Shintoho (Japan)

Background
Shintoho Pictures Corporation was a Japanese film production and distribution company. It splintered from major company Toho in 1947 because of disagreements on labor organization and management within the company (its name means "New Toho"). Toho distributed many Shintoho-produced films and Shintoho was initially a subsidiary of Toho, but this arrangement didn't last. With the arrival of producer Mitsugu Okura in 1955, Shintoho attained its reputation of a producer of low-budget genre titles: horror, mystery and war films at first, but later becoming more daring with sexploitation films. It was the smallest of the so-called "Big Six" Japanese film studios of the 1950s, and declared bankruptcy in October 1961 after the release of the film Hell (Jigoku), directed by Nobuo Nakagawa, but its last film was 1962's Kanashimi wa itsumo haha ni, released theatrically by Daiei and also directed by Nakagawa.

A company under the same name was founded by an ex-Shintoho employee almost immediately after Shintoho's bankruptcy, but this "new Shintoho" (which still exists today) is unrelated to the pre-1961 Shintoho except in name.

1st logo (February 25, 1947)
Logo: On a plain background, the raised words 新東宝映画 (Shintoho Pictures) and below that, in smaller type, 第一回作品 ("first production") can be seen.

FX/SFX: The scene fades in and out of view.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: This is the very first Shintoho logo, seen only on the first film produced at their studio, A Thousand and One Nights with Toho.

Scare Factor: None.

2nd logo (1947)
Logo: On an out-of-focus background reminiscent of frosted glass, the words 新東宝映画 (Shintoho Pictures) can be seen, set in black. Below that is the word 製作 (production).

FX/SFX: The scene fades in and out of view.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on some films produced by Shintoho in 1947.

Scare Factor: None.

16th Logo (1958-1961)
Logo: The Shintoho sun symbol is in the upper center of the screen, with the spinning white lights behind it. Below it, the Japanese name of the company has been extended to display the full legal name: 新東宝株式会社 (Shintoho Co., Ltd.). The background is red.

Variants: A variant with a black background in which the colors of the sun logo are less vibrant exists, as does a red-background variant with no moving lights: the sun symbol only has a black patch behind it. A black and white variant also exists. A variant that is completely still exists, featuring a gray background. Usually used in trailers.

FX/SFX: Two large sets of pinpricks of light rotate in opposite directions in a small area behind the sun symbol.

Music/Sounds: None

Availability: The several variants of this logo are seen on various films produced during Shintoho's last years from late 1958 to October 1961. For example, the standard red variant precedes Kiyoshi Komori's The Greater East Asia War and International Trials (Daitoa senso to kokusai saiban), Yoshihiro Ishikawa's The Ghost Cat of Otama Pond (Kaibyo Otama-ga-ike), Yoshiki Onoda's Female Slave Ship (Onna dorei-sen),Teruo Ishii's Yellow Line (Osen chitai), and Nobuo Nakagawa's Hell (Jigoku). The monochrome variant of the same logo can be seen on Nobuo Nakagawa's The Mansion of the Ghost Cat (Borei kaibyo yashiki), The Woman Vampire (Onna kyuketsuki) and Death Row Woman (Onna shikeishu no datsugoku), Teruo Ishii's Black Line (Kurosen chitai) and Goro Kadono's Ghost of the Girl Diver (Kaidan ama yurei) and Decisive Battle at Kuroda Castle (Gozonji Kuroda-bushi: kessen Kuroda-jo). It can also be seen on the trailer for Morihei Magatani's Blood Sword of the 99th Virgin; the film itself uses the next logo.

Scare Factor: None.