Early Sound Era (1935-1945)
Korea's first sound film was Lee Myeong-woo's 1935 Chunhyang-jeon. The sound technique was reportedly poor, but Korean audiences appreciated hearing their own language in the cinema.
The number of films produced increased during the latter part of the decade. Na Woon-gyu began making a larger number of films again with significant works like Kanggeonneo maeul (1935), and Oh Mong-nyeo (1937), before his premature death in 1937.
Coming as they did during the mid- to late-1930s, sound films in Korea faced much harsher censorship from the Japanese government-General than did the silent films before them. Also, the loss of the byeonsa narrators with the coming of sound film meant that anti-authority messages could no longer be sneaked around the censors in this way.
The showing of American and European films decreased, and were replaced by Japanese films. Korean-made films became a propaganda tool for the government of the Japanese occupation. Starting in 1938, all film-making in Korea was done by the Japanese, and by 1942 the use of Korean language in film was banned.
Read more about this topic: Cinema Of Korea
Famous quotes containing the words early, sound and/or era:
“The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“I am already kindly disposed towards you. My friendship it is not in my power to give: this is a gift which no man can make, it is not in our own power: a sound and healthy friendship is the growth of time and circumstance, it will spring up and thrive like a wildflower when these favour, and when they do not, it is in vain to look for it.”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, that will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)