Attending a Screening of 'Princess Kaguya' (1935)!

Today, I visited a great exhibit called Eiji Tsuburaya: On the 120th Anniversary of His Birth, which runs until November 23 at the National Film Archive of Japan. The exhibit boasts a number of fascinating items, including Tsuburaya's shooting script for Godzilla vs. the Thing (1964), Takashi Shimura's photo album from Godzilla (1954), the machine used to create the Toho logo in the 1980s, as well as an assortment of posters and miscellaneous items owned by Tsuburaya.

After viewing the exhibit, I was able to catch an afternoon screening of Princess Kaguya (1935), a 33-minute digest version of the J. O. Studios film once thought to be lost, which contains English-language opening credits, as well as a crawl explaining the story. (The print was found in the UK a few years ago.) Despite that, there are no English subtitles.

Why was this movie being shown? Eiji Tsuburaya served as cinematographer of the movie. According to the materials provided by the National Film Archive of Japan, the original title was "The Marriage of Princess Kaguya," and it was promoted as a "cine operetta with Japanese music." That makes sense, as the movie essentially plays like a musical.

This version of the story is also less of a fantasy than other tellings (especially the 1987 Toho film Princess from the Moon) and is more comedic. The ending of the film in which the main characters get away from the bad guys right under their noses got a big laugh from the audience. Aside from the opening scenes in which the titular princess is found inside a shining bamboo, there is not much tokusatsu.

The materials also highlighted Tsuburaya's revolutionary use of a crane in his cinematography, and that was quite evident in the film. I'd say the movie's cinematography is quite innovative for 1935, though it wouldn't likely turn many heads today. 

All in all, the film was quite enjoyable, and it certainly seemed more ambitious than a lot of other films made at the time (and even years later) with static camera work. That being said, I'm not sure that folks should feel the need to book a plane ticket to fly halfway across the world to see it. For those primarily interested in tokusatsu, the highlights are easily available on the Internet.

They say that Eiji Tsuburaya is the Master of Tokusatsu, and this exhibit certainly highlights that fact. What an incredible way to celebrate his 120th anniversary!