Night School (1956 film)

Night School was director Ishirō Honda's only film ever directed outside of Toho.[4] The film was among the first about the topic of night schools.[4] The original idea for developing a film around night schools was from Kanesaku Toda, a Toho staff member who approached Honda and other ex-Nichidai men.[4] The team got the rights to the short story by Teiji Seta titled "Mail Desk" (Yubin zukue) which appeared in the children's magazine Boys and Girls.[4] Among the crew was Yoko Mizuki as the screenwriter, and other Nichidai grads including Keiju Kobayashi and Jukichi Uno who starred as a teacher and a student's father.[4] The film was produced by Nihon University College of Art with a low budget.[4] Most actors on set worked without pay.[4]

Honda and the film's producers submitted Night School to the Japanese government's education department, hoping to secure a seal of approval to get the film approved for families and students.[4] The government advised Honda to change the title due to a stigma surrounding night schools, which Honda declined leading the funding being denied.[4]

Night School was acquired by Daiei Film and distributed as a second feature on April 18, 1956.[4][1]

The film was not screened for decades.[5] It was revived at the 2009 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival retrospective titled "The Man Who Shot Godzilla".[4] Following the screening, a panel discussion was held with Shusuke Kaneko and Honda's son Ryuji.[5]

• Night School (1956) at IMDb
• 夜間中学 at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)