Biography
Kōzaburō Yoshimura (吉村 公三郎, Yoshimura Kōzaburō, 9 September 1911 – 7 November 2000) was a Japanese film director. Born in Shiga Prefecture, he joined the Shōchiku studio in 1929. He debuted as director with a short film in 1934, but, after being denied a promotion by head of the studio Shirō Kido, continued working as an assistant director for filmmakers Yasujirō Ozu and Yasujirō Shimazu on films like Our Neighbor, Miss Yae and What Did the Lady Forget? It was the 1939 film Warm Current that established his status as a director. During the Sino-Japanese war he directed a number of military dramas such as The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi (1940), for which he toured the actual battlefields in China.Yoshimura's 1947 The Ball at the Anjo House, starring Setsuko Hara, was named the best picture of the year by film magazine Kinema Junpo and is regarded as one of his major works. The film marked the start of a long relationship with screenwriter and film director Kaneto Shindō. In 1950, the two of them left Shōchiku and started the independent production company Kindai Eiga Kyōkai. For his 1951 Clothes of Deception, produced by Daiei Film, Yoshimura received the Mainichi Film Award for Best Director. Since the mid-1950s, Yoshimura's films were produced mostly by Daiei.Donald Richie and Joseph L. Anderson pointed out the lack of a cohesive visual style in Yoshimura's films, arguing that due to the wide range of material which Yoshimura chose, his style had to adopt to each individual film. According to Richie and Anderson, the one distinguishable cinematic element of his later films was Yoshimura's quick editing. The director's "most typical films" (Alexander Jacoby) were contemporary dramas focussing on sympathetically drawn female characters, which earned him the comparison with Kenji Mizoguchi.Notable examples of Yoshimura's later work include Night River (1956), An Osaka Story (1957, a project he had taken over from Mizoguchi), Night Butterflies (1957) and Bamboo Doll of Echizen (1963). He is credited with furthering the careers of actresses such as Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao and his regular collaborator Machiko Kyō, from whom he elicited outstanding performances. In 1976, he received a Medal of Honor (Purple Ribbon) for artistic accomplishments.
Filmography
all 56
Movies 56
Director 46
Producer 4
Writer 3
The Tattered Banner (1974)
Rika 3: Juvenile's Lullaby (1973)
Sweet Secret (1971)
The House of the Sleeping Virgins (1968)
A Fallen Woman (1967)
Kokoro no sanmyaku (1966)
Bamboo Doll of Echizen (1963)
When Women Lie (1963)
Hiroshima Heartache (1962)
Their Legacy (1962)
A Design for Dying (1961)
Marriageable Age (1961)
A Woman's Testament (1960)
The Ladder of Success (1958)
On This Earth (1957)
Night Butterflies (1957)
An Osaka Story (1957)
Night River (1956)
Wedding Day (1956)
The Beauty and the Dragon (1955)
Ai Sureba Koso (1955)
Women of Ginza (1955)
Dorodarake no seishun (1954)
The Ditch (1954)
Cape Ashizuri (1954)
Onna no issho (1953)
Before Dawn (1953)
Yokubo (1953)
Mole Alley (1953)
Miniature (1953)
Reminiscence (1953)
紺屋高尾 (1952)
Children of Hiroshima (1952)
Sisters of Nishijin (1952)
The Tale of Genji (1951)
Clothes of Deception (1951)
Spring Snow (1950)
Ishimatsu of the Forest (1949)
The Most Beautiful Day of My Life (1948)
Temptation (1948)
The Ball at the Anjo House (1947)
The Fellows Who Ate the Elephant (1947)
Air Raid of the Enemy Plane (1943)
Kaisen no Zenya (1943)
South Wind (1942)
Otoko no iki (1942)
The Spy Has Not Died Yet (1942)
Flower (1941)
The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi (1940)
Warm Current (1939)
Five Siblings (1939)
Fisherman's Fire (1939)
So Goes My Love (1938)
The Lights of Asakusa (1937)
Okoto and Sasuke (1935)
Our Neighbor, Miss Yae (1934)
Ratings
Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1911-09-09
Deathday2000-11-07 (89 years old)
Birth PlaceŌtsu, Japan
ChildrenHidemi Yoshimura
SiblingsShōichirō Yoshimura
CitizenshipsJapan
Also Known As吉村 公三郎, Кодзабуро Ёсимура
AwardsMainichi Film Award for Best Director, Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class, Medal with Purple Ribbon, Order of Culture
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