Sachio Sakai
Also Known As: not available
Biography: Real name: Yukio Abe. Born September 8, 1925, as the son of an electrician in Tokyo. Graduated from Tokyo City Asakusa Technical College. Passed the 1st Toho New Face exam and joined Toho. It is in sync with Toshiro Mifune and Hajime Izu. Debuted in 1947 with Kurosawa's "One Wonderful Sunday". Later appeared as a regular in the many Toho movies. It was nicknamed "Boo-chan" by the studio associates.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Birthday: September 08, 1925
Deathday: March 11, 1998
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
The Hidden Fortress
Overview: In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-12-28
Popularity:
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Overview: The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.
Genres: Science Fiction Comedy Adventure Fantasy Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-08-11
Popularity:
Rhapsody in August
Overview: The story centers on an elderly hibakusha, whose husband was one of 80,000 human beings killed in the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, caring for her four grandchildren over the summer. She learns of a long-lost brother, Suzujiro, living in Hawaii who wants her to visit him before he dies.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1991-05-25
Popularity:
What's Up, Tiger Lily?
Overview: In comic Woody Allen's film debut, he took the Japanese action film "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" and re-dubbed it, changing the plot to make it revolve around a secret egg salad recipe.
Genres: Action Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1966-11-02
Popularity:
Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple
Overview: After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers. While Otsu waits, Akemi also seeks him, expressing her desires directly. Meanwhile, Takezo is observed by Sasaki Kojiro, a brilliant young fighter, confident he can dethrone Takezo. After leaving Kyoto in triumph, Takezo declares his love for Otsu, but in a way that dishonors her and shames him. Once again, he leaves alone.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-07-12
Popularity:
Sanjuro
Overview: Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
Genres: Drama Action Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-01
Popularity:
Drunken Angel
Overview: Doctor Sanada treats gangster Matsunaga after he is wounded in a gunfight, and discovers that he is suffering from tuberculosis. Sanada tries to convince Matsunaga to stay for treatment, which would drastically change his lifestyle. They form an uneasy friendship until Matsunaga's old boss Okada returns from prison.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1948-04-27
Popularity:
A Woman's Life
Overview: A woman remembers her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-11-16
Popularity:
Forty-Eight Man
Overview: Jidai-geki by Kiyoshi Saeki
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-06-26
Popularity:
Space Amoeba
Overview: When a space probe crash-lands on a far-flung Pacific atoll, the craft's alien stowaways decide to take over their new world one creature at a time. Soon, the parasitic life forms latch onto three indigenous critters -- a squid, a crab and a snapping turtle -- and transform them into colossal mutant monsters.
Genres: Science Fiction Adventure Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-08-01
Popularity:
Turning Point
Overview: A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1994-06-18
Popularity:
Romance Express
Overview: Comedy of manners set on the "Kodama" train between Tokyo and Osaka, before the opening of the Shinkansen. In the leading role, Frankie Sakai plays a straightforward but indecisive hero. The passengers also include the bubbly Dan Reiko, and Ozawa Eitaro as a dour company president. Based on the novel "Seven and a half hours", by Shishi Bunroku.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-04-04
Popularity:
Operation Mad Dog
Overview: Film number six in the Desperado Outpost serie directed by Jun Fukuda
Genres: Drama Action War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-09-29
Popularity:
King Kong Escapes
Overview: An adaptation of the Rankin/Bass cartoon, "The King Kong Show". King Kong is brought in by the evil Dr. Who to dig for Element X in a mine when the robot Mechani-Kong is unable to do the task. This leads to the machine and the real Kong engaging in a tremendous battle atop Tokyo Tower.
Genres: Action Fantasy Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-07-22
Popularity:
All Monsters Attack
Overview: Ichiro Miki is a child living in the industrial district of Kawasaki, where his parents' constant struggle to make ends meet often leaves the schoolboy alone. Constantly teased by a bully nicknamed Gabara, his only friends are toy consultant Shinpei and fellow classmate Sachiko. Ichiro turns to escapist dreams of Monster Island where he befriends the equally bullied Minilla.
Genres: Fantasy Science Fiction Family
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-12-20
Popularity:
Outpost of Hell
Overview: The fifth film of the desperado outpost series directed by Senkichi Taniguchi
Genres: Action War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-07-28
Popularity:
Doburoku no Tatsu
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: Adventure Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-04-29
Popularity:
Rebel Against Glory
Overview:
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-04-04
Popularity:
Adventure in Kigan Castle
Overview: Osami, a soldier-of-fortune from Japan, joins with priest Ensai in a quest for the ashes of the great Buddha. Their journey takes them to a kingdom in the Middle East, where they find intrigue and romance in the court of an evil king.
Genres: Action Adventure Family
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-04-28
Popularity:
Ôban
Overview: A young country boy leaves his village for Tokyo, where he begins to work as a stock trader. First part (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-03-05
Popularity:
The Witness Killed
Overview: Japanese neo-noir crime drama movie directed by Jun Fukuda
Genres: Action Drama Crime Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-12-17
Popularity:
Goyou Sen Enjou
Overview:
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1982-09-10
Popularity:
Sir Galahad in Campus
Overview: The first instalment in Toho's popular Wakadaishō (Young Guy) series.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-07-08
Popularity:
Godzilla, the Monster of the Pacific Ocean
Overview: Obscure French version of the original Godzilla. The film combines elements of the original Toho version and the American King of the Monsters! in a unique assemblage exclusive to the Francophone market. Released by Les Films du Verseau.
Genres: Science Fiction Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1957-03-14
Popularity:
Desperado Outpost
Overview: When Sergeant Okubo's brother is murdered at a Japanese outpost in Northern China during the Second World War, Okubo poses as a war correspondent and seeks out his brother's killer.
Genres: War Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-10-06
Popularity:
Godzilla
Overview: A re-edited Italian-language dubbed version of the original Godzilla, using as a basis the U.S. version, "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" (1956), plus WWII newsreel footage and clips from other science fiction films. The re-edited film was then colorized via a process called "Spectrorama 70" consisting of applying various colored gels to the black and white footage. The film's opening and ending also features new music composed by musicians Fabio Frizzi, Franco Bixio, and Vince Tempera (under the pseudonym Magnetic System).
Genres: Science Fiction Horror
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1977-01-01
Popularity:
Golden Eyes
Overview: A killer-for-hire gets mixed up with a cast of wacky characters involved in a gold smuggling route from Beirut to Tokyo.
Genres: Action Comedy Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-03-16
Popularity:
Half Human
Overview: Three competing parties all race against time to track down an elusive creature known only as the Snowman.
Genres: Science Fiction Horror Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-08-14
Popularity:
Ironfinger
Overview: After being mistaken for an Interpol agent, a man who was just supposed to go on vacation gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favor of a notorious arms dealer.
Genres: Action Adventure Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-12-05
Popularity:
Battle Cry
Overview: During the military phase of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Sentaro joins a local militia loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate in order to fight Imperial troops. But Sentaro's friendship with a pickpocket, who switches sides whenever it suits his needs, leads to complications that could cost Sentaro his life as they infiltrate enemy lines.
Genres: Comedy Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1975-03-14
Popularity:
At This Late Date, the Charleston
Overview: A young man gets thrown into detention after an episode of sexual assault; he soon meets several impostors in the same situation.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1981-12-19
Popularity:
Our Failures
Overview: Tells the story of Shintaro, a lawyer who quits his job to work at a camera factory, and his love adventures.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-09-01
Popularity:
The Militarists
Overview:
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-09-11
Popularity:
Zoku sararīman yajikita dōchū
Overview: 1961 Japanese movie
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-07-23
Popularity:
Chihō kisha
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-10-13
Popularity:
Samurai Banners
Overview: Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda's realm, advance the claim of Yu's son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?
Genres: Action War History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-03-01
Popularity:
Kaisha monogatari: Memories of You
Overview: A hard-working section chief, fast approaching retirement and beset by stress from all directions, joins a jazz band and reignites his youthful passion for the music, giving him a chance to set things right in his life.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-11-26
Popularity:
The Mad Atlantic
Overview: Captain Murakami takes over as skipper of the Azuma Maru, replacing the well-liked former captain. Murakami forces the crew to work harder than they ever have, creating enmity and exhaustion. Just when the ship has taken a huge catch of tuna in its nets, Murakami learns that his ship is the only one in position to rescue the crew of another ship, sinking in a storm. He must choose between saving the catch or saving lives. Either choice may mean his ruin.
Genres: Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-07-13
Popularity:
All is Well
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-01-29
Popularity:
The Blue Pearl
Overview: The Blue Pearl depicts the interplay between a young man from Tokyo and two ama (pearl divers; literally “women of the sea”) in a superstitious coastal town. Though raised within the same tradition-bound crucible, the two women – Noe and Riu – are portrayed as diametric opposites; the former meek but affectionate, the latter strong-willed but jaded by a tryst with metropolitan life.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-08-03
Popularity:
Wedding Season
Overview: Urban love comedy in which Koji Tsuruta, who works for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Parks and Greenery Department, plays love shepherd to a number of women, including his true love, Inako Arima.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-11-16
Popularity:
Key of Keys
Overview: Intelligence director Suritai asks agent Kitami to steal money from anti-government guerrillas.
Genres: Comedy Action Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-10-22
Popularity:
Big Shots Die at Dawn
Overview: An early Okamoto yakuza film, though it's not in the Underworld series (along with The Last Gunfight and The Big Boss) despite being alternatively known as "Death of the Boss." While Okamoto did not write this film and took on the project because he was assigned and "just doing [his] job" according to an interview with Chris Desjardins in Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film, he did express a general excitement about working in action cinema (which shows through in this film's energy.)
Genres: Crime Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-04-09
Popularity:
Red Lion
Overview: Japan, February 1868. As the Tokugawa shogunate declines and the power of Emperor Meiji grows, Gonzo, a soldier of the Restoration Army, returns to Sawando, his hometown, to announce the end of tyranny.
Genres: Comedy Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-10-10
Popularity:
Gekkyū dorobō
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-12-08
Popularity:
Yojimbo
Overview: A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
Genres: Drama Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-04-25
Popularity:
Godzilla
Overview: Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.
Genres: Thriller Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-11-03
Popularity:
Mr. Pu
Overview: A math teacher loses his job while falling in love with a local girl.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-04-15
Popularity:
One Wonderful Sunday
Overview: Yuzo and his fiancée Masako spend their Sunday afternoon together, trying to have a good time on just thirty-five yen. They manage to have many small adventures, especially because Masako's optimism and belief in dreams is able to lift Yuzo from his realistic despair.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1947-07-01
Popularity:
Gorath
Overview: In 1976, a drifting star named Gorath is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. Although it is smaller than Earth, its enormous mass is enough to destroy the planet totally. A mission sent to observe Gorath is destroyed after the ship is drawn into the star, with a later mission barely escaping the same fate. However, Astronaut Tatsuma Kanai is left in a catatonic state due to his near death experience. Unable to destroy the invading star, Earth's scientists undertake a desperate plan to build giant rockets at the South Pole to move the planet out of Gorath's path before it is too late.
Genres: Science Fiction Action Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-03-21
Popularity:
Ikiru
Overview: Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-10-09
Popularity:
Seven Samurai
Overview: A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-04-26
Popularity:
Throne of Blood
Overview: Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-01-15
Popularity:
The Mysterians
Overview: In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.
Genres: Science Fiction Action Drama Thriller War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-12-28
Popularity:
Will-o'-the-Wisp
Overview:
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-07-05
Popularity:
The Battle of Okinawa
Overview: The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.
Genres: War History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-08-14
Popularity:
The Blue Mountains: Part I
Overview: Teacher Yukiko finds herself in opposition to conservative faculty and villagers after defending a student for being in a relationship with a young man from Tokyo.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-07-19
Popularity:
Sudden Rain
Overview: A husband and wife's pet peeves and minor irritations escalate into major rifts and animosity.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-01-14
Popularity:
Ultra Q: The 1/8 Project
Overview: Theatrical version of episode 17 of Ultra Q TV series.
Genres: Science Fiction Action Mystery Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1990-04-14
Popularity:
Blood Type: Blue
Overview: UFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new "blue-bloods" being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them.
Genres: Science Fiction Thriller Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1978-11-23
Popularity:
Outlaw Cop
Overview: A bad cop is engaged in a violent chase to catch a yakuza boss. In his absence his wife runs away with another man, who turns out to be the very same man that her husband is hunting. Once he discovers this, he loses his nerve and turns in his badge. But the chase turns into a personal vendetta where the ex-cop plans to wipe out the entire gang.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1976-02-04
Popularity:
The Secret of the Telegian
Overview: Men are being murdered by a psycho called "The Telegian," who uses a matter-transmitting device to locate his victims.
Genres: Horror Science Fiction Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-04-10
Popularity:
クレージーの殴り込み清水港
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-01-15
Popularity:
Westward Desperado
Overview: In this patriotic WW II drama, the Japanese army demonstrates its courage and willingness to do anything to win as they endeavor to sneak into Communist China to bring back the flag of a defeated enemy regiment.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-10-30
Popularity:
The Weed of Crime
Overview: Toho-produced crime drama involving the drug trade.
Genres: Crime Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-12-08
Popularity:
The Gambling Samurai
Overview: Chuji Kunisada returns to his home village to find that Jubei Matsui, the corrupt magistrate, has been responsible for virtually destroying Kunisada's family. A final tragedy leads Kunisada to join with a band of rogues living in the forest in robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, always with an eye toward avenging himself on Magistrate Matsui.
Genres: Adventure Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-03-28
Popularity:
The Big Boss
Overview: Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead. Ryuta loves his brother, but Mineo's possible defection presents problems for the gang, and Ryuta realizes he must kill his brother if he wants to survive.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-01-15
Popularity:
Operation Enemy Fort
Overview: Soldiers on the front lines in China during World War II are besieged by guerrilla attacks and attempt to destroy an enemy fort.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-10-20
Popularity:
Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman
Overview: An American scientist tells two colleagues about the finding of an abominable snowman living in the Japanese alps, where it is worshipped by a remote tribe as a god, and how it was discovered by modern man after it raided a skiers shelter following an avalanche, killing all inside. This is an adaptation of the Japanese film "Jūjin Yuki Otoko" (1955) with added American-made footage, narration, and music.
Genres: Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1958-12-01
Popularity:
The Last Embrace
Overview: Yukiko Nogami is rescued during a mountain blizzard by handsome forester Shinkichi, and the two subsequently fall in love. But when Shinkichi dies in an avalanche, Yukiko leaves the mountains in despair and takes a job in a bar where she becomes deeply involved in the personal lives of several of the patrons. One day she thinks she sees Shinkichi alive, but it turns out to be a gangster named Hayakawa, a man on the run who bears an astonishing resemblance to Yukiko's lost love. Against her better judgment, she is drawn to help Hayakawa, though clearly danger follows him.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-03-11
Popularity:
Hangyaku no Tabi
Overview: Hiroshi Kakurai is an assassin who was thinking of retiring. He travels to an island in the Seto Inland Sea and begins to live peacefully with Shinobu, a woman he has fallen in love with, but the intensity of his love for her begins to drive him towards destruction...
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1976-09-04
Popularity:
Bonds of Love
Overview: Adapted from the Seicho Matsumoto story "Tazutazushi". Ryohei Suzuki, a manager at a travel company, is married to his superior's daughter, but tires of their authority over his life. A chance encounter with Yukiko Hirai one rainy night brings a new romance into Ryohei's life, and he and Yukiko fall deeply in love. Yukiko, however, reveals that she has a violent husband in prison - with only a week left until his release. Ryohei, desperate to maintain his social standing, brings Yukiko to the mountains in Nagano and sets in motion an unthinkable, tragic chain of events.
Genres: Thriller Drama Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-02-15
Popularity:
Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island
Overview: A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.
Genres: Action Adventure Drama Romance History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-01-03
Popularity:
Vendetta of a Samurai
Overview: The famous showdown at Kagiya corner has been told many times, but never before with the realism and intensity of this version scripted by Kurosawa Akira and starring Mifune Toshiro as the famed swordsman who must face his best friend as they are forced to take opposite sides in a vendetta caused by the murder of a family member. Told mostly in flashback as the avengers await the arrival of their quarry, this film displays true heroism in the face of fear as most of the combatants, while of the samurai class are not skilled swordsmen. They contrast sharply with the true warriors involved in this battle. Araki Mataemon (Mifune), who was not only a direct student of Yagyu Munenori, but the founder of his own sword style under the Yagyu name is a powerful force ready to assist his brother-in-law against the murderer's allies that include not only another noted sword teacher, but the deadly spear of Katsumi no Hanbei.
Genres: Drama Action History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-01-03
Popularity:
Samurai Saga
Overview: Edmund Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, transplanted to Japan. A poet-warrior with an oversized nose (matched only by his great heart) loves a lady. But she sees him only as a friend, so he helps another man to woo her by giving him the poetry of his own heart.
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-04-28
Popularity:
Daredevil in the Castle
Overview: During the raging war between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans, the swordsman Mohei (whose family has been completely decimated) is recruited by Toyotomi to overcome the seat of power, Osaka Castle. Mohei's daredevil skills will be put to severe tests.
Genres: History War Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-03
Popularity:
Blueprint of Murder
Overview: Yuzo Kayama plays the protagonist, a whale-hunting cannon manufactuing supervisor, whose brother is an automobile tester for Komatsu Motors which has a fatal accident. As his brother investigates the "Accident" with his old college friend (makoto Sato), now a reporter... They stumble across murder, espionage and cover-ups. High-class night club, femme fatale, and a "Blueprint of Murder" all adds up to a bigger plot then first expected.
Genres: Action Crime Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-03
Popularity:
Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
Overview: During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.
Genres: Science Fiction Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-05-18
Popularity:
Whirlwind
Overview: Set at the end of the Siege of Osaka this film follows the exploits of several members of the defeated Toyotomi clan as they cope with the post battle chaos and the persecution of the Shogun's army. Five samurai decide on different fates when it becomes clear that their side is being destroyed. One wants to attack the enemy head on in a final honorable death. Another decides to commit hari-kiri but wants to find a glorious view to do it. His close friend, the "coward", just wants to run and give up the life of a samurai. The final two set their own castle on fire to garner favors from the enemy and therefore avert their own death during the massacre of all defeated soldiers as
Genres: History Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-07-26
Popularity:
The Underworld
Overview: Yakuza boss Furuya leans more and more on his protege Takao Shoji, though Shoji has become romantically involved with Furuya's mistress, Natsue. Furuya himself has fallen in love, with a nurse after his recent hospital stay. As the gang grows more jealous of the favoritism Furuya shows Shoji, they decide to reveal Shoji's relationship with Natsue. But Furuya's affection for Shoji cannot be easily destroyed, even in the gang war that erupts.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-02-26
Popularity:
Pride of the Campus
Overview: Young Yuichi (Kayama) romances Sumiko (Hoshi) while helping out at his family's restaurant, singing in a band, and preparing for an important boxing tournament.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-02-10
Popularity:
Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally
Overview: Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.
Genres: Action Drama Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1989-02-04
Popularity:
The Retreat from Kiska
Overview: In 1943, the Aleutian island of Kiska was fortified by a small contingent of Japanese soldiers. When word arrived of an impending attack by an overwhelming force of Americans, the Japanese Navy attempted one of the most daring and unlikely evacuations in military history. This is that story.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-07-04
Popularity:
Rise Against the Sword
Overview: Farmer Abare Goemon is confronted by brigand-like samurai. He raises an army of farmers to fight them and does so brilliantly. When Lord Asakura sees the success Goemon has achieved, he attempts to recruit him to fight in a conflict between Asakura and another clan. Goemon refuses, and Lord Asakura sets out to destroy him.
Genres: History Action War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-11-25
Popularity:
The Woman Who Touched the Legs
Overview: A screwball tale of a suspected “lady thief” and the detective who is on her trail, following her from Osaka to her home village, where she is going to hold a memorial service for her father. Of course, the detective falls in love with his prey.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-11-02
Popularity:
The Vampire Doll
Overview: A young man goes missing after visiting his girlfriend's isolated country home. His sister and her boyfriend trace him to the creepy mansion, but their search becomes perilous when they uncover a gruesome family history.
Genres: Horror Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-07-04
Popularity:
Legacy of the 500,000
Overview: During World War II, Japan sends gold to the Phillipines. After the war, the gold is lost in the bay of Manille. Former soldier Takeichi Matsuo is now working as a business executive. He meets Mintsura Gunji, the boss of a large company, who offers him to go to the Philippines and bring back the gold.
Genres: Adventure Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-04-18
Popularity:
The Hotelman's Holiday
Overview: A longtime hotel employee (Morishige) struggles to bring his old-fashioned ryokan in line with postwar Japanese business practices.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-07-12
Popularity:
The Killing Bottle
Overview: In Hong Kong an International Secret Police (ISP) Agent is murdered while investigating ZZZ, a group bent on assassinating the Prime Minister of Buddhabal. ISP Agents Carter and Kitami are assigned to the case. When the Prime Minister arrives in Tokyo for a friendship visit, Carter and Kitami are on hand to protect him. On hand, too, are assorted ZZZ blackguards. Several attempts on the Prime Minister's life fail, until finally the ZZZ introduces a new device designed to eliminate not only the Prime Minister but the ISP Agents as well: THE KILLING BOTTLE, then, is a pocket-sized container filled with a substance that can expand to thousands of times its size and throttle its victim, then disappear leaving only the corpse.
Genres: Action Comedy Adventure Science Fiction
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-02-11
Popularity:
Jirocho's New Year
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-01-03
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Jirocho Begins His Roving Life
Overview: Jirocho the gambler hits the road.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-01-09
Popularity:
Last of the Wild Ones
Overview: A legendary gangster raises himself out of a small town and gathers followers on his rise to power.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-06-08
Popularity:
The Man Who Came to Port
Overview: An Ishiro Honda film.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-11-27
Popularity:
Song for a Bride
Overview: An Ishiro Honda film.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-02-11
Popularity:
The Story of Iron Arm Inao
Overview: An Ishiro Honda film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-03-21
Popularity:
A Man in Red
Overview: Takashi, who took the blame when his father shot a gangster, returns home after serving a four-year sentence, only to find it infested with yakuza running a dope ring. Battling gangsters all the way, Takashi searches for his former girlfriend, now a drug addict.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-09-12
Popularity:
Chûshingura
Overview: After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
Genres: History Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-11-03
Popularity:
Saga of the Vagabonds
Overview: Lord Taro must deliver a money chest but is robbed by brigands led by Jibu. One of Jibu's men, Rokuro, steals the money from Jibu, but after meeting and befriending Taro, Rokuro decides to return the money to Taro. But Taro's unscrupulous brother Jiro falsely accuse Taro of the theft, and Taro reactively joins the outlaw band and encourages them to steal from the nobles and give to the poor.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-08-09
Popularity:
Lupin the Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy
Overview: The Maccherone organization is out to get a priceless national treasure. But when they see third-generation cat-burglar Lupin as an obstacle, countless assassins are sent to kill him on sight and kidnap his girl Fujiko! Can Lupin get the loot before the Maccherone gang, rescue Fujiko, and stay alive at the same time?
Genres: Action Comedy Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1974-08-03
Popularity:
All About Marriage
Overview: Ultra-perky model likes single freedom but feels ryosai kenbo ("good wife, wise mother") pressure, exemplified by her bored-to-tears sister.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-05-26
Popularity:
The Paradise Island Story
Overview: Musical-comedy about nine soldiers deserted on an island in South Pacific.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-01-29
Popularity:
Secret Agreement: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secret Leak Incident
Overview: TV film about the "Nishiyama Incident", a scandal surrounding the 1972 return of Okinawa to Japan. Produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of TV Asahi in 1978 and released theatrically by Office Henmi in 1988.
Genres: TV Movie
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1988-06-11
Popularity:
Konto 55: Grandson of a Ninja
Overview: A Toho film featuring the comedy duo Konto 55, (コント55号), comprised of comedians Kinichi Hagimoto and Jiro Sakagami.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-10-10
Popularity:
Sazae-san Sequel
Overview: An adaptation of the popular Sazae-San comic strip.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-04-09
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Konto 55: Mankind's Weaknesses
Overview: A Toho film featuring the comedy duo Konto 55, (コント55号), comprised of comedians Kinichi Hagimoto and Jiro Sakagami.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-08-13
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The Eagle of the Pacific
Overview: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-10-21
Popularity:
Forbidden Path
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-07-08
Popularity:
A Man Among Men
Overview: Gangsters Ken and Maki are rivals in the ticket-scalping game. They make an uneasy truce, but Ken wrecks the truce by agreeing to fix a boxing match in which Maki has an interest in one of the fighters. After a terrible brawl, the two gangsters discover that they have both been played for suckers by their bosses. They join forces to turn the tables on the bosses.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-01-03
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The Dangerous Kiss
Overview: Starring Akira Takarada as a lightweight boxing champion.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-06-26
Popularity:
Girls in the Orchard
Overview: Girls in the Orchard (1953) is about tension between the life of a family in a rural area with all the traditions (continuing family business, taking care of the land)-- and the modernity and lure of a life in the city.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-09-15
Popularity:
Elegy
Overview: Wataru Naohiko who has the prosecutor general as his father became a young composer and its symphony "saint" invoked the world echoed. But his disciple Uchiyama and his best friend prosecutor Daisuke Toki accused his music as a sesame of pause-only technique, not a truly heart-hungry art.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-02-22
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Five Gents' Trick Book
Overview: The 22nd film in the Shacho comedy series.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-01-03
Popularity:
The Young Ace in Hawaii
Overview: Fourth entry in Toho's Wakadaishō series directed by Jun Fukuda and released on a simultaneous screening with Matango. Filmed on location in Hawaii.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-08-11
Popularity:
The Last Gunfight
Overview: Japanese police detective Saburo Fujioka is suspected of corruption, demoted, and sent to the city of Kojin. Kojin is the scene of fierce fighting between rival gangs. Fujioka is assigned to investigate the death of the wife of gangster Tetsuo Maruyama of the Kozuka gang, probably at the hands of one of the Oka gang. During a gang gunfight, Maruyama is rescued by Detective Fujioka and the two become friends. But Maruyama insists on avenging his wife's murder, even if it means conflict with his new friend.
Genres: Thriller Crime Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-01-03
Popularity:
I Want to Be a Shellfish
Overview: On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-04-12
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Japan's Longest Day
Overview: Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.
Genres: Drama History War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-08-03
Popularity:
Mr. Lucky
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-02-02
Popularity:
Tokyo Sweetheart
Overview: Following the Second World War, the lives of various people in a poverty-stricken area of Tokyo are entertwined. Pachinko parlor girls, shoeshine boys, a maker of costume jewelry, and a streetcorner artist all struggle to make their livings and to find happiness in difficult surroundings.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-07-15
Popularity:
The Skin of the South
Overview: When a group of young geologists declares a mountainside marked for residential development unstable, they are met with scorn on two fronts. On one end, they must contend with the local villagers who balk at the prospect of relocation; on the other, they face the ambitions of the headstrong lumber baron, whose actions will only further destabilize the land. Their pleas for reason ignored, the scientists can do little but observe as nature runs its inevitable course.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-02-28
Popularity:
Garakuta
Overview: 1964 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-08-01
Popularity:
Zoku izuko e
Overview: Sequel to "真実の愛情を求めて 何処へ" (1954). A coming-of-age drama adapted from the novel by Yojiro Ishizaka.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-04-12
Popularity:
Even The Mighty Shed Tears
Overview: After Ryusaku Nishikawa and his girlfriend Katsuko are attacked by a gang, he trains in karate to seek revenge. Years later, Ryusaku is a skilled martial artist preparing for an inter-school match, but his past resurfaces when Katsuko, now involved with the gang, brings tragedy. In a final confrontation, Ryusaku faces the gang and finds redemption through his karate, with the support of his friends.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-10-27
Popularity:
Different Sons
Overview: In the middle of the period of high economic growth in Japan, a family is thrown into disarray over work, money, and romance. Their father's sudden unemployment later in life causes friction among the siblings of the Akagi family. Kensuke, a salaryman at a top company, refuses to support his parents while his brother, Shoji, determines to care for them despite only working as a taxi driver. The concern over money affects Noriko's own love life as she courts a wealthy salaryman to the chagrin of her mechanic boyfriend.
Genres: Drama Family
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-11-12
Popularity:
Aces Wild
Overview: Keisuke Morita, a man with dark glasses standing on the Shibaura pier, a descendant of an illegitimate descendant left behind in Osaka and a brother of the Otorigumi, returned from South America for the first time in 15 years. When he stepped on the soil of his native land, his first thought was to visit Otanuki Fudo, the guardian deity of the Otorigumi, but the Otorigumi had fallen and Otanuki Fudo was on the verge of eviction for the construction of an expressway. Keisuke and Joji put on the striped suits left to them by their late boss, and set out to rebuild the clan...
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-09
Popularity:
The Maiden Courtesan
Overview: Period romantic drama.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-01-22
Popularity: