ISHIRO HONDA
ISHIRO HONDA
A LIFE IN FILM, FROM GODZILLA TO KUROSAWA
STEVE RYFLE AND ED GODZISZEWSKI
With YUUKO HONDA-YUN Foreword by MARTIN SCORSESE
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS Middletown, Connecticut
Wesleyan University Press
Middletown CT 06459
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
I. DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: 1911–45 / 1
1. A Boy from the Mountains / 3
8. Allegiances and Alliances / 43
Ise-shima (1949), Story of a Co-op (1950)
III. SCIENCE FICTION: 1954–64 / 81
Love Makeup (1955), Mother and Son (1955), Half Human (1955)
Young Tree (1956), Night School (1956), People of Tokyo, Goodbye (1956), Rodan (1956)
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
The Human Vapor (1960), Mothra (1961), A Man in Red (1961)