was a Japanese filmmaker who directed over 50 films in his career. An English major who graduated from

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

in 1935, Motoyoshi Oda was accepted into the directors' program at Tokyo's P.C.L. (Photo Chemical Laboratories, a film company later incorporated into

Toho Studios is a Japanese film studio and production company that is a subsidiary of Toho Co., Ltd. One of the most successful films produced by Toho Studio is the live-action film ''Godzilla Minus One'' (2023), which generated more than $100 million at t ...

). He studied under director Kajiro Yamamoto, along with future directors

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

Ishirō Honda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 46 feature films in a career spanning five decades. He is acknowledged as the most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki and one of the founders of modern disaster film, wit ...

, and

Senkichi Taniguchi (February 19, 1912 – October 29, 2007) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Tokyo, Japan, he attended Waseda University but left before graduating due to his involvement in a left-wing theater troupe. He ...

. When the latter two trainees were drafted into WW2, Oda found his career accelerated. He was promoted to director in 1940 with ''Song of Kunya''. Toho kept Oda working as a director of trivial films that had to be made in order to keep product flowing into the theaters, but which offered little time or room for artistic achievement. His most well-known credits are ''

Lady from Hell is a 1949 Japanese Action film, action drama film directed by Motoyoshi Oda and co-written by Akira Kurosawa, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film has been called a "protest movie" which "portrayed a cornucopia of corruption and indi ...

'' (1949), ''

Tomei Ningen is a 1954 Japanese science fiction film directed by Motoyoshi Oda, with special effects and cinematography by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film is a loose adaptation of the 1897 H.G. Wells story ''The Invisible Man''. Plot In Ginza, the dead body ...

'' a 1954 Japanese horror inspired by ''

The Invisible Man ''The Invisible Man'' is an 1897 science fiction novel by British writer H. G. Wells. Originally serialised in '' Pearson's Weekly'' in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man to whom the title refers is Griffin, a s ...

'', a follow-up to his earlier 1954 film '' Ghost Man''. The only film he made ever to be shown outside Japan was the second

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

film, ''

Godzilla Raids Again is a 1955 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Motoyoshi Oda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the second film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Godzilla'' (1954). The fi ...

'' (1955), released in the United States as ''Gigantis, the Fire Monster''. Toho insisted that Oda direct as many as seven movies a year, knowing that he could be trusted to deliver them on time. He was by all accounts a popular director with his staff, who affectionately called him "Odabutsu-san" (オダブツさん). Over his entire career, Motoyoshi Oda directed fifty movies, in addition to his work as assistant director and second-unit direction on Ishiro Honda's ''

Eagle of the Pacific , also known as ''Operation Kamikaze'', is a 1953 Japanese epic war film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film dramatizes the start of Japan's military action in World War II, with an emphasis on the role of I ...

'' (1953). After directing the ''Otora-san'' series in Toei in 1958, he went on to television drama direction. He died at the age of 64.

Selected filmography

Director

* ''Ongaku gonin otoko'' (1947) * ''

'' (1949) * ''Santa and Chiyonoyama'' (1952) * ''Himetaruhaha'' (1953) * ''Katei no jijō nechorinkon no maki'' (1954) * '' Yurei otoko'' (1954) * '' The Invisible Avenger'' (1954) * ''

'' (1955) * ''Akai kanna no hana sakeba'' (1955) * ''Yagate Aozora'' (1955) * ''Masura Ohashutsu Otokai'' (1955) * ''Hesokurishachō to Wanman Shachōhesokuri Shachō Junjōsu'' (1956) * ''Ideyu no Shimai'' (1956) * ''Tōkyō Tekisasunin'' (1957) * ''Otorasan'' (1957) * ''Otorasan no Hōmuran'' (1958) * ''Hanazakari Otorasan'' (1958) * ''Otorasan no obakesōdō'' (1958) * ''Otorasan no kōkyūbi'' (1958) * '' Otorasan daihanjô'' (1958)

Assistant director

* ''Enoken's Ten Millions'' (1936) * ''

'' (1953)

Notes

References

Sources

* 1909 births 1973 deaths People from Kitakyushu Japanese film directors Waseda University alumni {{Japan-film-director-stub