Yutaka Abe

Who was Yutaka Abe?

Yutaka Abe was a Japanese film director and actor. He went to America to study theater and began acting in Hollywood, appearing in such films as The Cheat with Sessue Hayakawa. He was often billed as "Jack Abbe" or "Jack Yutake Abbe." He returned to Japan in 1925, finding work at the Nikkatsu studio, and soon made his debut as a director. Among his early works was the 1926 silent film The Woman Who Touched the Legs, a comedy about a writer and a woman thief. This film, along with most of Abe's early work, is now lost. Before and during World War II, Abe directed a number of nationalistic propaganda films including Moyuru ōzora and Ano hata o ute.

After the war, he directed the 1950 film adaptation of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters, a film which brought him commercial success. His later films include the 1959 satirical comedy Season of Affairs.