In 1950 he traveled to Rome to study film-making at the prestigious
Centro Sperimentale Cinematografico.
He apprenticed under Ichikawa Kon and consequently remade The Girl Who Touched His Legs in 1960. Ichikawa Kon's own version was also a remake based on a film by Kon's instructor, Abe Yutaka.
A 1996 retrospective of Masumura's works in Rome, Italy was attended by a bed-ridden admirer Michaelangelo Antonioni who told reporters he was compelled to attend despite illness.
