Tadashi Nishimoto was born in Chikushino, Fukuoka, Japan, in 1921. Orphaned young, he moved with his sister's family to Manchuria, and in 1941 joined the Manchuria Motion Picture Association as a camera apprentice, later being sent to a Japanese film school. After the war he joined Shintoho and worked his way up from assistant to director of photography, rising to that role in 1956. Recommended by Shintoho, he shot films for Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong under the Chinese name Ni Meng-tung, including The Lady of Mystery (1957). Returning to Japan, he photographed acclaimed horror films such as Black Cat Mansion (1958) and The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959). Shaw Brothers then invited him back, as He Lanshan, to lens Li Han-hsiang's lavish court productions The Magnificent Concubine (1962) and Empress Wu (1963); the former won a technical grand prize at the 15th Cannes Film Festival. He also won Best Colour Cinematography at the Asian Film Festival for The Love Eterne (1963) and The Blue and the Black (1966), and photographed Come Drink with Me (1966). Staying at Shaw until 1970, he shot more than thirty of its productions and in 1965 helped bring director Umetsugu Inoue to Hong Kong. In the early 1970s he formed his own company, shooting The Way of the Dragon (1972) and Games Gamblers Play (1974) for Golden Harvest. His last film was The Super Inframan (1975). In 1977 he received the Masutani Award from the Japan Film and Television Technology Association.
Nishimoto carried Japanese colour cinematography and widescreen techniques to Shaw Brothers, where The Magnificent Concubine won a technical prize at Cannes and Empress Wu was regarded as a peak of the studio's factory-style production. Working on more than forty films in Hong Kong, he trained cinematographers and effects specialists such as Wa Shan, Lau Koon-wai, Nam Nai-choi and Pao Hsueh-li, leaving a lasting mark on the technical standards of Hong Kong cinema.
Achievements
- 1962 · Photographed Li Han-hsiang's The Magnificent Concubine, which won a technical grand prize at the 15th Cannes Film Festival.
- 1963 · Won Best Colour Cinematography at the Asian Film Festival for The Love Eterne.
- 1977 · Received the Masutani Award from the Japan Film and Television Technology Association for his technical contributions.