Makino, Masahiro

▪ 1994

      Japanese film director (b. Feb. 29, 1908, Kyoto, Japan—d. Oct. 29, 1993, Tokyo, Japan), specialized in creating action films that featured loners as heroes, usually duty-bound samurai or gangsters avenging injustices out of a sense of personal obligation. During his career, which spanned the period from 1926 to 1972, the versatile Makino directed more than 230 films, encompassing fantasies, operettas, musical comedies, and historical epics. He was best known, however, for the special rhythm of his shooting technique, which was marked by slow-moving sentimental sequences followed by rapid-fire action. Makino was the son of Shozo Makino, one of the pioneers of the Japanese film industry. The younger Makino began acting in his father's films before he even went to school, and he later served as his father's assistant director. Makino wrote and almost entirely directed (after the director became ill) Aoi me no ningyo ("Blue-Eyed Doll"). His first masterpiece, Roningai (1928; "Street of Masterless Samurai"), was completed when he was only 20. During World War II, Makino made propaganda films, but he later returned to creating the sword-fighting classics that became his hallmark.

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