Biography
Masahiro Makino (マキノ 雅弘, Makino Masahiro, February 29, 1908 - October 29, 1993) was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was Masatada (正唯), but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including 雅広, 正博, and 雅裕). Masahiro Makino was born in Kyoto, the eldest son of the film director and producer Shōzō Makino, who is often called the father of Japanese cinema. As a youth he acted in over 100 films before debuting as a film director in 1926 at age 18. His critically acclaimed nihilistic jidaigeki such as Roningai (1928) made him one of the top Japanese film directors, but his way of shooting films quickly also earned him detractors. For instance, the total time it took to shoot the 1936 film Edo no Ka Oshō was only 28 hours.The critic Sadao Yamane, however, has argued that this fast filming practice also contributed to Makino's speedy, rhythmic film style. Rhythm and tempo are important to his films, and so in his jidaigeki, fight scenes like in Kettō Takadanobaba (1937) could seem like dances, or entire sequences, like in Awa no Odoriko (1941), could be filled with dance. He made musicals like Singing Lovebirds (1939) and even his wartime propaganda films like Hanako-san and Ahen senso (both 1943) could have Busby Berkeley-like musical numbers. After the war, he helmed such popular jidaigeki series as Jirōchō Sangokushi and such ninkyō eiga series as Nihon Kyōkaku-den. He directed his last film in 1972, the retirement film for Junko Fuji, completing a filmography that totaled over 260 films and included films of many genres.
Directed 119
1990s
- 1990
1970s
- 1972
The Shin Hasegawa Series
Director
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
Director
- 1971
The Path of the King
Director
- 1970
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 7: Hell Is a Man's Destiny
Director
Born Fighter
Director
Peonies And Dragons
Director
Woman Boss
Director
1960s
- 1969
Bad Reputation: Showdown of the Best
Director
The Domain: Flower and Dragon
Director
Brutal Tales of Chivalry 5: Man With The Karajishi Tattoo
Director
- 1968
New Prison Walls of Abashiri
Director
Rogue
Director
Histories of the Chivalrous
Director
The Domain: Severed Relations
Director
- 1967
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
Director
Contemporary Tales of Chivalry 4
Director
The Chivalrous Life
Director
The Domain: White Blade
Director
- 1966
Debt of Honor
Director
The Domain: Duel at Thunder Gate
Director
Japan's Most Chivalrous
Director
- 1965
One Man's Chivalry
Director
The Kingdom of Jirocho 4
Director
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
Director
Chocho and Yuji's Marital Goodness
Director
Irogotoshi harudanji
Director
The Domain: The Naniwa Story
Director
- 1964
The Kingdom of Jirocho 3
Director
- 1963
The Kingdom of Jirocho 2
Director
Kyu-chan, Draw Your Sword
Director
Gambler Tales of Hasshu: A Man's Pledge
Director
Tattoo of Love
Director
53 Stages of Action
Director
- 1962
A Revengeful Raid
Director
Yakuza Official
Director
Lady Sen and Hideyori
Director
Jirocho' s Days of Youth: Whirlwind on the Tokaido
Director
- 1961
The Man Who Came to the Harbor Festival
Director
Works of the Fish Man
Director
Jirocho’s Days of Youth: The Youngest Boss in the Tokai Region
Director
Mask of the Moon
Director
Edo Purebreed
Director
- 1960
Jirocho’s Days of Youth: Boss of the Tokai Region
Director
The Man Who Came to Shimizu Harbor
Director
Runway to Hell
Director
1950s
- 1959
An Actor's Revenge
Director
Evil Man of Edo
Director
Echo in the Mountains
Director
Whirlwind Magistrate
Director
Goblin in Stirrups
Director
- 1958
Fighting Disposition
Director
Kanbei's Bargain Sale
Director
The Traveling Ruffian
Director
Fearless Opposition
Director
Bull's Eye of Love
Director
- 1957
The Ornery Entrance to the Sumo Ring with a Sword
Director
Temple of Revenge
Director
Street of Ronin
Director
Pure-Hearted Unit
Director
- 1956
Kin Toyama-san's Detective Story: Man in the Shadows
Director
Eacape of Fear
Director
- 1955
Casebook of Dandy Sashichi: Blind Wolf
Director
Jirochô yûkyôden: Akiba no himatsuri
Director
- 1954
Daikichi Konomura
Director
Jirocho in Disgrace
Director
Yakuza bayashi
Director
Last of the Wild Ones
Director
My Six Favorite Men — Speedy Men
Director
Utsukushiki taka
Director
Jirocho's New Year
Director
- 1953
Jirocho, the Hunted
Director
Jirocho Strikes a Daring Blow
Director
Tange Sazen
Director
Jirocho's Home-Coming
Director
Her Captive Gamblers
Director
The Last Embrace
Director
Jirocho Begins His Roving Life
Director
Night in Hawaii
Director
- 1952
Jirocho Rises in Fame
Director
武蔵と小次郎
Director
Divorce
Director
Grease Paint Serenade
Director
- 1951
豪快三人男
Director
The Killing of Otsuya
Director
The Official And The Princess of Thieves
Director
- 1950
A Thousand Standards of Stone
Director
Fencing Master
Director
1940s
- 1949
Saheiji’s Casebooks: The Purple Hood
Director
- 1948
Ghosts Die at Dawn
Director
Gate of Flesh
Director
Golden Devil Part 2
Director
Golden Devil
Director
- 1945
Victory Song
Director
- 1944
Field Army Orchestra
Director
Sinking the Unsinkable
Director
- 1943
Miss Hanako
Director
- 1942
The Man Who Waited
Director
- 1941
A Man's Flower Road of Triumph
Director
Dancers of Awa
Director
Iemitsu and Hikoza
Director
The Man Who Disappeared Yesterday
Director
1930s
- 1939
- 1938
Yaji And Kita's Traveling Diary
Director
- 1937
Echo of Love
Director
1920s
- 1929
Beheading Place
Director
Samurai Town Story Part II
Director
- 1928
Keai-dori
Director
Wrote 19
1970s
- 1970
Woman Boss
Screenplay
1960s
- 1969
Bad Reputation: Showdown of the Best
Writer
- 1965
The Kingdom of Jirocho 4
Writer
- 1964
The Kingdom of Jirocho 3
Writer
- 1963
The Kingdom of Jirocho 2
Screenplay
53 Stages of Action
Screenplay
- 1962
A Revengeful Raid
Screenplay
Yakuza Official
Screenplay
- 1961
Jirocho’s Days of Youth: The Youngest Boss in the Tokai Region
Screenplay
- 1960
Jirocho’s Days of Youth: Boss of the Tokai Region
Writer
1950s
- 1958
The Traveling Ruffian
Screenplay
Bull's Eye of Love
Screenplay
- 1957
Street of Ronin
Screenplay
- 1954
Daikichi Konomura
Screenplay
Yakuza bayashi
Screenplay
1940s
- 1941
Dancers of Awa
Writer
Produced 2
1940s
- 1945
Victory Song
Producer
The Famous Sword Bijomaru
Executive Producer