17 Facts About Sadao Yamanaka

Sadao Yamanaka was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed about 24 films between 1932 and 1937, all in the jidaigeki genre, of which only three survive in nearly complete form.

Sadao Yamanaka is considered a master filmmaker in his native Japan and one of the greatest talents of his generation alongside Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi.

Sadao Yamanaka was one of the primary figures in the development of the jidaigeki, especially the samurai subgenre.

Sadao Yamanaka's films are notable for their emphasis on character over action, and on ninjo over giri.

Sadao Yamanaka is the uncle of the Japanese film director Tai Kato, who wrote a book about Yamanaka, Eiga kantoku Yamanaka Sadao.

Interest in Sadao Yamanaka's work redeveloped after the restoration and Japanese DVD release of the three surviving films.

Sadao Yamanaka began his career in the Japanese film industry at the age of 20 as a writer and assistant director for the Makino company.

Sadao Yamanaka was "discovered" by the critic Matsuo Kishi and gained a reputation for creating films that escaped cliches and focused on social injustices.

Sadao Yamanaka formed the Narutaki-gumi with his friends, and they wrote under the pseudonym Kimpachi Kajiwara.

Sadao Yamanaka worked twice with the Japanese theatre troupe Zenshin-za: first on The Village Tattooed Man and on his final film, Humanity and Paper Balloons.

Sadao Yamanaka was drafted into the Japanese army on the same day that Humanity and Paper Balloons premiered.

Early on, Sadao Yamanaka had stated an interest in blurring the lines between several genres: comedy, historical epics, and comedy-dramas focusing on average people.

Sadao Yamanaka has been characterized as a minimalist, one whose style favored elegance and rhythm.

Sadao Yamanaka shared with Ozu the talent for portraying communities realistically and in rich detail.

Sadao Yamanaka was a master of staging in depth with which to relate his characters to a wider milieu in the background.

Sadao Yamanaka based many of his films' narratives and imagery on foreign films and on Ozu adaptations of the same.

Sadao Yamanaka is said to have been inspired by Hollywood films such as Rouben Mamoulian's City Streets, Edmund Goulding's Grand Hotel and Frank Capra's It Happened One Night.