He often said, “If you as director try to drag an actor by force to where you want him, he can only get halfway there. Push him in the direction he wants to go, and make him do twice as much as he was thinking of doing.” The result is that in Yama-san’s films the actors seem to be relaxed and playing at what they are doing. A good example of this easy-going spirit was the comedian Enoken (Enomoto Ken’ichi). In Yama-san’s pictures he really runs wild, and his special qualities come out in full bloom.
