Ogura Mitsugu

Ogura Mitsugu in 1957

Ogura Mitsugu (sometimes called "Mitsugu Ôkura") was a Japanese film Producer, Founder and Finance movie president of the film company New Toho, he was like Tomoyuki Tanaka Known for Producing Science Fiction films.

## Films

* Vampire Bride
* Hell (1960)
* Emperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War
* The Ghost Story Kasanebuchi
* Dr. Dada's Love Dope

## Provenance

Born November 22, 1899 (Meiji 32) in Minamizawa, Agatsuma-mura, Nishichikuma- gun , Nagano (now Nagiso-machi , Kiso-gun ). Later moved to Kiyonai-ro, Shimoina-gun (now Achi-mura ). His father is a wood master who cuts and sells wooden bowls using Tochi's timber, and in his life of relocating repeatedly, he said he was so poor that he never thought that he could live in a house with tatami mats in the future . There were nine siblings, five of whom died in poverty. The family moved to Tokyo , but the family budget remained painful, and I worked while attending elementary school to help this.

### Became an active movie bean

According to Okura, he "graduated from elementary school in four years" and became an activity photographer at the age of 13 . The idea of the Charles Chaplin movie and Chaplin-like makeup and costumes were used to make a prominent appearance. It is said that silent films will be hit depending on the benshi, so the benshi earned more than the star actors. After that, in anticipation of the movie world shifting from silent movies to talkies , he earned money and started to buy and manage movie theaters.

While many benshi turned to comic talk (eg, Tokugawa Yumecho ), Okura chose to turn into a businessman. Okura, who grew up in poverty, has “not used to save money”, “does not buy women, does not smoke cigarettes , works hard” to read even a minute from the time of Benshi studying to be. life by storing all gold other than need to, that which is not lowered Once loaded, that drive the soul "to the improvement of the arts have a motto, narration era, pulmonary tuberculosis senior narration of left to eat lunch myself It was the first time for me to spare as much as I had for lunch. Okura did not bend this belief even after his success.

After that, he became a president of Shintoho, and he sometimes made a famous presentation in the Benshi era, but it is said that the story was excellent. Tokyo, Taito-ku, Asakusa of Senso-ji Temple narration mound that aside, the Okura is calling on Japan movie five major companies in order to honor the allies of narration era 1958 in which was built in.

### Became a movie theater entertainer

Gold earned in the narration Meguro that it has acquired the Meguro Kinema Starting under track number to purchase one after another third-rate movie theater of form goods. Every morning, the manager of the chain building put the sales of the previous day in hemp bags and gathered at the Okura House, and the wife strictly checked the sales of one peanut bag with Soroban in one hand . Acquired Takejiro Otani on the occasion of the acquisition of the Shobankan of Shochiku in Azabu . The narration era Hollywood movies Finance through the, was initially screened the exclusive Hollywood movies, this is in a totally unpopular, put out a large deficit of up to half of the investment.

Based on this experience, Okura regretted that “If you enter the town, follow the town” and change the film from a high-class Western picture to a popular Japanese picture, and it was a great success. In 1936, when he became the No. 1 movie entertainer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Nikkatsu, who suffered from business difficulties, became a managing director. Together with Sakichi Morita of Osaka, he managed the business as a neutral entity aimed at the voluntary reconstruction of Nikkatsu targeted by both Toho and Shochiku, but in fact it was in conflict with Otani because it was in conflict with Otani as already mentioned. In response to this, he was forced to resign (the successor, Hisakusaku Hori, was in communication with Ichizo Kobayashi ). After World War II, he was banished from public office because of "Nitsuka Managing Executive Officer"  .

### Became the president of New Toho

After that, he owns multiple movie theaters and became a major shareholder of all major movie companies. In 1955, the remarks made at Shintoho's general meeting of shareholders were disappointing, and the company's president, Munehide Tanabe , welcomed him as his successor. He was appointed on December 29 of the same year. Okura revises the literary masterpiece line of the company that invites famous directors and stars from the outside, and shifts to planning first principle using middle-ranking, young internal staff, actors. It was around 1957 that the " ero-gross line" , especially the low-budget bizarre sex appeal , became clear. Although he was left by the directors and actors at the time of the founding of New Toho due to a thorough restructuring and this "ero-gro route," the management of New Toho turned into the black just six months after assuming office.

On the other hand, with the name of aiming to create a work that has topicality, we also challenged a movie in which the emperor , who was the largest taboo at the time , played the leading role. Kanjuro Arashi to Emperor Meiji the play allowed was Kunio Watanabe 's " Emperor Meiji and the Russo-Japanese War " is touted as the speculation as Japan movie biggest ever scandal of Finance, a big hit that box office HaiOsamu 700 million yen (at the time) To record.

In 1957, Okura talked about Shintoho's production stance as follows.

"I would like to avoid art works such as those that accept only a part of the ranks, and for the first time I would like to make the work that is based on the masses the fundamental attitude of the production. We are."
Okura criticized the "star system," which is popular with movie stars, and advocated, "There is no success in entertainment without a well-known project," and argued that "movies are planned" and did not give up. As for the "Ero-Gro route," he said, "There is only one way to avoid losing 100 times in a recession."

Although he is greeted by a manager who has a thorough one-man system, the reality is that, as Okura himself advocated as a plan-first principle, he aims to attract customers with the interest of the plan rather than the popularity of the director and star, making a movie Was the most basic point of.

### Sequential scandals

Okura overtook the slogan " **Ichi ni Speed, Nii Speed, San i.e. Time is Money** " everywhere in the filming studio, and he was welcomed by the section manager in black-painted Cadillac . Twice a month, we held a banquet in Hakone and Atami as a "Director's Meeting", gathering directors. She made her an actress a concubine , and performed a favor with Toshio Omi to direct herself. At the "Director's Meeting," she was treated as a geisha by saying "Pance and dance" and celebrating. He also called actresses at bars in Ginza and even offered entertainment.

In addition , she has given actresses exclusively for New Toho, such as Michiko Maeda , Miyuki Takakura , and Junko Ikeuchi , an sensational role not seen in other companies in the "Erotic Glo Line." Among the movie companies, Shintoho's box office was at the bottom, but the top box office results were all "Ero-Guro routes." Shintoho had no way to survive this route.

However, Okura was controversial because he had trouble finding his own actress, so Tetsuro Tanba , who was able to manipulate hypnosis , said he would hypnotize his daughter when he dined. In a hurry, he asked Okura to stop him, but it was ironic that Tamba was confused by Okura's public-private stance and that he would hypnotize him and find his daughter.

In 1957, actress Mitsuko Maeda, who starred in "Kinpira Rashoken", was rejected by Director Goro Katono, instructing him to "cover the hem of the kimono." Maeda is said to have refused because he had a romantic relationship with Director Toshio Shimura, but Okura was furious at this. Both are immediately fired. On September 19, this year, a police investigation was conducted on the charges of embezzling 100 million yen. Okura was subjected to severe interrogation by the police every day, but was eventually charged with no one arrested .

In 1960, regarding his relationship with Miyuki Takakura , he said , "I did not make the actress No. 2 (concubine), but the No. 2 actress." Okura's favorite director is Tsuyoshi Doi, and there are many starring works by both Doi and Takakura, and there were voices envious of the heavy use of Takakura, but no one in the company knew about the relationship between Okura and Takakura. ..

### Bankruptcy of New Toho

From this one-man show, Shin-Toho will gradually become in the red, and in 1960 plans to merge the capital with " New Toei ". Talks had progressed to the point of changing the company name to "Shin Toei", but in response to Hiroshi Okawa's proposal with "Chairman / Okura, President / Okawa", Okura stuck to the position of president and negotiations with Toei In parallel with this, Nikkatsu was approaching a merger, and negotiations broke down on November 2.

Under these circumstances, it was discovered that Okura had sold "The Second Shooting Studio" to " Fuji Movie ", which is a subcontracting company of Shintoho and is in fact owned by Okura . The labor union holds a 24-hour strike twice with "Okura retired". The president was dismissed on November 30. Shin-Toho is aiming to be rebuilt, but the succession president resigned in just four months and the confusion continued, and the company went bankrupt in June 1961 . A part of the production department will continue to exist as an " international broadcast " under Toho .

### Establishment of Okura Movie

In 1962, Okura integrated "Fuji Movie" and " Yamato Film " to establish " Okura Movie Co., Ltd. " Huge amount of money for 70-mm blockbuster " Pacific War and Princess Yuri Corps " and " Meiji Taihyo Ichidaiki " (actually, a compilation of the "Meiji Emperor Trilogy" during the New Toho period) Concentrate. The huge extras of human horses are still talkative, but the weakness of the production (the former was directed by Shirako Komori, the latter was directed by Okura himself, the new shoot was directed by Satoru Kobayashi and Kunio Watanabe) and masterpieces. Due to the absence of the entertainment network that he receives, he is in the red. For the Okura movie, the producer system was not adopted, and Okura himself read all the scripts and gave detailed checks and instructions.

After that, he went through several ghost story movies and became a company specializing in pink movies , but he said that this was not his intention.

He died of acute pneumonia on September 15, 1978 (Showa 53) . Okura spread his plans and scripts even on the deathbed and put his hand into it.

## Life

Like Okura , he was known for his personal friendship with Masakazu Nagata, a Daiei film sung by "One-Man President" . In the " Pacific War and the Princess Lily Team " ( Directed by Shirako Komori ), which was produced during the Okura movie period, 70mm from Nagata. I make this by borrowing filming equipment for movies. When he took office at Shintoho, he said, "It's not as good as Nagata Trumpet," but he greeted him at "the 5th studio, the largest in the company, to rebuild and leave it to me." It was Nagata who served as chair of the funeral when Okura passed away.

Since I was originally an active benshi and loved movies, I went to the scene in detail from planning to filming and added some checks. Especially when it comes to narration, I made corrections with a red pencil in the style that I was good at when I was a benshi. Kinya Ogawa , Yoshihiro Ishikawa, and other directors at the time also said that they were repulsed by the intricacies of the on-site intervention , but he recalled, "I was a man at a glance, but he was a movie lover anyway." No, but the person is good." Okura himself was a wealthy man, and he didn't have to force film production in the red. Regarding the opinion that Okura broke Shintoho, Kobayashi et al.'s staff at the time said, "It was one man, but in any case in the television era, the movie industry itself was poor, so it was the time until bankruptcy. Would have been inevitable with just a little growth."

Okura is often talked about by the scandals, such as "I treated an actress as a geisha" and "I made a concubine an actress," but Junko Ikeuchi played the role of a monster in " Bride Vampire " and said "Hate. for rumors that the " Satoru Kobayashi , Kinya Ogawa, Katsuji Takahashi said both the three people found time staff and" would not like really starring pay only salary if got to harassment ", which was denying There is. Ikeuchi's return was brought to Shintoho by Ikeuchi himself, and was a reply from Okura's "Iiyo."

In addition, Okura is often talked about with the image of “kechi”, but he was rather generous because of his career as an entertainer. If the movie hits, the staff will bounce 100,000 yen (at that time) to "eat something with this", and if there is a visitor, it is a rule to give 10,000 yen (at that time) as "payment". It was This custom has been passed down to his son, Mitsuhiko Okura . He pushed for the transition to the "Ero-Gro" route and mass production of "Pink movies", but among these, the basic was to stick to "popular entertainment" and always put "morality" at the root of the scene. ..

When devising a title, Okura keeps in mind that "the content is easy to understand " and uses a lot of title patterns such as "○○ and ○○" such as " military police and dismembered beauty ". Techniques such as eccentric titles such as "Kaidan Random Ghosts" and " Bride Vampires ", and " women's professional wrestling movies" that add "sex appeal" elements such as "Competitive body and red pants" Helped attract a younger audience. Dividing the title of the movie into three columns and making it look like a triple stand, or inserting a partial color into a black-and-white movie and titled "Natural Color/Okura Color" was a performance method unique to Okura. In " The Revenge of the Queen of Pearls " (1956), Michiko Maeda performed "Japan's first (back view) all-nude", which also became a hot topic.

Since he was a western-style benshi, he had a wealth of knowledge about foreign films and foreign countries, so he actively imported and released foreign films. Since he knew the legendary Russian hero Ilya Murometz, he released the movie " The Heroic Ilya Giant Dragon and the Demon King Conquest " (1956, Soviet Union), as well as the " Primitive Monster Dragodon " (1956, US). Was selected and published.

He liked to be lucky, saying, "I've dreamed of a snake , so this movie will be a hit." I liked the idea of ​​making snakes in movies, and in the ghost story of Okura movies, I always asked for snakes to be involved in the story. The shooting snake caught me in a vacant lot behind the studio, and when the shooting was over, he said, "Thank you," and let him drink and let go. Even in the selection screening of Western paintings, he purchased “Ghost Mansion's Snake Indecent” (1962, Italy, France), which has a depiction of the snake being cut. In the scene of cutting a snake with "Cruel Ghost," he ordered "No, don't cut it." The staff had no choice but to buy eel and cover it with a snake skin.

In the era of the Okura movie, the distribution budget was inevitably a cheaper B-grade movie because the purchase budget was low. Ager's purchase of "Arakure five-person pistol" (1954, US), the first AIP directed film directed by Roger Corman, who is known as the "master of B-class movies," was triggered by AIP's Korman B-class bizarre and science fiction movies are actively imported and released. Short-cutting these B-class movies, Okura made it into three pieces with his own work, and called it "World Haunted Competition" and released it with the feeling of " Show and Show."

In this way, the style of entertainment was all about "a showhouse", which was what Okura, a former and active bentor, wanted. Due to the policy of "Obon is a ghost, " every summer, "Kaidan Movie" is mass-produced as a "Noryo Haunted Contest". He also gives veteran directors such as Nobuo Nakagawa a place to play an active role, and is also training directors such as Teruo Ishii and Shiro Komori .

According to Kenichi Naito, who served as one arm of Okura, he had written a self-published Harumoto book called “Shinpeira Monogatari” with the pseudonym “Eiji Yoshikawa” . For Okura, who had no hobbies, making Harumoto was the last hobby.

## Notes

1. Toshiro was born after the family moved to Tokyo.
2. Seiji Yamada "Following a Phantom Ghost Story Movie" Yosensha , 1997.
3. "Encyclopedia of Local History People Nagano" Daiichi Law 1978.