japanese
Kamei Fumio Retrospective [Pre-War Works]

Shape without Shape

(“Sugata naki sugata”)
- 1935 / B&W / 16mm / 29 min

Editing: Kamei Fumio
Music: Fukai Shiro
Presented by Tokyo Dento
Production Company: P.C.L.
Source: National Film Center

Made as a promotional film for the 50th anniversary of the Tokyo Dento. After the title “This brave figure! A cultural warrior who has lost the battle between tradition and modernity!” appears on the screen in apparent homage to Eisenstein’s The General Line (1929), an old steam locomotive leaves, and a new electric locomotive runs by valiantly. First, a hydroelectric power plant is introduced. Then, after beautiful winter views of the Mt. Fuji area, the origin of the water for hydroelectric power, we are introduced to a thermal electric power station which supplements electric power demand. The construction of Oigawa Power Station and the illumination of places like a stadium, a stage and a movie theater which consume generous amounts of electricity are also introduced. This film preaches that to create and use the invisible figure of electricity is impossible without the efforts of linesmen who check the facilities in the heavy snow. A PR film which ends this way is unthinkable today, but this one finishes with the scene of a linesman falling in the snow.



• Kamei Fumio Retrospective [Pre-War Works] Hiking Song | Shape without Shape | An Introduction to Radio: The Audience | School Broadcasting | The Geology of Fuji | Airspace [Pre-War Documentary Films] Shanghai | Peking | Fighting Soldiers | Kobayashi Issa [Post-War Documentary Films] A Japanese Tragedy | Children of the Base | The People of Sunagawa | Wheat Will Never Fall | Still It’s Good to Live | Record of Blood: Sunagawa | The World Is Terrified: The Reality of the “Ash of Death” | Living in a Rough Sea | Fluttering Pigeons | Voice of Hiroshima | Men Are All Brothers | Towards a World without Arms | All Must Live: People, Insects and Birds | All Living Things Are Friends—Lullabies of Birds, Insects and Fish [Feature Films] War and Peace | A Woman’s Life | Become a Mother, Become a Woman | Woman Walking Alone on the Earth [PR and Educational Films] Poem of Life | Invitation to Japanese Architecture | Penmanship | Quiet Construction Methods | Living with Ideas: A Profile of Sharp | Let’s Weave a Rainbow | Hong Kong, Taipei | Norihei Travel Manners | The Southern Cross Is Calling | Wishing for Tomorrow’s Happiness [Other Works] Underwear Makes the Woman | The Models and the Photographer | Kamei on Kamei: A Record of Yesterday’s Film Production Discussion Group | Human Conceit: The World of Director Kamei Fumio