Photography: Here's a series of vintage stills from Japanese film noir

Date
5 July 2013

The ominously named Project B have but one aim – to rediscover brilliant vintage photographs and reprint them in limited editions so that people can adorn their houses with images which would, otherwise, have lain undiscovered in dusty treasure chests the world over. It’s a lovely idea, isn’t it?

This 1960s collection took my fancy; the images are taken from the popular cinematic genre of yakuza, a kind of film noir which depicted the lives and activities of the Japanese mafia. The stills were hand-coloured in Japan before being exported and shown in cinemas across Thailand. I’m completely hooked by the surreal mixture of comic surprise and sinister fury in the faces of the characters. And the costumes? Who can say no to a trench coat and black fedora combo? Not I.

Above

Project B: Japanese Film Noir

Above

Project B: Japanese Film Noir

Above

Project B: Japanese Film Noir

Above

Project B: Japanese Film Noir

Above

Project B: Japanese Film Noir

Above

Project B: Japanese Film Noir

Above

Project B: Japanese Film Noir

Share Article

Further Info

About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.