with The Wrath of Gods and a short as bonus features.

Cinema: Die Büchse der Pandora (1929)

aka Pandora's Box

A vaudeville dancer (Louise Brooks) in Germany goes on the run when she accidentally kills her husband.

The showing was preceded by a small introduction into gay silent cinema in which Pandora's Box was used as an example by depicting one of the earliest lesbian couples on screen. Actually it was really a couple as described but a character played by Alice Roberts. This aspect is actually so small in the film that one of the gay cowboy films mentioned in the introduction would have served as a better example. But in actually this may of just been the better film full stop as it is wonderful. The huge downside to the showing however was the fact that it was shown straight off a DVD and not a print, i feel slightly cheated by that.

Film: Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

A Swiss family hoping to start a new life in New Guinea after Napoleon invades France become shipwrecked along the way on a deserted island. They quickly adapt to their new life, building a tree house, making friends with the animals and spending the days having fun. Two of sons whilst surveying the islands coast rescue a girl from pirates. The families life is once again turned around, if it's not the boys fighting over the girl then the pirates coming back for their hostage.

I have just finished reading the book on actor Sessue Hayakawa that I mentioned in previous posts so was quite lucky to see this film again as he appears as the pirates captain. Like the previous film i saw Three Came Home, it's not one of the films he's most famous for.

The film is very enjoying to watch however outdated. The family's carefree attitudes to the local habitants is something you wouldn't see in most Hollywood films today. Treating them almost like toys, the animals are either ridden on or roped up for labour work. These scenes remind me alot of Ki-duk Kim's Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring 2003), where the young boy ties a fish, frog and a snake each to a stone laughing at their struggles. The main difference there though is that the boy is soon punished for his attacks by his adoptive father, a Buddhist priest. The obvious problem that in Swiss these actions go unresolved, but then wouldn't as they are treated as it isn't a problem but just childplay. How times have changed.

Despite this it is a very fun family film. One shot of the very attractive Janet Munro
as 'Roberta' stood out for me:


It looks a shot straight out of an exploitation film, turn this film around a little, make it for adults and it could easily be one.

Stuff: Ed Wood video

I've been watching this video for a while and have finally made the plunge and bought it for £10.

What is it? It's a video lasting 6 minutes 40 seconds according to the auction sites page containing interviews and behind the scenes footage from Tim Burton's Ed Wood, a film which I love dearly. Hopefully it will be good and not just something that's on the DVD or a blank VHS.

Watch this space for details once it arrives!

Film: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Tim Burton's latest is a film adaption of Stephen Sondheim's hit stage musical. After being framed for a crime a barber going under the name 'Sweeney Todd' returns to London finding out his wife was raped and has committed suicide and his daughter now living with the Judge who was responsible for sending him to prison. Opening up shop in his old home he seeks revenge with the help of Mrs Lovett, the woman who owns the unsuccessful pie shop downstairs. When they accidentally kill one too many, they find that the now acquired meat turns the pie business around.

I am a huge Burton fan but honestly wasn't looking too forward to this film when I first heard about it. The idea of a macabre musical just seemed too atypical of a Tim Burton film and the other proposed idea at the time of biopic Ripley's Believe it or Not sounded much more my kind of film and could of been another Ed Wood. With the writers returning from said film and Jim Carrey to star, that project has now moved to other hands. In fact the last few Burton films have not been as good as they should of been. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was nicely shot, had a lot of great moments and a fantastic supporting cast the alterations to the original storyline to bring in the message of the importance of family unity was not required. That said I still prefer it any day over the 70s adaption Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory. Burton's return to stop motion since 1993 A Nightmare Before Christmas seemed promising and again the animation is impressive but lets itself down with a poor script and too many songs which only act as filler. I know that NMBC contained songs but that seemed more appropriate being advertised as a musical, whilst in Bride, the songs came up like a surprise and gave me the impression that it was just following the usual animation route for marketing towards family audiences.

Big Fish I thought was a wonderful film, not perfect but possibly Burton's best of this latter films (I personally feel that works could be split into too eras; The beginning - Ed Wood, and Mars Attacks - Present). Planet of the Apes on the other hand was a dreadful 're-imagining', but still entertaining if only watched the once.

My first surprise when it came to Sweeney Todd was seeing the trailer; there are no signs of a musical number until near the end. Shocked, I almost thought they decided to go back and not even make it a musical after all. In actually the film doesn't go longer then a few minutes without going into another number. It's almost back to back with song after song, probably more then a typical cinema audience is used to. My excitement for the film only came when I heard the response it got. I'm not one to follow trends or to admit to associating with anything status quo that often but this was enough to get me interested.

The film starts with completely CG made opening titles, it looks ugly but is soon forgiven. In sails Todd and his young friend Anthony who starts the film with a song telling of how things came to be. From here the film rarely slows down and keeps up a pace filled with bloody violence, tragic romance and deadpan humour, there's never a dull moment. Todd is a dark, quiet character driven by revenge who becomes a serial killer, despite his misfortunes little sympathy can be given to him but at the same time he stays away from being a complete villain. It's this contrast of images that makes the character so intriguing. The bloody mess created by Todd and Lovetts drive to feed their pie business makes a fun watch in a twisted and sadistic manner.

Sweeney Todd is bloody good.

Film: The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Three years after a disease wipes out the Earths population only a doctor (Vincent Price) who is somehow immune survives. Those who were affected became vampires living off the blood of each other. The doctor spends his days hunting them down and destroying them in hope of finding a solution.

The first adaption of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend which was alter made in to Omega Man (1971) and most recently I Am Legend (2007).


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Film: Mr Moto's Last Warning (1939)

Kentaro Moto travels to Egypt to uncover a plot to blow up a French fleet of vessels.

In the 1930s film series about Asian detectives were very popular, most famously the Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto and Mr. Wong series. All of course now deemed slightly politically incorrect due to all the title characters being played by caucasian actors in make up going through the stereotypes. Being that I've just seen this Mr Moto film I'll use as an example, the portrayal isn't actually that offensive, just poor. The brilliant Peter Lorre takes up the role, slick back the hair, add some teeth and put on some glasses and he's ready to go. The only problem is that Peter Lorre still looks like Lorre and is hard to imagine as a Japanese. In the routine of 'Yellow Face' as it's called another touch is put on the 'Engrish', switch the Rs for Ls and so forth. Lorre however sounds like Lorre, which is probably good enough for the producers as his German accent sounds foreign and that's all the audience needs. Moto on the other hand does use 'Engrish' himself, merely as part of his disguise to turn the Magnificant Moto into the humble antique dealer Kuroki. As I say Lorre is hard to picture as Asian even more so when his assistant, played by an actual Asian actor (who is killed shortly afterwards) stand side by side with him.

As much as mis-representation of race offends I can't help but be fascinated by the stereotypes which man has come up with. To me these are like abstract characterizations of human kind placed within Hollywood's reality.

As for the film itself, it's a lot of fun, I enjoyed it very much and plan to look further in to the series as well as the others mentioned.

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R.I.P. Kon Ichikawa (1915 - 2008)

Kon Ichikawa, director of film such as The Burmese Harp, Tokyo Olympiad and An Actor's Revenge sadly passed away yesterday after complications from pneumonia.

Film: Dushi Fengguang (1935)

aka Scenes of City Life

A novelist uses all his money to buy gifts for the woman he loves who in turn is also seeing a business man, using him for expensive presents. As a consequence the writer is unable to pay the rent, whilst the womans family goes hungry as her fathers business suffers.

A joyful comedy that expresses the dangers of consumerism for the careless spender.

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Music: Del Byzanteens

In the early 80s before/around the release of Jim Jarmusch's debut Permanent Vacation Jarmusch was in the 'Del Byzanteens', which apparently had a bit of an underground success here in the UK. They released two singles and one album, all on vinyl only. Above is a live performance of My World is Empty which features backing vocals and keyboards from Jarmusch and sax by John Lurie.

You can also listen to there album and download three mp3s on the official MySpace page

Film: Malu Tianshi (1937)

Aka Street Angel

A street musician helps a girl from being sold into marriage.

Chinese comedy that was also a social commentary of the times for the lower class.

I found this film absolutely brilliant although i had a lot of trouble with the subtitles. I downloaded the film and subtitles separately and they were out of sync for the entirety, fixing it was frustrating and only solved the problem for so long. Next time i see this it will be on DVD with proper subs.

Free Download

Film: No Country For Old Men (2007)

After a drug deal goes wrong Llewelyn Moss finds the money claims it as his, unaware that more trouble then it's worth will follow.

I absolutely loved this film. Since I didn't see the Coen Brothers last two films (which are said to be disappointments) Intolerably Cruelty and Ladykillers, I can't really say if this is a return to form as I have loved every one of there films before them. I could even say that this is my favourite of all their works.

Film: Student Bodies (1981)

Ladies and gentlemen, in order to achieve an "R" rating today, a motion picture must contain full frontal nudity, graphic violence, or an explicit reference to the sex act. Since this film has none of those, and since research has proven that R-rated films are by far the most popular with the moviegoing public, the producers of this motion picture have asked me to take this opportunity to say "Fuck you."

A murderer calling himself 'The Breather' is going around campus killing any teenagers who happen to be sexually active in this spoof of slasher movies of late the 70s.



What with the current success of the Scary Movie franchise some may call this film ahead of it's time when really it isn't coming from an era when both slasher movies and spoofs such Airplane and Kentucky Fried Movie were at their peak. Made during the 80s writers strike Paramount uses these as a no risk business model, unfortunately the film was a complete failure which probably wasn't a huge problem since the film was pretty low budget.



The film itself has a few laughs a long, never as memorable as Airplane or KFM but enough to make this film worthwhile partly as a comedy but mostly as a trash low budget horror. And for the connoisseurs of bad cinema you should be happy to know that Student Bodies is produced by non other than [an] Allen Smithee.

Film: Willard (2003)

Being either bullied at work or stuck at home looking after his sick mother, Willard (Crispin Glover) lives an unfruitful life. Then one day he meets a white rat who he calls Socrates. Socrates is both a loving and intelligent rat who brings hoards of friends with him. Willard soon discovers that through Socrates he able to control the rodents to get revenge on his boss, but the tables are turned when another rat, the gigantic Ben, gets jealous of being in second command after Socrates.

Willard is actually a remake of a film of the same name from the 70's. The original spawned a sequel entitled 'Ben' which gained notoriety due to it's more famous theme song by Michael Jackson. The song Ben itself appears twice in the film, the original and a new version sung by Crispin Glover who also directed a music video for it. Having previously only seen this music video I was never aware that the original song was written for such a film as it was, especially by Jackson. Though thinking of the Thriller video the connection makes more sense.

The characters in Willard are all archetypal, the sympathetic outcast who lives with his mother, the over the top and bluntly evil bully and the possible love interest. Overall the film is easy to get into and just plain fun.

Watch Crispin Hellian Glover's Ben

Film: Tie shan gong zhu (1941)

Aka Princess Iron Fan this is an early Chinese animated feature, I've heard to be one of the first even. Based on the book Journey to the West I watched this without subtitles but managed to barely follow the story. Three disciples of a traveling monk, a monkey king, a pig and water spirit attempt to steal a power fan from a princess in order to defeat an angry fire demon who is causing a massive heat wave. That about makes up the first half, the second I wasn't too sure about but it involved the fan again and also some singing along the way.

Having previously only watched the English dub of the Japanese Monkey series it was nice to see another adaption of Journey To the West, especially such an early one. The animation is crude as can be and the shots seem to make more movement then necessary (there are shots where the camera appears to dart back and forth for little reason), the former however being acceptable.

As i say it was nice seeing such a rare piece but would of been nice with subtitles. The animation is available to download from archive.org

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Film: You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Frank Capra directed comedy about a couple to struggle with families from conflicting backgrounds. One a middle class family who believe life should be lived with fun in mind, the other from the establishment who wants to buy their house in order to build a factory.

This film is absolutely wonderful from start to finish, I couldn't of enjoyed it more, well possibly without the ad breaks as i watched it on TV. A very young Jimmy Stewart co-stars who is excellent in this film. Very funny, I will add it to my 'wishlist' at once.

Cinema: Rescue Dawn (2006)

Werner Herzog's fictional re-enactment of Dieter Dengler's experience in the Vietnam war (See: Little Deiter Needs to Fly review).

From watching Herzog's documentary on Dengler Rescue Dawn felt very faithful, despite missing out several events such as the fact that Dengler was held captive twice and not just once as shown in the film and the incident concerning his wedding ring which he retells in the documentary. There has also been debate to the accuracy concerning Herzogs depiction of Eugene. However my only complaint, if any, is the simple fact that Dengler (played by Christian Bale) is lacking a German accent. Dengler was born in Germany and left for America at the age of 19 and retained an accent after nearly 40 years. In Rescue Dawn, Bale has a straight forward American accent which may imply that he came to America much sooner.

What is fascinating about the film is what has been pulled from the original documentary, the anecdotes and tidbits of information that pop up such as how the Vietcong's made fire which Dengler demonstrated himself.

Even despite want is going on the locations look stunningly beautiful. At times the camera would be used hand held, following characters much like in Herzogs documentaries giving the film what seems like an added dimension.

Overall I enjoyed the film a lot and feel that watching Little Dieter... first gives off a much better understanding even if it takes away any surprises (which is besides the point). Compared to other war films I have appraoched this one different, it has felt more like a worthwhile education then entertainment.

Promotional Crap

Part of what this blog (or flog as I'm currently calling it) is to show off some of the film related stuff I find such promotional items found in cinemas. The first i present on here isn't very exciting but is for a film I am much looking forward to.

It's a simple promo/competition card for Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind. However it does come with a mini credit card sized poster, which I think is quite neat.

Film: Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Now this is Jarmusch's true debut!

Split into three episodes in the first an Hungarian girl called Eva comes to America to live with her aunt but must stay with her disinterested cousin Willy for 10 days till she gets out of the hospital. The second Willy and his best friend Eddie travel to Cleveland to visit Eva and in the last the three visit Florida.

Stranger Than Paradise started out as 30 minute short made on old stock given to Jarmusch by Wim Wenders and was later expanded int o the film we know today. Every scene is shot in single long takes with blackouts inbetween making the film presented more as moments than want conventional editing to conceive.

What Stranger has that Permanent Vacation didn't was ability bring across the actors/characters personalities making the quality of the acting less strident. An aspect that would be seen in later films where Jarmusch would cast many non-actors in roles.

Cinema: Wheel of Time (2003)

Part deux of the Werner Herzog season, in which Herzog takes a look at the Buddhist Kalachakra initiations from 2002. Done in a more traditional method then Little Dieter, the pic features interviews with the Dalai Lama and Takna Jigme Zangpo, a man who was imprisoned for 37 years demanding freedom for Tibet.

Whilst Dieter was a lot simpler to get into Wheel of Time is worthy not only as an education into Buddhism but also to the lengths that man would himself in for their beliefs, as demonstrated when pilgrims are shown making there way to the initiations whilst getting on the ground in prayer and back up again every few steps for however many days they must travel. For one monk it took him several years.

I throughly enjoyed this film and i am looking forward to seeing the final part in the Herzog series this Sunday with Rescue Dawn.