Ishiro Honda. Steve Ryfle

      Wesleyan University Press

      Middletown CT 06459

       www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

      2017 © Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski

      All rights reserved

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      Designed by Rich Hendel

      Typeset in Utopia, Klavika, and Industry types

      by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Ryfle, Steve author. | Godziszewski, Ed author.

      Title: Ishiro Honda : a life in film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa / Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski ; with Yuuko Honda-Yun ; foreword by Martin Scorsese.

      Description: Middletown, Connecticut : Wesleyan University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

      Identifiers: LCCN 2017007286 (print) | LCCN 2017024649 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819577412 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819570871 (cloth : alk. paper)

      Subjects: LCSH: Honda, Ishiro, 1911–1993. | Motion picture producers and directors—Japan—Biography.

      Classification: LCC PN1998.3.H68 (ebook) | LCC PN1998.3.H68 R94 2017 (print) | DDC 791.4302/33092 [B]—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017007286

      5 4 3 2 1

      Jacket photo: Ishiro Honda. Coutesy of Honda Film, Inc.

      CONTENTS

      Foreword by Martin Scorsese / vii

       Acknowledgments / ix

       Introduction / xi

       I. DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: 1911–45 / 1

       1. A Boy from the Mountains / 3

       2. Tokyo / 6

       3. Film School Lessons / 11

       4. A Reluctant Soldier / 14

       5. Forging Bonds / 18

       6. War / 26

       II. AWAKENINGS: 1946–54 / 35

       7. Starting Over / 37

       8. Allegiances and Alliances / 43

       9. The Documentaries / 46

       Ise-shima (1949), Story of a Co-op (1950)

       10. Sea, Land, and Sky / 52

       The Blue Pearl (1951), The Skin of the South (1952), The Man Who Came to Port (1952), Adolescence Part 2 (1953), Eagle of the Pacific (1953), Farewell Rabaul (1954)

       III. SCIENCE FICTION: 1954–64 / 81

       11. No Laughing Matter / 83

       Godzilla (1954)

       12. Obligations / 108

       Love Makeup (1955), Mother and Son (1955), Half Human (1955)

       13. Youth Movement / 119

       Young Tree (1956), Night School (1956), People of Tokyo, Goodbye (1956), Rodan (1956)

       14. Lovers and Aliens / 130

       Good Luck to These Two (1957), A Teapicker’s Song of Goodbye (1957), A Rainbow Plays in My Heart (1957), A Farewell to the Woman I Called My Sister (1957), The Mysterians (1957)

       15. Brides, Blobs, and a Bomb / 142

       Song for a Bride (1958), The H-Man (1958), Varan the Unbelievable (1958)

       16. Marriage, Money, and the Moon / 152

       An Echo Calls You (1959), Inao, Story of an Iron Arm (1959), Seniors, Juniors, Co-workers (1959), Battle in Outer Space (1959)

       17. Accidental Monsters / 164

       The Human Vapor (1960), Mothra (1961), A Man in Red (1961)

       18. Going Global / 182

       Gorath (1962), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

       19.