Tendency films

A tendency film (傾向映画, keikō-eiga) is a name given to the socially conscious, left-leaning films produced in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s. These were in general produced by the commercial studios, in contrast to the politically radical independent films of the Proletarian Film League of Japan. However, with the rise of Japanese militarism in the 1930s, tendency films (as well as any works that were not supportive of the war effort in China and the Pacific) were frowned upon or outright censored.

Daisuke Itō's jidaigeki include some well known tendency films, such as 1929's Man-Slashing, Horse-Piercing Sword. Tomu Uchida's A Living Puppet and Kenji Mizoguchi's Metropolitan Symphony (both 1929) were also tendency films, and Shigeyoshi Suzuki's tendency film What Made Her Do It? was one of the big hits of 1930.

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