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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. After working on Horses, what does Kurosawa spend his life doing besides writing?
(a) Reading Western philosphy.
(b) Drinking.
(c) Directing radio shows.
(d) Dating women.

2. What innovation in movies arrived in the chapter An Alleyway in the Floating World?
(a) Color photography.
(b) 3-D.
(c) Talkies.
(d) Panorama.

3. What was Yaguchi Yoko's job on The Most Beautiful?
(a) Art director.
(b) Assistant director.
(c) Head of makeup.
(d) Actress.

4. What was the first position Akira took under Yamamoto Kajiro?
(a) Makeup assistant.
(b) Set dresser.
(c) Stand in.
(d) Assistant director.

5. Where was Akira directing when Yamamoto Kajiro took ill and died?
(a) China.
(b) The Soviet Union.
(c) The United States.
(d) France.

6. In An Alleyway in the Floating World, how did the little girl respond to Akira's rescuing her?
(a) She cries and holds him.
(b) She asks him to put her back.
(c) She kills herself.
(d) She barely acknowledges it.

7. Why did Fushimizu Shu suddenly stop making movies?
(a) He was elected Mayor of his hometown.
(b) He was blacklisted as a Communist.
(c) He died.
(d) He renounced the art of cinema.

8. What is The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail based on?
(a) A Shakespearean play.
(b) A kabuki place.
(c) A Chinese novel.
(d) An American movie.

9. How did film-goers know that a particular night shot in Sugata Sanshiro was shot during the day?
(a) They saw a tarp used to block the sun.
(b) They heard no crickets or frogs.
(c) They heard lotus blossoms opening.
(d) There was no moonlight in the shot.

10. What was the American censor response to No Regrets for Our Youth?
(a) They refused to approve it.
(b) They didn't even watch it.
(c) They approved it.
(d) They trimmed it significantly before approving it.

11. What does Kurosawa blame for the failure of Scandal?
(a) A supporting character dominates the film.
(b) His plot was severely trancated in editing.
(c) Mifune Toshiro's overacting.
(d) His own lack of narrative clarity.

12. Akira Kurosawa cannot recall the name of which of these influential people?
(a) His favorite art teacher.
(b) His kendo instructor.
(c) His wife.
(d) His directing mentor.

13. According to Kurosawa at the end of this section, what is the key to getting good work from actors?
(a) Calm.
(b) Clarity.
(c) Respect.
(d) Passion.

14. Why does Akira Kurosawa think his brother killed himself?
(a) His screenplay had been rejected.
(b) He was about to lose his job.
(c) He lost the girl he wanted to marry him.
(d) He was dying of cancer.

15. What world event caused the Japanese to censor domestic film, including Kurosawa's A German at Daruma Temple?
(a) The Maoist revolution.
(b) The Depression.
(c) The accession of Hirohito.
(d) The Pacific War.

Short Answer Questions

1. What terrifying job did Yamamoto Kajiro give Akira as chief assistant?

2. What does Kurosawa blame for the failure of Sugata Sanshiro, Part II?

3. On what does Kurosawa blame the loss of so many good Japanese directors?

4. How many years did it take Akira Kurosawa to rise to chief assistant under Yamamoto Kajiro?

5. Which individual's death does Kurosawa not describe in the book?

(see the answer keys)

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