Ushihara Kiyohiko (牛原虚彦)
Kiyohiko USHIHARA (March 22, 1897 - May 20, 1985) was a movie director from the Taisho to the Showa era.
He was born in Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture, and graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo) Faculty of Letters Department of English Literature in 1920. He entered Shochiku Kamata Studios through the introduction of Kaoru OSANAI. After working as an assistant to director Zanmu KAKO who came from shinpa-geki (New-School Play), he moved to the Shochiku Kinema Kenkyu-jo production company after it was established by Osanai in 1920. Ushihara wrote the screenplay for the company's first film "Rojo no Reikon" (Souls on the Road) and also played a role as an actor. He debuted as a director in the company's second film "Yama Kururu" (The Mountains Grow Dark). After the dissolution of the company he became a director at Shochiku Kamata Studios and shot pictures including "Aa Mujo" (Les Miserables) starring Masao INOUE. In 1926, he went to Hollywood and worked as an assistant to the film unit on Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus." After returning to Japan, he had a success with the melodrama "Junanbana" (Suffering Women) in 1926. Between 1928 and 1929, he released films portraying cheerful young people starring Denmei SUZUKI and created the forerunner of the teen movie.
From 1930, he spent two years in Europe and the United states researching talking picture technology. After returning to Japan, he moved to Nikkatsu Uzumasa Studios in 1933 before moving to Shinkyo Kinema Kyoto Studio in 1934. He released a number of films including "Nanpu Satsuma Uta" (literally, South Satsuma Songs, 1937) but these did not have the freshness of the pictures he made during the silent era. In 1949, he released his last film "Nijiotoko" (literally, Rainbow man) which can be said to be a pioneer in special effects movies and quit Kadokawa Pictures Inc. where he moved from New cinema when New cinema was unified.
In 1950, he became a visiting professor at the Nihon University, College of Art Department of Cinema, and served as head of the same department from 1956. He worked tirelessly to guide his successors, serving as head of the Nikkatsu Visual Arts Academy from 1975.
The film director Yoichi USHIHARA was his biological son.