Stuart Eugene Galbraith IV (born December 29, 1965) is an American film historian, film critic, essayist, and audio commentator.

Early life and education

Raised in

Livonia, Michigan Livonia is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 95,535 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which ranked it as Michigan's ninth most-populated municipality. Livonia is a part ...

, Galbraith first worked professionally as a film reviewer and long-running home video columnist for ''

The Ann Arbor News ''The Ann Arbor News'' is a newspaper serving Washtenaw and Livingston counties in Michigan. Published daily online through MLive.com, the paper also publishes print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. History Original publication Published in An ...

''. In 1993, Galbraith moved to Los Angeles, California, where he eventually earned an M.A. from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television.

Career

After graduation, Galbraith worked as an archivist for the USC-Warner Bros. Archives, and later worked at the Warner Bros. Corporate Archives before writing ''The Emperor and the Wolf'', a joint biography of Japanese director

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

and actor

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

, and the first biography of either man published outside Japan. As with ''Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo!'', the 800-page book featured original interviews with collaborators including Shinobu Hashimoto, Kyoko Kagawa, Takeshi Kato, Yoshiro Muraki, Masaru Sato, and Senkichi Taniguchi. After that book's publication, Galbraith returned to archive work, as a "film detective" for MGM, tracking down the original camera negatives to more than three dozen "lost" films. Galbraith's ''Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films'', the first English-language book about the genre, was published in 1994, and was soon followed by ''The Japanese Filmography''. Galbraith's 1998 book ''Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! The Incredible World of Japanese Fantasy Films'' was an oral history of the genre, told by such filmmakers as

Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking," Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the ''Battles Without Honor ...

Jun Fukuda was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing five entries in the ''Godzilla'' series starting with ''Ebirah, Horror of the Deep'' (1966) as well as the spy films ''Ironfinger is a 1965 Japanese ac ...

Kihachi Okamoto was a Japanese film director who worked in several different genres. Career Born in Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and entered World War II, an experience that had a profound effect on his late ...

, and

Noriaki Yuasa (28 September 1933 – 14 June 2004) was a Japanese director. Yuasa is the main director of the Japanese film series ''Gamera'', about a giant flying turtle that befriends small boys and battles giant monsters. The series was created by Daiei Fi ...

, and actors

Mie Hama is a former Japanese actress, television presenter, radio presenter, and author best known for playing Fumiko Sakurai in the 1962 ''Godzilla'' film, ''King Kong vs. Godzilla'', Kissy Suzuki in the 1967 ''James Bond'' film, '' You Only Live Twi ...

Kumi Mizuno is a Japanese actress best known for appearing in several Toho kaiju films of the 1960s and early 1970s. Early life Mizuno was born Maya Igarashi on 1 January 1937 in Sanjō Niigata prefecture, Japan. She was acquainted with Giant Baba, her jun ...

, and

Akira Takarada was a Japanese film actor best known for his roles in the ''Godzilla'' film series. Life and career Akira Takarada was born in Korea under Japanese rule, and lived for a time in Manchuria, China. His father worked as an engineer on the Sou ...

. On DVD, Galbraith's essays have accompanied Criterion's three-disc ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven ...

'', Optimum's ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori (actor), Masayuki Mori, and ...

'', and BCI Eclipse's '' The Quiet Duel''. He was an associate producer for the DVDs of the classic poolroom drama ''

The Hustler ''The Hustler'' is a 1961 American sports romantic drama film directed by Robert Rossen from Walter Tevis's 1959 novel of the same name, adapted by Rossen and Sidney Carroll. It tells the story of small-time pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson a ...

'' and

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...

's ''

The Verdict ''The Verdict'' is a 1982 American legal drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and written by David Mamet, adapted from Barry Reed's 1980 novel of the same name. It stars Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea, and ...

''. He provided audio commentary (with director

Richard Fleischer Richard O. Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. Though he ...

) for the Special Edition DVD of ''

Tora! Tora! Tora! ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' ( ja, トラ・トラ・トラ！) is a 1970 epic film, epic war film that dramatizes the Empire of Japan, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard Fleischer, T ...

'', and interviewed Oscar-winning cinematographer

Vilmos Zsigmond Vilmos Zsigmond ASC (; June 16, 1930 – January 1, 2016) was a Hungarian-American cinematographer. His work in cinematography helped shape the look of American movies in the 1970s, making him one of the leading figures in the American New Wave ...

for his audio commentary track for '' The Sadist''. Galbraith's audio commentary for Classic Media's ''

Invasion of Astro-Monster is a 1965 ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It is the sixth film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise and Shōwa period. The film was a Japanese-American co-production; it was the second collaboration b ...

'' was released in 2007 and nominated for a Rondo Hatton Award. Since August 2003, Galbraith has been a reviewer for the website

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

, where he has published more than 1,900 reviews. Galbraith has been selected as a member of the

Online Film Critics Society The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) is an international professional association of online film journalists, historians and scholars who publish their work on the World Wide Web. The organization was founded in January 1997 by Harvey S. Karten ...

Career in Japan

In 2003 Galbraith moved to Kyoto, Japan, with his wife, Yukiyo Nishi. Their daughter, Sadie, was born in 2007. In addition to his work as a cinema scholar, until 2009 Galbraith published a monthly home video column for the English-language edition of the Daily Yomiuri. He also records narration and voice-over for industrial and educational films. Galbraith's ''The Toho Studios Story'' was published in 2008, and ''Japanese Cinema'', edited by Paul Duncan, was published by

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

in 2009. Also in 2009 he recorded a commentary track for

AnimEigo AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to licensi ...

's '' Tora-san, Our Loveable Tramp''. Galbraith is not directly related to

Kilimanjaro Live Kilimanjaro Live Group is a group of companies that work in the fields of music and comedy, based in the United Kingdom. They are one of the largest event promoters in the UK. They own and operate Kew The Music, Live At Chelsea, Tartan Heart Fes ...

music promoter Stuart Galbraith or former Ballyclare Comrades midfielder Stuart Galbraith.

Bibliography

* ''Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films'' (hardback). McFarland; 1994; * ''Motor City Marquees'' (hardback). McFarland; 1994; * ''The Japanese Filmography'' (hardback). McFarland; 1996; * ''Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! The Incredible World of Japanese Fantasy Films'' (softcover). Feral House; 1998; * ''The Emperor and the Wolf – The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune'' (hardback). Faber; 2002; * ''The Toho Studios Story'' (hardback). Scarecrow Press; 2008; * ''Japanese Cinema'' (hardback). Taschen; 2009; * ''Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa'' (2017) - Special thanks

Screenplays

* ''Mifune: The Last Samurai'' (co-written with

Steven Okazaki Steven Toll Okazaki (born March 12, 1952) is an American documentary filmmaker known for his raw, cinéma vérité-style documentaries that frequently show ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances. He has received a Peabody Awar ...

)

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galbraith, Stuart IV 1965 births American film critics American Japanologists Living people Online Film Critics Society People from Livonia, Michigan USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni