The Benshi Track: Mizoguchi Kenji's The Downfall of Osen and the Sound Transition

Abstract

Drawing on production memos, film magazines, and censorship records, this essay locates the formative moment of Mizoguchi's style within the sound transition. The Downfall of Osen , with the benshi (film lecturer) narration recorded on its soundtrack, weaved the transformation of exhibition practice and the emergent "talkie" aesthetics into its textuality.

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