Masahiro Makino

Birthday: 1908-02-29
Deathday: 1993-10-29
Birthplace: Kyoto, Japan
Gender: Male

Masahiro Makino (マキノ 雅弘, Makino Masahiro, February 29, 1908 - October 29, 1993) was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was Masatada (正唯), but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including 雅広, 正博, and 雅裕).

Masahiro Makino was born in Kyoto, the eldest son of the film director and producer Shōzō Makino, who is often called the father of Japanese cinema. As a youth he acted in over 100 films before debuting as a film director in 1926 at age 18.

His critically acclaimed nihilistic jidaigeki such as Roningai (1928) made him one of the top Japanese film directors, but his way of shooting films quickly also earned him detractors. For instance, the total time it took to shoot the 1936 film Edo no Ka Oshō was only 28 hours.The critic Sadao Yamane, however, has argued that this fast filming practice also contributed to Makino's speedy, rhythmic film style. Rhythm and tempo are important to his films, and so in his jidaigeki, fight scenes like in Kettō Takadanobaba (1937) could seem like dances, or entire sequences, like in Awa no Odoriko (1941), could be filled with dance. He made musicals like Singing Lovebirds (1939) and even his wartime propaganda films like Hanako-san and Ahen senso (both 1943) could have Busby Berkeley-like musical numbers.

After the war, he helmed such popular jidaigeki series as Jirōchō Sangokushi and such ninkyō eiga series as Nihon Kyōkaku-den. He directed his last film in 1972, the retirement film for Junko Fuji, completing a filmography that totaled over 260 films and included films of many genres.

Credits

Year Title
1972-03-04 The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
1971-03-06 The Path of the King
1970-09-22 Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
1970-02-21 Born Fighter
1970-01-15 Peonies And Dragons
1970-01-15 Woman Boss
1969-12-27 Bad Reputation: Showdown of the Best
1969-08-09 Tale of the Last Japanese Yakuza
1969-05-31 The Domain: Flower and Dragon
1969-03-06 Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
1968-12-28 New Prison Walls of Abashiri
1968-10-12 Rogue
1968-08-01 Histories of the Chivalrous
1968-02-22 The Domain: Severed Relations
1967-09-15 The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
1967-07-08 Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
1967-05-30 The Chivalrous Life
1967-01-28 The Domain: White Blade
1966-12-24 Debt of Honor
1966-09-17 The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
1966-03-19 Japan's Most Chivalrous
1966-02-03 The Domain: Kanda Festival Showdown
1965-10-15 One Man's Chivalry
1965-08-25 The Kingdom of Jirocho 4
1965-08-12 The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
1965-01-30 The Domain: The Naniwa Story
1964-08-13 The Domain
1964-02-08 The Kingdom of Jirocho 3
1963-11-10 The Kingdom of Jirocho 2
1963-10-19 The Kingdom of Jirocho 1
1963-08-31 Kyu-chan, Draw Your Sword
1963-06-30 Gambler Tales of Hasshu: A Man's Pledge
1963-02-10 Tattoo of Love
1963-01-23 53 Stages of Action
1962-09-22 A Revengeful Raid
1962-07-13 Yakuza Official
1962-03-25 Lady Sen and Hideyori
1962-01-03 Jirocho' s Days of Youth: Whirlwind on the Tokaido
1961-08-26 Works of the Fish Man
1961-06-21 Jirocho’s Days of Youth: The Youngest Boss in the Tokai Region
1961-04-25 Mask of the Moon
1961-02-07 Edo Purebreed
1960-12-27 Jirocho’s Days of Youth: Boss of the Tokai Region
1960-07-31 The Man Who Came to Shimizu Harbor
1960-05-03 Runway to Hell
1960-02-23 Yakuza of Ina
1959-12-25 An Actor's Revenge
1959-12-13 Evil Man of Edo
1959-09-20 Echo in the Mountains
1959-03-10 Magistrate Toyama 3: The Whirlwind Magistrate
1959-02-04 Goblin in Stirrups
1958-12-27 Fighting Disposition
1958-11-05 Kanbei's Bargain Sale
1958-06-30 The Traveling Ruffian
1958-05-07 Fearless Opposition
1958-01-15 Bull's Eye of Love
1957-06-25 Temple of Revenge
1957-04-03 Street of Ronin
1957-01-15 Pure-Hearted Unit
1955-11-01 Such is Life
1955-09-25 Blood Festival of Akagi
1955-03-01 Casebooks of Dandy Sashichi: Blind Wolf
1954-09-01 Daikichi Konomura
1954-07-14 Jirocho in Disgrace
1954-06-30 Yakuza bayashi
1954-06-08 Last of the Wild Ones
1954-01-03 Jirocho's New Year
1953-12-15 Jirocho, the Hunted
1953-11-03 Jirocho Strikes a Daring Blow
1953-06-23 Jirocho's Home-Coming
1953-06-03 Her Captive Gamblers
1953-03-11 The Last Embrace
1953-01-09 Jirocho Begins His Roving Life
1953-01-09 Night in Hawaii
1952-12-04 Jirocho Rises in Fame
1952-10-15 武蔵と小次郎
1952-05-29 Divorce
1951-05-05 豪快三人男
1951-02-17 The Killing of Otsuya
1951-01-05 The Official And The Princess of Thieves
1950-12-31 A Thousand Standards of Stone
1950-11-14 Les Miserables II: Banner of Love and Freedom
1950-08-26 Fencing Master
1950-01-01 Sugawara denju tenarai kagami
1949-05-10 Saheiji’s Casebooks: The Purple Hood
1948-10-12 Ghosts Die at Dawn
1948-08-10 Gate of Flesh
1948-02-03 Golden Devil Part 2
1948-01-20 Golden Devil
1946-12-01 Nonkina tosan
1946-06-13 Waiting Woman
1946-02-28 Iki na fûraibô
1945-10-25 Sennichimae fukin
1945-02-22 Victory Song
1944-03-23 Sinking the Unsinkable
1943-02-25 Miss Hanako
1943-01-14 The Opium War
1942-06-11 Onna keizu
1942-04-23 The Man Who Waited
1941-12-30 A Man's Flower Road of Triumph
1941-05-21 Dancers of Awa
1941-03-26 Iemitsu and Hikoza
1941-01-09 The Man Who Disappeared Yesterday
1940-07-10 Zoku Shimizu Minato
1940-02-05 Oda Nobunaga
1939-12-14 Singing Lovebirds
1938-12-01 Yaji And Kita's Traveling Diary
1938-03-31 Chushingura
1938-03-15 Kurama Tengu
1937-12-31 Jiraiya
1937-12-31 Blood Spilled at Takadanobaba
1937-07-14 Echo of Love
1937-01-01 honchō kai neko Tsutō
1936-11-21 Goronbo-gai
1936-02-18 Kunisada Chūji: Shinshū komoriuta
1932-10-13 Banquet Under the Midnight Sun
1929-11-15 Rônin-gai - Dai-san-wa: Tsukareta hitobito
1929-09-20 Beheading Place
1929-01-15 Samurai Town Story Part II
1928-11-14 Sozenji Baba
1928-10-13 Samurai Town Story Part I
1928-06-14 Keai-dori