Daisuke Katō
Also Known As: 加東大介, 加东大介, 市川莚司
Biography: Daisuke Katō (加東 大介 Katō Daisuke, February 18, 1911 – July 31, 1975) was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 films, including Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (as the loyal comrade Shichiroji), Rashomon, Yojimbo (as the "wild pig" Inokichi), Ikiru, and Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy and Chushingura.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan
Birthday: February 18, 1911
Deathday: July 31, 1975
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
Rashomon
Overview: Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, "Rashomon" is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Genres: Crime Drama Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-08-26
Popularity:
Early Spring
Overview: A young Tokyo salary man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital affair.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-01-29
Popularity:
Turbid Youth
Overview: Shigeki Kachi, Tosuke Satomura, and Nanako, who belong to the theater company Vuanbert around Dosa, withdrew at the indignation of the chairman Hayashi and seeked their own careers in the film industry.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-09-21
Popularity:
G-Men of Japan
Overview: The investigative unit of the Metropolitan Police Department organized a special investigative team to uncover a series of frequent gang robberies and car gangs... This is the first film in the Nippon G-Men series, of which four more films were later released.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1948-10-12
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:
Kanpai! Sararīman shokun
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-14
Popularity:
Saheiji’s Casebooks: The Purple Hood
Overview: The purple hood reveals the embezzlement of public money by officials. A remake of Masahiro Makino's 1923 film.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-05-10
Popularity:
Jinsei Gekijo: dai ichi bu
Overview: Part one of Shin Saburi's Theater of Life adaptation.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-11-06
Popularity:
The End of Summer
Overview: The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-10-29
Popularity:
Mother
Overview: A teenaged girl witnesses her widowed mother's attempt to sustain her family.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-06-12
Popularity:
G-men of Japan 2: Bloody Duel at Shipwreck Cape
Overview: The second part of an action-packed action movie about the struggle between smugglers, the Japanese Coast Guard and G-men. Having caught a suspicious radio signal, the coast Guard discovers that a smuggling transaction is taking place and goes to the place. It was supposed to be a big catch, but they lose sight of the smugglers by finding and rescuing a woman drowning in the sea. The rescued woman says she jumped into the sea while escaping from a slaver's boat... A luxury version featuring the two main stars of the Toei company – Chiezo Kataoka and Utaemon Ichikawa.
Genres: Drama Action Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-01-03
Popularity:
Dotanba
Overview: Dotanba - Last Minute
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-11-10
Popularity:
The Life of Oharu
Overview: In Edo Period Japan, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-04-17
Popularity:
Forty-Eight Man
Overview: Jidai-geki by Kiyoshi Saeki
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-06-26
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:
続サラリーマン清水港
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-03-07
Popularity:
恐妻時代
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-10-30
Popularity:
An Edoite Judge
Overview: Period film about a feudal era judge living in Edo
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-02-05
Popularity:
The 47 Ronin
Overview: In 1701, Lord Takuminokami Asano has a feud with Lord Kira and he tries to kill Kira in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Lord Asano to commit suppuku and deprives the palace and lands from his clan, but does not punish Lord Kira. Lord Asano's vassals leave the land and his samurais become ronin and want to seek revenge against the dishonor of their Lord. But their leader Kuranosuke Oishi asks the Shogun to restore the Asano clan with his brother Daigaku Asano. One year later, the Shogun refuses his request and Oishi and forty-six ronin revenge their Lord.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1941-12-08
Popularity:
The Flower That Crossed the Mountain
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-09-11
Popularity:
Salaryman Shimizu Minato
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-03
Popularity:
Hail the 3 Gents
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-01-03
Popularity:
Outlaw island
Overview: The southern tip of Shikoku. This village, surrounded by a bay, where, according to legend, the former warriors of the Heike clan settled, is famous for its bullfights. Today there is also a bull market in the village, and there are extremely many people here. The black bull "Great Tengu", which Gonzo from Misaki offered, cost 50,000, but was forcibly taken away by a Bakuro soldier, who possessed extraordinary strength and physique, for less than half the price. However, the violent soldier was in love with Tsunayo, the hostess of the inn and the organizer of the bullfight. One day, a young man from the city, an Ihara police officer, arrives in the village. And soon the real problems will begin…
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-06-01
Popularity:
Ika naru hoshi no moto ni
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-04-15
Popularity:
A Man from Akagi
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-10-07
Popularity:
Mako Osorubeshi
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-06-15
Popularity:
Saga of the Vagabonds, Part Two: Forward at Dawn
Overview: Story of a bandit king part 2.
Genres: Action Adventure Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1937-02-20
Popularity:
The Naked Executive
Overview: The executive director of the «Chuo Shoji» company, Hidaka Shiro, is called a "demon of work", but the hostess of the bar calls him "the loneliest person in Japan." He lost his wife ten years ago and has been living as a widower ever since. He plotted to marry off his 22-year-old daughter Keiko for political gain, but Keiko is in love with Okuda, who is her father's subordinate. A story full of sadness and joy, depicting a man gripped by different thoughts, as an employee of the company and a father.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-07-01
Popularity:
Floating Clouds
Overview: A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-01-15
Popularity:
Zokuzoku Ôban: Dotô hen
Overview: Ushinosuke returns to his hometown to become a farmer. Part three (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi’s novel, Oban.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-12-17
Popularity:
Oban kanketsu hen
Overview: Ushinosuke returns to Tokyo with new ambitions. Fourth and final part of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi’s novel, Oban.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-07-01
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:
Zoku Ôban: Fûun hen
Overview: Ushinosuke returns broke to his hometown, where everyone believes he's rich and successful. Part two (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-07-19
Popularity:
Beyond the Hills
Overview: Story of young love in the hills.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-02-02
Popularity:
Yaji and Kita on the Road
Overview: Two residents of Edo city Yaji and Kita make a journey to the temple of Ise, as part of a religious pilgrimage, but actually to get away from their wives for a little while. As they travel, they are constantly beset by complications involving women, mistaken identity, and misunderstood events. Another film adaptation of the famous novel Ikku Jippensha Footing It Along the Tokaido (Tokaidochu Hizakurige)
Genres: Comedy Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-04-29
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:
Star of Hong Kong
Overview: Wang Xinglian returns from her studies in Japan to visit her father in Hong Kong where she has an encounter with the young Japanese Hasegawa Toru. The two meet again and fall in love in Hokkaido when Wang and her best friend Sugimoto Kanako are going on a holiday. Urged by her friend Zhang Yingming to concentrate on her studies, Wang remains ambivalent about the relationship, and is even more upset to realise that Sugimoto is in love with her fellow countryman. Feigning an engagement with Zhang, Wang initiates a break-up with Hasegawa and finds work in Singapore after graduation. Hasegawa learns the real cause of the break-up from Sugimoto in Hong Kong. A frenzy search finally leads to a reunion and a proposal in Kuala Lumpur. However, their love is doomed by a twist of fate as Wang must leave to see her desperately ill father in Hong Kong while Hasegawa has to leave for America to pursue his career.
Genres: Romance
Original Language: zh
Release Date: 1962-07-14
Popularity:
Hito mo arukeba
Overview: A drummer falls for a pawnbroker's daughter.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-02-09
Popularity:
Twilight Saloon
Overview: Set in a tavern, director Tomu Uchida depicts the joys and sorrows of the people who gather there in an experimental style, weaving in a variety of music in this ambitious ensemble drama.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-06-19
Popularity:
Three Gentlemen Return from Hong Kong
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-06-01
Popularity:
Ottamage ningyo monogatari
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-06-15
Popularity:
Yajikita dōchū sugoroku
Overview: 1958 Japanese movie
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-12-07
Popularity:
Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1
Overview: Iemon Tamiya is an impoverished masterless samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely devoted to her husband.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-07-05
Popularity:
Little Peach
Overview: Anzukko (Little Peach) is the daughter of a successful writer. She turns down each one of her suitors, until she marries a beginning writer named Ryokichi. Their life quickly sinks into despair.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-05-13
Popularity:
Assistant President
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-01-03
Popularity:
Kigeki ekimae bentô
Overview: Third film in the "Ekimae" series set in Hamamatsu. A widow named Keiko and her brother Jiro run the bento shop, "Goraku." One day, Keiko asks for advice from her childhood friends Kintaro, a textile manufacturer, and Magosaku, an entrepreneur, about a big-shot from Osaka who wants to invest in her shop. However, Kintaro and Magosaku suspect that things are not what they seem...
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-12-24
Popularity:
The Greatest Challenge of All
Overview: After an argument with his father a son leaves his home and comes back only, as an adult, many years later just to cause them problem after problem.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-08-05
Popularity:
The Romance of Yushima
Overview: Hayase, a schoolteacher, assists Sakai in editing a German-Japanese dictionary. Hayase owes much to Sakai, as Sakai raised him for 13 years after Hayase lost his parents in a war. Hayase has been secretly married to Otsuta, a former geisha, and has been unable to tell Sakai of the marriage, aware as he is that Sakai wants him to marry his daughter, Taeko. Otsuta wants Hayase to tell Sakai about her, but understands the difficulty of his position. At a festival, Otsuta is mistaken for a pickpocket and taken to the police. Because of her background as a geisha, newspaper reporters eagerly delve into her past and report that she has been married to Hayase. Unaware of what has been printed in the papers, Hayase decides to tell Sakai about his marriage. Sakai shows the newspaper to him and orders Hayase to part with Otsuta. Given no chance to explain, Hayase accepts Sakai's order.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-09-28
Popularity:
Ejima and Ikushima
Overview: This period film is inspired by one of the most notorious scandals to have taken place in Edo-period Japan. The heroine, Ejima, was a lady of the Ooku, the harem of Edo Castle in which the Shogun’s mother, wife and concubines resided, forbidden from contact with any other man except in the presence of the Shogun. The institution played a key role in the Byzantine world of Japanese court politics during the Edo era. In 1714, Lady Ejima was sent to pay her respects at a Buddhist temple in the city, and chose to pay an unauthorised visit to the kabuki theatre – a violation of protocol that was to have tragic consequences.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-10-30
Popularity:
Street of Shame
Overview: The lives of five prostitutes employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation is debating the passage of an anti-prostitution law.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-03-18
Popularity:
The Masterless 47
Overview: Part one of The Masterless 47.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-12-25
Popularity:
Morning for Two
Overview: While Keisuke and Jiro were brothers, the characters of the two were opposite. My older brother Keisuke was a sophomore college graduate, a honest and passionate young man, but his brother Jiro was only a student of a ronin who failed in taking the university and was playing. Such two people had a dream. Keisuke traveled wandering at his own trailer house, Jiro became a racer, had a dream of surrounding the world.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-04-01
Popularity:
The Tale of Genji
Overview: Genji, the illegitimate offspring of a Japanese potentate, goes by the philosophy of "love 'em and leave 'em" as a matter of course. Only when his heart is broken by Awaji does Genji realizes how much pain he himself has caused.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-06-11
Popularity:
爆笑天国 とんち教室
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-07-13
Popularity:
Shin kitsune to tanuki
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-09-29
Popularity:
The Abe Clan
Overview: “19 vassals of Lord Hosokawa ask permission to commit harakiri with him, as a demonstration of their loyalty. Only Yaichiemon Abe is refused permission, forced instead into the vassalage of his lord’s successor. Humiliated and derided, Yaichiemon eventually commits harakiri without permission. His eldest son is then punished for Yaichiemon’s suicide, and when he resists, is sentenced to death. The entire Abe clan rebels upon the son’s execution, and the clan is annihilated.” --Alan Poul, Japan Society
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1938-03-01
Popularity:
The Bogus Policeman
Overview: Toramatsu is a very enthusiastic policeman. Believing that the police should help others he is dismissed the force when his pistol is stolen while doing one of his good deeds. He saves a child from drowning, restores it to his mother, then finds that someone has run off with his gun and later uses it to kill. Then he breaks up a group of hoodlums attacking a young girl named Mieko, and the police, his former friends, deciding he has gone too far, decide to sue him. On top of this the girl gets hurt and, consequently, a child from the kindergarten where Mieko teaches is kidnapped on his way home. Impersonating a policeman he tracks down the gangsters and rescues the boy. Due to this he also uncovers a scandal which allows the police to make a long due clean up in the political world. As a reward for all of this he wins the regard of the girl but now faces a stiff prison sentence for impersonating the policeman he had been and which, at heart, he truly remains.
Genres: Action Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-04-29
Popularity:
Mune yori mune ni
Overview: Japanese drama
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-12-06
Popularity:
Chikûho no kodomotachi
Overview: A drama film based on Ken Domon's photography of the children around the Chikuho coal mines
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-11-13
Popularity:
A Spectacular Murder
Overview: When a theater producer Kurato is murdered in the audience on opening night, Inspector Kawano investigates the prop pistols used on stage, but all were fake. That same night, a dancer in the troupe went missing and a police officer was shot with the same caliber gun. Kawano suspects they are all related to a gun smuggling case.
Genres: Mystery Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-01-20
Popularity:
The Storm
Overview: A widowed high-school teacher tries to raise his four children alone.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-10-24
Popularity:
Admiral Yamamoto
Overview: As Japan joins in a political pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is appointed supreme commander of the Japanese fleet. With Japan headed inexorably toward war, Yamamoto, despite his misgivings, believes the only possible victory lies in destroying the American fleet by surprise at Pearl Harbor. The attack succeeds, but fails to sink the American carrier fleet. Thus Yamamoto must lead the Japanese navy into war with ever-diminishing likelihood of success.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-08-14
Popularity:
Fountainhead
Overview: A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-02-26
Popularity:
Shimizu Harbor Is More Frightening Than the Devil
Overview: Early jidaigeki by Tai Kato.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-09-07
Popularity:
This Greedy Old Skin
Overview: A kind of modern dress "Donzoko" "The Lower Depths", about slum life in Osaka, where a greedy widow (Mimasu) takes advantage of her poor roomers, including her own son, who makes a meagre living stripping taxicabs.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-09-18
Popularity:
Zoku shachō shinshiroku
Overview: Shûe Matsubayashi movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-02-29
Popularity:
The Approach of Autumn
Overview: A single mother from the country raising a 6th grade boy comes to Tokyo, leaves the boy to live with his uncle's family, runs a struggling grocery store, and works a local inn. The boy befriends a girl, the daughter of the innkeeper.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-10-01
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:
Will-o'-the-Wisp
Overview:
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-07-05
Popularity:
The Inner Palace Conspiracy
Overview: A period mystery in which an unconventional priest exposes the truth behind the bizarre death of a maid in the shogun's harem. Kinuyo Tanaka stylishly plays a constantly intoxicated geisha in this all-star entertainment film.
Genres: Adventure History Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-01-13
Popularity:
Late Chrysanthemums
Overview: With delicate, unobtrusive strokes, Naruse evokes both the humor and bitterness of his characters’ dilemmas, in this bleak, compelling poignant portrait of a quartet of aging geishas contemplating their troubles with men and money.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-06-15
Popularity:
Flowing
Overview: Otsuta is running the geisha house Tsuta in Tokyo. Her business is heavily in debt. Her daughter Katsuyo doesn't see any future in her mother's trade in the late days of Geisha. But Otsuta will not give up. This film portraits the day time life of geisha when not entertaining customers.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-11-20
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:
Summer Clouds
Overview: A war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns out to be married and won't leave his wife. Her older brother tries to marry off his children and hang on to/ extend his farm through an advantageous marriage in the face of threatened land confiscation and the desire of his children to get comfortable urban jobs instead of the backbreaking work in the paddy fields under parental control.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-09-02
Popularity:
Daughters, Wives and a Mother
Overview: Sanae is left a widow after her prestigious husband dies, but holds the proceeds of a million yen insurance policy. Being childless, her former in-laws have no objection to her return to her own family.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-05-21
Popularity:
A Wife's Heart
Overview: Kiyoko (Takamine Hideko) and her husband want to open a coffee shop. She becomes increasingly close to the bank clerk (Mifune Toshiro) she's asked for a loan.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-05-03
Popularity:
A Wanderer's Notebook
Overview: Considered one of the finest late Naruses and a model of film biography, A Wanderer’s Notebook features remarkable performances by Hideko Takamine – Phillip Lopate calls it “probably her greatest performance” – and Kinuyo Tanaka as mother and daughter living from hand to mouth in Twenties Tokyo. Based on the life and career of Fumiko Hayashi, the novelist whose work Naruse adapted to the screen several times, A Wanderer’s Notebook traces her bitter struggle for literary recognition in the first half of the twentieth century – her affairs with feckless men, the jobs she took to survive (peddler, waitress, bar maid), and her arduous, often humiliating attempts to get published in a male-dominated culture.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-09-29
Popularity:
The Thin Line
Overview: Tashiro coincidentally meets his best friend Sugimoto in a bar very close to the apartment in which Sugimoto’s wayward wife is found dead. Although Tashiro is not a suspect in the police investigation, he is racked with guilt and confesses to his wife, Masako. In an effort to further relieve his tortured sense of guilt, he then confesses to Sugimoto. Neither his wife nor his friend can believe that he could have been involved.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-02-12
Popularity:
Fuun Senryobune
Overview: 1952 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-12-16
Popularity:
Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 2
Overview: Part 2 starts where the first film ended, with Iemon disposing of the bodies of his wife and Kohei, marrying upward, and being blackmailed by the evil Naosuke.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-07-16
Popularity:
Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji
Overview: Tragicomic road movie set during the Edo period. It follows a samurai, his two servants – including spear-carrier Genpachi – and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.
Genres: Drama Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-02-27
Popularity:
Here Is a Spring
Overview: The story of a group of young people who organise their own travelling symphony orchestra to provide music for people living in remote villages shortly after the war.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-02-12
Popularity:
Foul Play
Overview: Private eye Bannai Tarao (Chiezo Kataoka) and his assistant Masako (Chizuru Kitagawa) investigate the mysterious murder of a baseball player who was killed in the middle of a game.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-01-03
Popularity:
Mother's First Love
Overview: A melodrama based on the novel by Yasunari Kawabata, telling about the tragic fate of a mother and daughter who are attracted to the same man.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-09-17
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:
Stairs of Evil
Overview: Iwao, , Kumagai, and Konishi broke into the safe containing the wages of the employees of Ato Industries and obtained a fortune large enough to live a life of leisure. They celebrated with Iwao’s woman, Rumiko. However, it was too early to celebrate. They decided not to use the money for six months to avoid suspicion and stored it in a safe. But one day, Konishi asked for his share of the money in advance, even if it meant receiving a smaller portion, igniting the dark flame of desire among Iwao and the others.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-10-23
Popularity:
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Overview: Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-01-15
Popularity:
No Time for Tears
Overview: Coach Shimamura of the hapless Sparrows baseball team is pleased to obtain a hot new pitcher named Onishi. But when Onishi begins a romantic relationship with the coach's daughter Michiko, Shimamura becomes angry with the young man, lashing out at him when he disobeys instructions during a game. In turn, Michiko becomes angry with her father, who becomes increasingly depressed. When a tragedy strikes the family, Coach Shimamura begins losing control of his life, just when his family and his team need him most.
Genres: Romance Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-05-10
Popularity:
The Wiser Age
Overview: Drama about the lives of the five daughters and daughter-in-law of a store owner.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-14
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:
Moment of Terror
Overview: When an only child is struck by a car and dies, the child's mother seeks vengeance against the driver in this thrilling drama. The car was driven by the wife of a company president who is having an affair. The woman's husband manages to buy silence about the incident, but the victim's mother discovers the identity of the driver. After she secures a job in the home of the company president and his philandering spouse, the woman plans to murder the couple's son when he reaches the age of her late son.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-04-16
Popularity:
Nonsense Boys
Overview: Japanese comedy film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-06-01
Popularity:
Nippon Paradise
Overview: Japanese comedy film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-10-04
Popularity:
Bright Young Maidens
Overview: In order to get Kanako (Izumi Yukimura) married, her mother places a rental listing in the student medical school newsletter and attempts to find a suitable lodger who will catch the eye of her daughter.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-10-07
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:
Once a Rainy Day
Overview: Former playmates (Naito and Tamura), both long ago abandoned by their parents, recall their youth and fall in love.
Genres: Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-10-01
Popularity:
Two in the Shadow
Overview: A man is involved in a fatal car accident, and though he is blameless, his company transfers him to a remote branch in a small town. Before he leaves, he gives the man's widow a large sum of money that she uses to move back to her hometown.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-11-18
Popularity:
Snow in the South Seas
Overview: Japanese soldiers stranded in Manokwari, New Guinea, improvise a theater play to keep their spirits up and endure the extremely difficult conditions.
Genres: Comedy Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-09-29
Popularity:
A Night in Hong Kong
Overview: Romantic melodrama set in contemporary Hong Kong, Japan and Laos. Hiroshi Tanaka (Takarada) is a Japanese journalist on assignment in Hong Kong who meets and falls in love with Wu Li Hung (Ming). He proposes to Wu Li but she rejects him because of her distaste for mixed marriages (her mother was Japanese but deserted her family and returned to Japan during WWII). Tanaka locates Wu Li’s mother and unsuccessfully tries to reunite them, but eventually Wu Li accepts his proposal. A joyous Tanaka flies off to Laos to finish an assignment but on the eve of his wedding he is killed there.
Genres: Romance
Original Language: zh
Release Date: 1961-07-01
Popularity:
The Night before Pearl Harbor
Overview: The last film in the series brings the tale to the doorstep of Pacific War, with the planning of the bombing of Pearl Harbor dominant in Nakano Spy School.
Genres: Action War Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-03-09
Popularity:
Secret Assignment
Overview: In the fourth film of series, Secret Assignment, Raizo again plays the Jiro Shiina. This time he's out to discover who is spying for the British in the Foreign Ministry, under the code name “Cat's Eye”.
Genres: Action War Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-06-17
Popularity:
Assignment Dragon No. 3
Overview: In late 1940 the Japanese were anxious to conclude peace in China and to that end sent Colonel Hidaka to inaugurate negotiations. He was mysteriously assassinated, however, when his car was blown up. The General Staff Headquarters in Japan, sends Lieutenant Shiina, a graduate of the famed Nakano School of Spies inaugurated by Colonel Kusanagi, to investigate the matter. Arriving in Shanghai, he disguises himself as a Chinese coolie and sets out to watch for developments, the only clue being a silver dollar found beside what was left of the victim.
Genres: Action War Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-01-03
Popularity:
Assignment Cloud
Overview: A sequel to the popular "The School of Spies", this film continues the adventures of one of the graduates who is assigned to crack a powerful spy ring working out of Kobe. Various people are suspected but, finally, it seems that an Army captain and his geisha friend might lead them to the ring.
Genres: Action War Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-09-17
Popularity:
The School of Spies
Overview: Nakano Institution is the so-called ‘Spy School’ where many young men are trained to be excellent spies. They erase their names, families, even lovers to bury themselves in training. Jiro, one of the cadets, successfully seize the secret code of English army to pass the final exam. However, he reaches the crossroad when his fiancee Yukiko turns out to be a spy of the enemy.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-06-04
Popularity:
How to Make Money
Overview: Japanese comedy film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-02-01
Popularity:
Seven Masks of Revenge
Overview: The eighth film in the "master detective with seven faces" series. Bannachi patrols the town in his taxi when he sees a man heading into Shiodome Town. Next day the man is found brutally murdered and the mystery starts to unravel.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-07-12
Popularity:
Awamori-kun kanpai!
Overview: Second of the three Awamori-kun movies.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-10-08
Popularity:
Snow Country
Overview: It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and her family loses their home. Complications arise when Shimamura doesn't come back as promised. Then Komako discovers that he and Yuko knew each other in Tokyo. Can Komako escape destiny?
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-04-30
Popularity:
Untamed Woman
Overview: A woman marries, gives birth to a stillborn child, and divorces, falls in love with a hotel-keeper, only to find herself subordinated to his drive for success, takes up with a tailor who cannot console himself with her strong personality.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-05-28
Popularity:
Born in Sin
Overview: A dark family secret sends a 21-year-old French student (Hoshi) on a journey of self-discovery.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-11-23
Popularity:
Superexpress
Overview: A man operates a small real estate business near Osaka. A man from Tokyo asks for help in buying a large tract of land in order, he says, to build an automobile factory. But by accident the realtor learns that the Tokaido Railway Line is going to be built directly across the land just acquired. Also known as Black Super Express
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-10-31
Popularity:
The Radish and the Carrot
Overview: One day a company executive learns that his younger brother, whom he recommended, embezzled company funds. To save the situation he withdraws his life savings and gives money to his younger brother. He then suddenly disappears…
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-01-03
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
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 Naked General
Overview: A film about the life of Kiyoshi Yamashita, a Japanese painter with disabilities.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-10-28
Popularity:
The Bitch
Overview: The fall of an accountant enthralled by the sexual charms of a cabaret dancer.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-08-10
Popularity:
The Killing of Otsuya
Overview:
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-02-17
Popularity:
An Autumn Afternoon
Overview: Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-11-18
Popularity:
The Daphne
Overview: Four sisters are all named after flowers. While the two youngest are married, the eldest two remain single, much to the annoyance of their long-suffering mother. The mother and her brother try various schemes to find husbands for them.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-10-01
Popularity:
The Lone Journey
Overview: Forced on the road by yakuza obligations, a man sets out on a reckless journey to Tsumagoi. Movie posters for local cinemas were often displayed at sento (public baths) too. The handwritten text on the bottom here announces the film will play at Hassen for 3 days.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-08-31
Popularity:
The Masterless 47 – Part II
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-02-25
Popularity:
Futari dake no hashi
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-03-05
Popularity:
Jirocho Strikes a Daring Blow
Overview: Jirocho and his followers chase the Kurokomas into the Kai Province.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-11-03
Popularity:
Jirocho's Home-Coming
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-06-23
Popularity:
Seniors, Juniors, Co-Workers
Overview: An Ishiro Honda film.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-09-13
Popularity:
Humanity and Paper Balloons
Overview: In a slum in Edo Japan, a ronin hopes that his deceased father's former master will hire him while a disgraced hairdresser attempts to regain his pride by kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy pawnbroker, who is set to be married.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1937-08-25
Popularity:
Three Gentlemen from Tokyo
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-04-29
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:
Itohan Monogatari
Overview: Based on the original work by Shuji Hojo, Itohan Monogatari depicts the fate of a clumsy and kind-hearted woman in the Taisho era.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-01-15
Popularity:
Shanghai Rose
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-08-13
Popularity:
Yasugorō shusse
Overview:
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-04-15
Popularity:
Priest of Darkness
Overview: A boy steals a knife from an old samurai, unaware of its value, setting off a strange chain of events.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1936-04-30
Popularity:
A Woman's Life
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-01-29
Popularity:
Swordsman of the Two Sword Style
Overview: The story of Japan’s greatest warrior, Miyamoto Musashi, after his historic duel with Sasaki Kojiro on Ganryu Island.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-03-01
Popularity:
Gamblers: The Raid
Overview: 5th entry in the Bakuchi-uchi series.
Genres: Action Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-03-30
Popularity:
Sanshiro Sugata
Overview: Remake of Kurosawa's films Sanshiro Sugata and Sanshiro Sugata part 2. A young man, Sanshiro Sugata, troubled by personal problems, takes up judo. His teacher, Shogoro Yano, is a devout man who has aroused the enmity of the local practitioners of jujitsu, the older and more accepted of the two sports. Sugata uses his newly learned prowess to gain a measure of respect from others; however, Shogoro insists that the sport has a spiritual side, a lesson Sugata has yet to learn. Eventually, in hand-to-hand combat with the father of a young woman he loves, he comes to understand the true meaning of judo.
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-05-29
Popularity:
The Blue Revolution
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-06-10
Popularity:
Rose Buds in the Rainbow
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-07-20
Popularity:
五十円横町
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-06-22
Popularity:
The Surf
Overview: Lonely youth Shinji meets Hatsue, a pretty pearl diver, on the beach and the two fall in love. But Shinji has a rival for Hatsue's affections, Yasuo.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-10-20
Popularity:
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 Man Who Laughs Last
Overview: The East Asian Acrobatic circus enjoys popularity after welcoming the Asuka brothers, two prestigious trapeze acrobats. One day, one of the brothers gets injured and a substitute needs to be found. Rumors start to float around concerning the circus clown and his grandiose acrobat career which ended tragically. Will he be able to reconcile with his tumultuous past and get the show running?
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-02-28
Popularity:
社長太平記
Overview: Sixth entry in the Company President Series.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-01-03
Popularity:
The Third President
Overview: The fifth entry in the Company President Series
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-03-18
Popularity:
Zoku shachōtaiheiki
Overview: 7th film in the President series and the first entry in color.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-03-15
Popularity:
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:
The Motherland Far Far Away
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-03-05
Popularity:
Pachinko
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-12-30
Popularity:
Goblin Courier
Overview: Jida-geki by Santaro Marune.
Genres: History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-01-04
Popularity:
I'm a Bodyguard
Overview: Kita Ippei (Atsumi Kiyoshi) became a security officer in the Metropolitan Police Department's Security Division after catching a thug who attacked a writer living in the area while working at a police box. His dream is to become a bodyguard (BG) for the Prime Minister, just like his senior, Detective Inspector Takagi (Ryu Chishu). Kita Ippei is very successful in both work and love, getting attacked while guarding a female minister, getting some perks as a BG for a foreign princess, and becoming friends with a woman at his favorite bar.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-05-16
Popularity:
Crazy Operation
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-03-24
Popularity:
三万両五十三次
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-01-25
Popularity:
The Preacher of Love
Overview: 1961 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-02-01
Popularity:
Ganpeki
Overview: 1953 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-04-22
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:
The Sharks
Overview: A film adaptation of Masatsugu Nobuhiko's novel of the same name, directed by Tasaka Tomotaka and starring Nakamura Kinnosuke. This literary epic tells the story of how the protagonist, who has become mired in evil due to his poverty and low position, eventually awakens to humanity through an encounter with a nun. Shark was born without a father in a fishing village where the main occupation is catching sharks. In his poor and humiliating life, his only source of comfort is the tender love of his mother. However, on the night of a festival, the village burns to the ground and his mother dies. Left alone, Shark sets off for Kyoto with an old caster.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-06-27
Popularity:
First Love
Overview: A 1970s Toho coming-of-age film.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1972-09-23
Popularity:
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
Overview: Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-09-25
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:
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:
Jinsei Gekijo: dai ni bu
Overview: Part two of Shin Saburi's Theater of Life adaptation.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-02-19
Popularity: