Japan's Longest Day
| Japan's Longest Day | |
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| Directed by | Kihachi Okamoto |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Sanezumi Fujimoto |
| Written by | Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay) Soichi Oya (book) |
| Music by | Masaru Sato |
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| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Japan's Longest Day (日本のいちばん長い日 Nihon no ichiban nagai hi), also known as The Emperor and the General, is a 1967 movie directed by Kihachi Okamoto. The subject of the majority of the movie is the period between noon on August 14, 1945, when Emperor Hirohito made the decision to surrender to the Allies in World War II and noon on August 15, 1945, when the emperor's taped message announcing the surrender was broadcast to the Japanese people. Joseph L. Anderson describes the film as "a meticulous reconstruction of the day Japan surrendered and thus ended the Pacific War.[1] Several of Japan's most famous actors of the day participated in the film. These included Chishū Ryū as Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki, Toshirō Mifune as War Minister Korechika Anami, Takashi Shimura as Information Bureau Director Hiroshi Shimomura and Sō Yamamura as Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai.[2] Tatsuya Nakadai serves as the narrator.[2]
Production
According to Okamoto, Masaki Kobayashi was originally supposed to direct Japan's Longest Day but didn't want to, so co-producer Sanezumi Fujimoto suggested that Okamoto direct it.[3] Okamoto believes that this film and his subsequent film The Human Bullet are expressions of his anti-war feelings.[3] While Japan's Longest Day portrays the actual people who were able to remain above the fighting, but did fight with each other, while The Human Bullet is a satire of those who did have to fight in the war.[3]
Release
Japan's Longest Day was released in Japan on August 12, 1967, close to the anniversary of the surrender. This started a trend of film releases known as the 8.15 series, of World War II films released at the anniversary, which included Otamoto's 1971 film The Battle of Okinawa.[4] It became the second highest grossing film in Japan in 1967.[5] Shinobu Hashimoto won the Kinema Junpo Award for best screenplay for this movie.[6][better reference needed]
The film was re-released theatrically in Japan on November 21, 1982 as part of Toho's 50th anniversary.[7]
A remake of Japan's Longest Day entitled The Emperor in August was issued in 2015 by Shochiku, directed by Masato Harada.[8]
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. – via JSTOR (subscription required)
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- ↑ Galbraith IV 2008, p. 375.
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- Pages containing links to subscription-only content
- 1967 films
- Japanese-language films
- Articles needing additional references from May 2016
- Films directed by Kihachi Okamoto
- Screenplays by Shinobu Hashimoto
- Japanese films
- World War II films based on actual events
- Toho films
- Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Films produced by Sanezumi Fujimoto
- Film scores by Masaru Sato
