"Ghost Story Saga Mansion"

...In 1932, she established Irie Productions (the first independent production company for an actress in Japan), and starred in Kenji Mizoguchi's films, from the first production, Dawn of the Founding of Manchuria and Mongolia (1932), through her masterpiece, Waterfall White Threads (1933), and Kamikaze Ren (1934), which earned her recognition as a first-class actress. She was hit by a succession of illnesses, including typhoid fever, pulmonary tuberculosis, and Graves' disease, but in the midst of postwar inflation, she appeared in Arai Ryohei's Ghost Story Saga Mansion (1953), which aimed to revive the prewar hit "bakeneko film" starring Suzuki Sumiko. This was a huge hit, and she subsequently starred in a series of "bakeneko" films ("Bakeneko Arima Palace," "Bakeneko Okazaki Incident," etc.), eventually earning the nickname "bakeneko actress." ...

*Some of the terminology used in "Ghost Story Saga Mansion" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…32年，〈入江プロダクション〉を設立(日本最初の女優の独立プロであった)，その第1回作品《満蒙建国の黎明》(1932)から，彼女の代表作となった名作《滝の白糸》(1933)を経て《神風連》(1934)に至る溝口健二作品に主演し，第一級の女優として認められる。腸チフス，肺結核，バセドー病など相次ぐ病気に見舞われた不幸もあり，戦後のインフレの中で，鈴木澄子主演で戦前に大ヒットした〈化猫映画〉の復活をねらった荒井良平監督《怪談佐賀屋敷》(1953)に出演。これが大ヒットして，以後次々に〈怪猫物〉(《怪猫有馬御殿》《怪猫岡崎騒動》等々)に主演，ついに〈化猫女優〉と呼ばれるに至った。…

※「《怪談佐賀屋敷》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報