Taniguchi Senkichi

Taniguchi Senkichi was a prolific Japanese film director who specialized in action adventures, thrillers, and fantasy epics.

He joined PCL (the precursor studio to Toho) in 1933. Working his way up the studio hierarchy, Taniguchi served alongside Kurosawa Akira and Honda Ishirô as an assistant director under veteran filmmaker Yamamoto Kajirô. The experience forged a bond between the three assistants, and Taniguchi, Kurosawa, and Honda remained close lifelong friends.

Taniguchi made his directorial debut in 1947 with the mountain adventure film Snow Trail. The film also marked the first cinematic appearance for actor Mifune Toshirô, as well as the initial film composition credit for Ifukube Akira. Taniguchi continued to direct films that blended genres, mixing action with comedy and tokusatsu fantasy.

Among his varied output, Taniguchi's most famous international footprint stems from his work directing the spy thriller Key of Keys (1965), an entry in Toho's International Secret Police series. This film had its rights purchased by an American distributor, was stripped of its original dialogue, and was redubbed by a young comedian into the comedy What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)—technically making Taniguchi the co-director of Woody Allen's first feature film. In the tokusatsu fantasy genre, Taniguchi directed two similar fairy-tale epics starring Mifune Toshirô: The Lost World of Sinbad (1963) and The Adventure of Kigan Castle (1966).

His cinematic output dwindled towards the end of the 1960s as audience tastes shifted. By the early 1970s, he had quietly retired from active studio filmmaking.

Taniguchi was married three times: first to screenwriter Mizuki Yôko, second to actress Wakayama Setsuko (best known for her role in Godzilla Raids Again), and finally to actress Yachigusa Kaoru. Taniguchi and Yachigusa remained married for over five decades until Taniguchi's passing from pneumonia in 2007 at the age of ninety-five.