Program 6
Technique of Foundry: The Cupola Operation
(Imono no gijutsu: Cupola yokai)- 1954 / Color / 35mm / 18 min
Director: Noda Shinkichi
Script: Yoshimi Yutaka
Photography: Irisawa Goro
Key Animation: Murayama Tomoyoshi
Producer: Okada Sozo
Production Company: Tokyo Cinema Co., Inc.
Source: National Film Archive of Japan
This film was conceived to introduce cupola melting technique to casting technicians and to help them in their technical advancement. It offers concrete guidance on what should be done to prevent defective output at foundries striving for productivity. Features beautiful footage of the molten-metal surface that develops when cast iron melts at high temperatures.
Marine Snow: The Origin of Oil
(Marine snow: Sekiyu no kigen)- 1960 / Color / 35mm / 25 min
Directors: Noda Shinkichi, Onuma Tetsuro Script: Yoshimi Yutaka
Photography: Kobayashi Yonesaku
Music: Mamiya Michio
Planning: Maruzen Oil (now Cosmo Oil Company, Ltd.)
Producer: Okada Sozo
Production Company: Tokyo Cinema Co., Inc.
Source: National Film Archive of Japan
This film takes us into the microscopic world of the plankton that mass in the oceans. Their bodies ultimately turn to marine snow and accumulate on the ocean floor where, across vast time spans, they transform into crude oil. A magnificent cinepoem that garnered prizes in Japan as well as internationally and is considered Noda’s best work in the PR film genre.
Country Life Under Snow
(Nobiyuku tohoku denryoku dai 10 shu: Kono yuki no shitani)- 1956 / Color / 35mm / 32 min
Directors: Noda Shinkichi, Mamiya Norio, Morita Minoru
Image Courtesy of National Film Archive of Japan
Script: Yoshimi Yutaka
Photography: Okojima Kaichi
Music: Akutagawa Yasushi
Planning: Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.
Producer: Okada Sozo
Production Company: Tokyo Cinema Co., Inc.
Source: National Film Archive of Japan
A PR film illustrating the role of electric power and promoting its expanded adoption. The setting is a mountainous rural district of Yamagata Prefecture cut off by snow for long periods of the year. The men leave for the city to earn money while the women stay behind to manage the work of the household. Their lifestyle changes with the introduction of electric well pumps, and they begin using electric heating appliances to cook and heat water.