“There was no more Japanese director than Mizoguchi.” “His best films were about fallen women.” “His films were either masterpieces or total failures.” “He was mad for art.” These are a few of the opinions voiced by some of the actors, screenwriters, producers, and technicians whose interviews comprise this fascinating documentary, winner of the Kinema Junpo prize for Japan's best film of 1975. Directed by Kaneto Shindo, an assistant to Mizoguchi for over a decade before becoming a well-known filmmaker in his own right (The Island, Onibaba, etc.) and one who, like many others, found the experience of working with the great director overwhelming. Among the interviewees in this film, whose appearances are intercut with rare production stills of films on which they participated, are Yoshikata Yoda, who wrote the screenplays of all of Mizoguchi's major films from 1936-1955, Kinuyo Tanaka, who played the principal role in 14 films, and Kazuo Miyagawa, who photographed seven of the master's works.

(Life of a Film Director will be repeated Wednesday, August 19, at 7:00)