Yoshimitsu Banno

Production

Yoshimitsu Banno

Born — Died

1931-03-30 — 2017-05-07

Place of birth

Imabari, Ehime, Shikoku, Japan

Known for

Production

Credits

9 titles

Yoshimitsu Banno was a Japanese director, writer, and producer best known for his film, Godzilla vs. Hedorah. Banno joined Toho in 1955, studying under directors such as Mikio Naruse, Kengo Furusawa and Seiji Maruyama. He would begin his career as an assistant director under Akira Kurosawa. Banno would be instrumental in the revival of Godzilla at Legendary Pictures. He would serve as an executive producer for Legendary's Godzilla (2014), and following his death in 2017, received posthumous credits as an executive producer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Known for

Godzilla vs. Hedorah poster
6.8

An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, neither humanity nor Godzilla may be able to defeat this toxic menace.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

1971

Prophecies of Nostradamus poster
5.7

Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. The film sparked controversy in Japan and was subsequently pulled out of circulation, with no official video release of the uncut film.

Prophecies of Nostradamus

1974

Techno Police 21C poster
6.3

The year is 2001 and the criminals have taken over Centinel City. The Police have lost control. The citizens are terrified... and no one can stop the madness. Even the Techno Police, a special anti-crime squad, find the situation hopeless until a wise cracking cop with an uncanny knack for out-guessing the criminals joins the force. When a powerful experiment tank is hijacked, the Techno Police and their newest recruit go to work. Equipped with an ultra-sonic car and crime-fighting Technoids, the rookie cop sets out on a death defying high-speed chase through the streets... trying to capture the crooks and trying to stay alive. But no one is aware of the awesome powers about to be unleashed.

Techno Police 21C

1982

Satan's Creature poster
NR

One day, a shrimp fisherman catches a large tadpole. Dr. Yano discovers that the captured animal is not a tadpole, but a life form that originated in some chemical way in the polluted water of the bay. During experiments, the tadpole grows very rapidly and escapes, returning to the polluted water of the bay and growing into a monster. There happens to be another monster in the bay: Godzilla, in which the tadpole Hedra engages in a fight with.

Satan's Creature

1972

The Wizard of Oz poster
6.5

An animated version of the classic story of a young farm-girl who is transported to the magical land of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz

1982

The Last Days of Planet Earth poster
NR

Dr. Nishiyama has to combat increasingly bizarre events on which seem all too familiar to the French prophet Nostradamus's predictions.

The Last Days of Planet Earth

1981

Behind the camera

Godzilla vs. Hedorah poster
6.8

An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, neither humanity nor Godzilla may be able to defeat this toxic menace.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

1971

Godzilla vs. Hedorah poster
6.8

An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, neither humanity nor Godzilla may be able to defeat this toxic menace.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

1971

Prophecies of Nostradamus poster
5.7

Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. The film sparked controversy in Japan and was subsequently pulled out of circulation, with no official video release of the uncut film.

Prophecies of Nostradamus

1974

Techno Police 21C poster
6.3

The year is 2001 and the criminals have taken over Centinel City. The Police have lost control. The citizens are terrified... and no one can stop the madness. Even the Techno Police, a special anti-crime squad, find the situation hopeless until a wise cracking cop with an uncanny knack for out-guessing the criminals joins the force. When a powerful experiment tank is hijacked, the Techno Police and their newest recruit go to work. Equipped with an ultra-sonic car and crime-fighting Technoids, the rookie cop sets out on a death defying high-speed chase through the streets... trying to capture the crooks and trying to stay alive. But no one is aware of the awesome powers about to be unleashed.

Techno Police 21C

1982

Satan's Creature poster
NR

One day, a shrimp fisherman catches a large tadpole. Dr. Yano discovers that the captured animal is not a tadpole, but a life form that originated in some chemical way in the polluted water of the bay. During experiments, the tadpole grows very rapidly and escapes, returning to the polluted water of the bay and growing into a monster. There happens to be another monster in the bay: Godzilla, in which the tadpole Hedra engages in a fight with.

Satan's Creature

1972

Satan's Creature poster
NR

One day, a shrimp fisherman catches a large tadpole. Dr. Yano discovers that the captured animal is not a tadpole, but a life form that originated in some chemical way in the polluted water of the bay. During experiments, the tadpole grows very rapidly and escapes, returning to the polluted water of the bay and growing into a monster. There happens to be another monster in the bay: Godzilla, in which the tadpole Hedra engages in a fight with.

Satan's Creature

1972

The Wizard of Oz poster
6.5

An animated version of the classic story of a young farm-girl who is transported to the magical land of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz

1982

The Last Days of Planet Earth poster
NR

Dr. Nishiyama has to combat increasingly bizarre events on which seem all too familiar to the French prophet Nostradamus's predictions.

The Last Days of Planet Earth

1981

Cruel Famine Continent poster
NR

Cruel Famine Continent documents the Great Sahelian drought in West Africa and its effect on the people. The production was an attempt to pivot Toei's output from yakuza films and Toei Porn towards "global issues" and "whatever makes money", as stated by then-Toei president Shigeru Okada. Theatrical proceeds were to be shared as relief funds through the Japanese Red Cross, though the box office returns are unknown. Footage shot for the documentary by Yoshimitsu Banno would later be reused in the 1974 Toho production Prophecies of Nostradamus.

Cruel Famine Continent

1973