|
Special effects guru at Toho for more than two
decades, Eiji Tsuburaya started out as cinematographer
in Kyoto before joining Shochiku studios in 1926
as a cameraman. Twelve years later, in 1938, Tsuburaya
joined Toho as the head of their Special Visual
Techniques department. During Japan's involvement
in World War II, he worked with Toho to create
several films to help the war effort, among them
the 1942 film Battle of Pearl Harbor and the
Malay Coast. In 1946, he left Toho briefly
to work through his own production company with
Daiei, Toei, and Shintoho studios. By 1951 he
was back with Toho, and was head of the Special
Effects department by 1952. In 1954, he worked
with Ishiro
Honda on Godzilla,
and from then forth would be known as one of the
founding father's of the kaiju genre. In 1963,
Tsuburaya founded Tsuburaya Productions, which
spawned the popular TV shows Ultra Q followed
by Ultraman.
|
Monkey Sun (1940)
