Why Akira Kurosawa's version of the Tokyo Olympics didn't happen? Part 2

Index

• The wall of reality, prelude to collapse
• The bad guys sleep better
• 1216 days olympics film director
• Stolen "Heaven and Inferno"

The wall of reality, prelude to collapse

In parallel with preparations for the Olympic documentary film, Akira Kurosawa continued to energetically produce feature films. Kurosawa's first film, The Bad Guys Sleep Better, which depicts corruption in general contractors, did not do well at the box office, so he had to make a successful film next time. This is where `` Yojimbo '', which can be called the ultimate action drama, was born, and its huge success led to the sequel `` Tsubaki Sanjuro '', which was released as a New Year's movie.

By the way, Kurosawa's assistant Matsue Yoichi, who had previously worked with him, did not participate in Yojimbo. At that time, Matsue was involved in editing the Japanese version of ``Rome Olympic 1960,'' a documentary film about the Rome Olympics, which he had watched filmed with Kurosawa. This was probably meant to be a rehearsal for Kurosawa's upcoming Tokyo Olympics. When Matsue talked about the film, he said, ``In Italy, they had prepared the scenario for two years, so Japan can't be too excited about it either'' (Yukan Yomi Shimbun, July 8, 1961). However, when Kurosawa finished making ``Sanjuro Tsubaki'' and was about to start working on the Olympic film in earnest, something unexpected came to a halt.

On April 21, 1962, Yomi Shimbun published an article titled ``What will happen to the Tokyo Olympics movie'' with a photo of Kurosawa, reporting that trouble was brewing. ``Stuck due to financial difficulties/Cracks in Kurosawa's vision/Director will decline if scaled down,'' the page reads in bold letters.The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee applied for 500 million yen for production costs, but the Ministry of Finance said ``500 million yen.'' There's no need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars. A 16mm documentary film is fine," he said, explaining that only 50 million yen was approved.

At the time, the production costs for Japanese films were officially estimated to be 500 million to 600 million yen for the blockbuster films `` Shaka '' (61) and `` Pacific War and the Himeyuri Unit '' (62), and they applied for production costs equivalent to those blockbusters. It turns out. Of course, it is not possible to make a simple comparison between feature films and documentary films, but Kurosawa's ``Even the Rome Olympics (recording film) cost 500 million yen. "I want to do it" (Yomi Shimbun, April 21, 1962), and this desire was probably reflected in the budget. On the other hand, there was a view that the Ministry of Finance had hardened its stance because it had received information that a documentary film of the Rome Olympics would be completed for around 250 million yen. Furthermore, some members of the Ministry of Finance even went so far as to say, ``It should be possible to do this by splicing together film shot for newsreels and 16mm film for television'' (Kinema Junpo, early October 1963 issue). Secretary General Tabata made the following comment to calm the situation down.

``Director Kurosawa set a budget of 500 million yen for the total cost because he intended to make a good film.This must have cost about the same amount for the Rome Games, so we decided to make a documentary film about Rome. We are supposed to collect materials and study them thoroughly. (Omitted) We cannot create anything worse than the Berlin and Rome Games, so if we don't have enough money from the government, we will have to supplement it with our own financial resources. Director Kurosawa and all the other people involved are not doing this with the intention of making a profit, and even if they spend 500 million yen, they are all doing their part.'' (Yomi Shimbun) ” (cited above)

Later, materials for ``Rome Olympics 1960'' were ordered, and it was revealed that the production cost was approximately 300 million yen. The organizing committee received a loan of 200 million yen from a bank on top of the 50 million yen from the Ministry of Finance, and asked Kurosawa if it would be possible to produce the film on a budget of 250 million yen. This figure was also based on the expected amount of distribution revenue after the film's release. Kurosawa once again revised the budget, but the result was 590 million yen, exceeding the 520 million yen submitted last time. There is also a theory that he applied for an amount exceeding 700 million yen, which was increased by supplementing Kurosawa Productions' annual income of 150 million yen.

Along with the budget, another major issue that Kurosawa had been concerned about from the beginning was the number of cameras. This finally became a real problem. Kurosawa estimated that he would use 70 cameras, but there were only about 50 Mitchell cameras in total owned by major film companies that produced feature films. It was also for this reason that I said, ``I would like to ask you to do this.'' However, this assumes that all film companies will stop filming during the Olympics. In other words, he is asking other filmmakers to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Kurosawa's films.

Around this time, he was already so deified that he was given the nickname ``Emperor Kurosawa,'' but at the same time there were quite a few voices of opposition. This was true even at Toho, which was Kurosawa's junior. ``There was a strong feeling that Kurosawa would let us do whatever we wanted, and that he would only give us a set number of days and money.Although we respected him, it didn't feel like we were allowed to do whatever we wanted.'' Toho's Vice President Mori's remark about ``Akira Kurosawa Documentary'' (Kinema Junposha) clearly conveys the mood of the film industry at the time.

It turned out that it was not realistic to procure cameras from a movie company, so they considered renting them from overseas, but even though they had the equipment, there was still the question of whether they would be able to hire talented cameramen. was. Even if you have all the best cameramen for feature films, there is no guarantee that they will be able to demonstrate their abilities in the same way in competitive shooting. So, he suggested that the problem could be solved by borrowing a news cameraman who is used to filming under various conditions from a newsreel production company, but he said, ``I would be unable to do TV or general news production.'' He said that he was not treated at all. Due to these problems, speculation began to circulate that Kurosawa might step down.

The bad guys sleep better