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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 in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...
, 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 i ...
''. 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


Archive and early publishing work

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 who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...
and actor
Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor and producer. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over a lengthy career, he is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time. He often played hypermasculine characters and was noted for his commandin ...
, 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.


Film scholarship and media work

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 film, yakuza films, typified by the Battles With ...
,
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 The spy film, also known as the ...
,
Kihachi Okamoto was a Cinema of Japan, Japanese film director who worked in several different film genre, genres. Career Born in Yonago, Tottori, Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and entered World War II, an exp ...
, and Noriaki Yuasa, and actors
Mie Hama is a Japanese former actress, television presenter, radio presenter, and author best known for playing Fumiko Sakurai in the 1962 Godzilla (franchise), ''Godzilla'' film, ''King Kong vs. Godzilla'', Kissy Suzuki in the 1967 James Bond, ''James B ...
, Kumi Mizuno, and Akira Takarada. On DVD, Galbraith's essays have accompanied Criterion's three-disc ''
Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a villag ...
'', Optimum's ''
Rashomon is a 1950 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shinobu Hashimoto. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura, it follows various people who describe how a ...
'', 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 drama film, directed by Robert Rossen. It tells the story of small-time pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson, who challenges legendary pool player " Minnesota Fats". The film, which was based on the 195 ...
'' and
Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...
'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. The film stars Paul Newman as a down-on-his-luck alcoholic lawyer in Boston who acc ...
''. He provided audio commentary (with director
Richard Fleischer Richard Owen Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director. His career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. He was the ...
) for the Special Edition DVD of ''
Tora! Tora! Tora! ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' () is a 1970 epic war film that dramatizes the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, from both American and Japanese positions. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard F ...
'', and interviewed Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond for his audio commentary track for '' The Sadist''. Galbraith's audio commentary for Classic Media's '' Invasion of Astro-Monster'' was released in 2007 and nominated for a Rondo Hatton Award.


Move to Japan

In 2003, Galbraith moved to Kyoto, Japan. 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 Taschen and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Tasch ...
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 licens ...
's '' Tora-san, Our Loveable Tramp''.


Later work

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 ...
.


Personal life

He is married to Yukiyo Nishi. Their daughter, Sadie, was born in 2007. Galbraith is not directly related to Kilimanjaro Live music promoter Stuart Galbraith or former Ballyclare Comrades midfielder Stuart Galbraith.


Bibliography

* * * * * * * *


Screenplays

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


References


Further reading

* * *


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