Early feature film by Hiroshi Shimizu.
Directed by Kiyomatsu Hosoyama.
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
A widow works as an insurance seller to raise her three children
Director Hiroshi Inagaki's early version of the life and death of famed swordsman Sasaki Kojiro. Otani Tomoemon gives a brilliant performance as Sasaki Kojiro, who rises from humble beginnings to national fame, and a young Toshiro Mifune appears as the legendary master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi for the first time and essentially sets the standard for future portrayals.This masterpiece is based on the original story as written by noted author Murakami Genzo and is far superior to any other versions. Following Kojiro from his earliest days through his fateful meeting with Musashi, this movie is filled with exciting and dramatic moments culminating in the best version of the final duel ever seen on film.
When a young man inherits his father's lucrative business, he cheats the system to set up three of his college friends with jobs.
A period piece about the love of a wealthy blind woman, a teacher of koto and shamisen, and her devoted manservant. Based on a novella by Tanizaki Junichiro.
Shigeo is an aspiring writer living with his girl friend Minako and hoping for success and a better tomorrow every day. Both live on what Minako earns from working in a café. Shigeo is not happy with the situation and neither is his family who do not approve of Minako. Especially his uncle tries to convince him to leave Minako, even using his influence behind the scenes. Things start to change when Shigeo's sister pays the young couple a visit, being the first member of Shigeo's family to actually get to know Minako in person.
Inoue was something of a rarity in the sense, that he was a Shochiku house director who seems to have worked mostly in period films, often with big stars like Hasegawa or Bando. "Sumidagawa", named after the river that runs through Tokyo, is also a period film, but thematically a modern one. All the themes that you associate with the normal Shochiku women's films set in the present day are in this film, just in a different context: love, the planning of a marriage, career, family relations and societal melancholy. There is no action or swordplay.
Pretty Oshige is deceived by her first love. After this, she lives a hard lifestyle, working at a number of jobs. Her only pleasure is her nephew, who eventually becomes a merchant marine. When Oshige meets her old love ten years later, she is able to forgive him and even thank him for the path her life has taken.
"The Dancing Girl of Izu" tells of the story between a young male student who is touring the Izu Peninsula and a family of traveling dancers he meets there, including their youngest girl. The student finds the naïve girl attractive even though he eventually has to part with the family after spending memorable time together.
A middle-aged father has just married off his third daughter, but still has his nine year old son to raise whom he resents as he was unwanted.
Uta’s mother died when she was six years old; her father she never met. She was forced to adopt a traveller’s life when her grandmother died, and now she is a dancer and part of a family of actors who travel from town to town, setting up street performances. A way of escape from this marginal existence arises when she gets the chance to move to tea merchant Hiramatsu’s place, where she is asked to teach his daughter to dance.
A newlywed couple faces tension when the wife, after her husband leaves for work, becomes completely unmotivated to handle household chores and goes back to sleep. Her neglect of daily duties starts to strain their marriage, and the couple is on the brink of divorce. However, a close friend of the husband, determined to save their relationship, introduces a hypnotist to uncover something.
Two childhood friends go their own ways but meet again some years later after they have both married. They get re-acquainted, meet each others’ families, and all is well. Then the disagreements start...
A melodrama about a businessman's relations with the three women in his life.
Kinuyo is a daughter of doctor of Chinese medicine, and Yasuo is a son of surgeon. Their families always fight like cat and dog. This relationship is ancestral. Although Kinuyo and Yasuo love each other, they have different thoughts toward treatments.
A businessman’s daughter falls in love with one of her father’s employees.
A Japanese short film, the earliest extant film of the great director Hiroshi Shimizu.
A musical film made for the inauguration of Shochiku's Ofuna Studio, with an all-star cast of the era.
Japanese silent film.
Directed by Kensaku Suzuki.
Keitaro is a law student and Yaeko is a high school girl. They are neighbors, and their friendship is starting to develop into something more romantic. Then, Yaeko's sister Kyouko has a breakup with her husband and returns home. Kyouko is clearly interested in Keitaro and Yae becomes anxious.
Directed in 1921
Adaptation of Kishida Kunio's novel. Set against the backdrop of a power struggle within a hospital, depicts the love lives of the director's daughter, the administrative director, a doctor, and a nurse.
Three men vying for the same job end up chasing the same girl in this comedy-drama from noted Japanese director Yasujiro Shimazu.
A man who works late hours at a deadening job lives together with his wife and his younger sister. The younger sister's a modern girl who's starting to receive romantic attention from one of her co-workers.
Directed by Minoru Murata.
A film adaptation of the play by Leo Tolstoy.
Japanese film from 1929.
Japanese silent film from 1926. (Obo-chan meaning "Young Master.") Written by Ayame Mizushima, the first female screenwriter in Japan.
Japanese silent film from 1928.
Japanese silent film from 1929.
Shirō Kuroki, the adopted son of the Yamada family, shares a deep and mutual love with his foster sister, Kinuko Yamada. His commitment to political and social causes, however, provokes the anger of his foster father, who casts him out of the household. Forced into exile, Shirō faces hardship and struggle. The film was based on a serialized novel written by the poet Byakuren (real name Akiko Yanagiwara) and echoes the real-life scandal known as the Byakuren incident.
A modern girl suddenly intrudes into a widower's family home.
The three-hour Ai yo jinrui to tomo ni are / Love, Be with Humanity (1931) starts as a satire of alienation in the world of money, develops into a lumberland epic with a forest fire on Sakhalin Island, turns into a tragedy of King Lear dimensions, and manages to amaze the blasé audience with a happy end in the Wild West.
The three-hour Ai yo jinrui to tomo ni are / Love, Be with Humanity (1931) starts as a satire of alienation in the world of money, develops into a lumberland epic with a forest fire on Sakhalin Island, turns into a tragedy of King Lear dimensions, and manages to amaze the blasé audience with a happy end in the Wild West.
Japanese silent film from 1931.
Shigeko and Midori, star swimmers at the renowned Kirishima Girls’ School, are training relentlessly with their sights set on the Los Angeles Olympics. But for the past week, Shigeko has been absent from practice. Her father has fallen ill, and to support her family’s struggling finances, she has secretly taken a job at a trading company. When Masao discovers this, he asks Midori to convince her to return, but soon the school learns of her secret. The students rally to raise funds, though the principal refuses their help, promising instead to handle the situation himself. Shigeko resumes training and travels to Tokyo for the qualifying meet. She touches the wall first in the 100-meter freestyle—only to receive news of her father’s passing. Overcome with grief, she collapses, cared for by Midori, whose own exhaustion leaves her finishing fourth. Despite these hardships, their prior accomplishments earn them a place on Japan’s Olympic team.