Yasuzō Masumura

Birthday: 1924-08-25
Deathday: 1986-11-23
Birthplace: Kōfu, Yamanashi, Japan
Gender: Male

Yasuzo Masumura (増村 保造 Masumura Yasuzō, August 25, 1924 - November 23, 1986) was a Japanese film director.

Masumura was born in Kōfu on Honshū. After dropping out of a law course at the University of Tokyo he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei studio, later returning to university to study philosophy; he graduated in 1949. He then won a scholarship allowing him to study film in Italy at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia under Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti.

Masumura returned to Japan in 1953 and from 1955 worked as a second-unit director on films directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa, before directing his own first film, Kisses, in 1957. Over the next three decades he directed around 60 films in a variety of genres. His work is noted for his dark satire and fluid style. Notable films include Red Angel, Black Test Car, Giants and Toys, Blind Beast and Hoodlum Soldier.

Credits

Year Title
1982-10-09 Lullaby of Death
1980-12-01 The Garden of Eden
1978-08-19 原色の蝶は見ていた・死の匂い
1978-08-05 Horror of the Giant Vortex
1978-04-29 Double Suicide of Sonezaki
1976-06-12 Lullaby of the Earth
1975-09-06 Main Line to Terror
1974-04-24 Akumyo: Notorious Dragon
1973-08-11 Hanzo the Razor: The Snare
1972-11-11 Music
1972-04-22 New Hoodlum Soldier Story: Firing Line
1971-09-04 Games
1970-10-03 The Hot Little Girl
1970-07-11 An Ode to Yakuza
1970-05-01 Play It Cool
1969-10-18 Vixen
1969-04-19 Thousand Cranes
1969-01-25 Blind Beast
1968-11-30 One Day at Summer's End
1968-10-30 The House of Wooden Blocks
1968-06-01 The Sex Check
1968-02-24 The Great Villains
1967-10-28 The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka
1967-07-29 Love for an Idiot
1967-04-15 Two Wives
1966-10-01 Red Angel
1966-06-04 The School of Spies
1966-01-15 Irezumi
1965-06-25 Seisaku's Wife
1965-03-18 Hoodlum Soldier
1964-10-31 Superexpress
1964-07-25 Manji
1964-02-24 Love and Greed
1964-01-19 Fools at Work
1963-07-27 Sentimental Mobsters
1963-03-30 When Women Lie
1963-01-13 Black Report
1962-11-18 A Woman's Life
1962-06-30 Black Test Car
1962-03-14 Stolen Pleasure
1961-12-17 The Burdened Sisters
1961-10-29 A Wife Confesses
1961-03-21 A Lustful Man
1961-01-27 Love and Life
1960-10-08 The False Student
1960-08-24 The Woman Who Touched Legs
1960-03-22 Afraid to Die
1960-01-14 A Woman's Testament
1959-12-01 Across the Darkness
1959-08-12 Beauty the Enemy
1959-05-13 The Cast-Off
1959-02-11 The Most Valuable Wife
1958-12-14 Disobedience
1958-09-07 The Lowest Man
1958-06-22 Giants and Toys
1958-03-17 The Precipice
1957-12-01 Warm Current
1957-10-08 The Blue Sky Maiden
1957-07-23 Kisses