Moving Images, Understanding Media

Chapter 5 Personal Expression and Studio Production 177

Professional relationships between studio administrators and fi lmmakers

working within these systems are seen in many of the countries of the world.

For example, at Toho, Daiei, and Shochiku studios in Japan, directors such

as Yasuhiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, and Kenji Mizoguchi were able to work

constantly, generally producing at least one movie each year. Yasujiro Ozu

is an example of a director who developed a highly individual approach to

framing and editing in his treatment of recurring themes, such as those

involving family and the passage of time. Akira Kurosawa’s fi lms show an

astonishing array of stylistic solutions to cinematic expression and dynamic

storytelling in such famous and still popular fi lms as Rashoman and Th e

Seven Samurai, both from 1950. Kenji Mizoguchi is well known for his

lyrical treatment of themes linked to human spirituality and the persecution

and resilience of women, yet like many fi lmmakers, he developed his skills

directing movies in a wide array of types and styles, including crime fi lms,

comedies, war movies, working-class dramas, and motion pictures strongly

infl uenced by German expressionism.

Other fi lmmakers have built international careers making movies. Max

Ophuls, born to a Jewish family in western Germany, was able to create a body

of work in which he had to cross many borders during decades of struggle

to fi nd fi nancial and administrative support for his talents. Ophuls was a

wizard of visual style and showed mastery of the diverse skills needed for

a director, including working with actors, orchestrating camera angles and

movements, and building distinctive rhythms in his fi lms. Aft er directing

movies in Germany, Italy, France, and Holland, Ophuls fl ed Europe at the

Figure 5-8 Actor Henry

Fonda at left and director

Alfred Hitchcock holding

strap on New York subway

location shooting for The

Wrong Man. (Courtesy Warner

Bros./Photofest)

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