Oda Motoyoshi (å° ç"°åŸºç¾©, Motoyoshi Oda, 21 July 1910 â€" 21
October 1973) was a Japanese action film director.An English major who
graduated from Waseda University 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).He
studied under director Kajiro Yamamoto, along with future directors
Akira Kurosawa, IshirÅ Honda, and Senkichi Taniguchi. 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 (1949), Tomei Ningen a 1954 Japanese horror inspired by The
Invisible Man, 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
film, Godzilla Raids Again (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" (オダブツ㠕ã‚").
October 1973) was a Japanese action film director.An English major who
graduated from Waseda University 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).He
studied under director Kajiro Yamamoto, along with future directors
Akira Kurosawa, IshirÅ Honda, and Senkichi Taniguchi. 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 (1949), Tomei Ningen a 1954 Japanese horror inspired by The
Invisible Man, 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
film, Godzilla Raids Again (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" (オダブツ㠕ã‚").
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