| Giants and Toys | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Yasuzo Masumura |
| Produced by | Hiroaki Fujii Hideo Nagata |
| Written by | Ken Kaiko Yoshio Shirasaka |
| Starring | Hiroshi Kawaguchi |
| Cinematography | Hiroshi Murai |
| Editing by | Tatsuji Nakashizu |
| Release date(s) | 22 June 1958 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Giants and Toys (巨人と玩具 Kyojin to gangu) is a 1958 Japanese comedy film directed by Yasuzo Masumura and starring Hiroshi Kawaguchi.[1] It portrays the increasingly frenzied efforts of the World candy company to compete with the rival Giant and Apollo companies over caramel sales. World (under the leadership of the machivellian Mr Goda) "discovers" a tomboy girl with bad teeth to be the center of their promotional campaign, involving colorful space suits and ray guns. It turns out that as she becomes famous that she's less and less inclined to go along with World's plans for her.
The film satirizes the instant manufacture of media stars, the decline of a gentlemanly business ethos (or the tradition of bushido) and rise of a culture of ruthless corporate skulduggery, and the emphasis on work at the expense of personal life and health--Mr Goda's health has been so ruined by his diet of pep pills and tranquilizers by the end of the film that he is regularly coughing up blood.
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Giants and Toys was a story written by Takeshi Kaikō. After Kaikō won the Akutagawa Prize in 1957 (for his novel The Naked King), Daiei Film bought the rights to Giants and Toys.[2] The book was an entry in the "business novel" (経済小説, keizai shōsetsu) genre, which satirizes Japanese workers' devotion to their corporations.[3]
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