Setsuko Wakayama

The altered American release of Godzilla Raids Again. Originally meant to be known as the The Volcano Monsters, the film was eventually released as "Gigantis."

5.9/10
6%

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.

6.8/10

On Wings of Love is a 1957 Japanese romantic musical film directed by Toshio Sugie. It was Toho's highest-grossing film of the year and the first film released in Tohoscope.

An adaptation of the popular Sazae-San comic strip.

Historical drama about a sleep-eyed ronin

Poor social conditions badly affect the relationship between a married couple, when the husband, who is desperately searching for work, fails to notice the terrible sacrifices made by his wife when she accepts a job at a local inn.

An adaptation of the popular Sazae-san comic strip. The first entry in Toho's Sazae-san series.

Two fishing scout pilots make a startling discovery when they find two giant monsters on a remote island. One is a new monster dubbed Anguirus, and the other is a second Godzilla. The two monsters make their way to Osaka as Japan braces for tragedy.

5.9/10
6%

Keita, after his death, was taken to the court of heaven as Defendant No. 1361, where his past was projected. He was formerly a favorite of the Meriken Circus troupe, yet he sinned by exposing a certain woman. During the screening, he realizes what he has done, and fate gives him a chance to redeem his sins.

Set at the end of World War II and after Japan's defeat, it is a melodrama about a man and a woman at the mercy of war. Wataru is entrusted by his best friend who has gone off to war with his sister Reiko to marry her, but he is not ready to abandon his love for Kumiko, a nurse at his mother's hospital.

A wandering Jirocho stumbles upon his wife's possible murder and has other adventures while on the run.

7.9/10

Jirocho the gambler hits the road.

5.5/10

Jirocho and his followers chase the Kurokomas into the Kai Province.

6.3/10

The rise of the famed gambler.

6.5/10

A movie directed by Nobuo Nakagawa

Directorial debut by Umetsugu Inoue, the famous director of Musicals

A young lord joins gang of Robin-esque robbers.

War film by Kon Ichikawa

Mikami, a Japanese soldier, is captured by Chinese forces. Although able to escape, he is treated with contempt by his peers. After falling in love with a prostitute named Harumi, she convinces him to desert the army and live with her. Directed by Senkichi Taniguchi with a screenplay by Taniguchi and Akira Kurosawa and assistant direction by Ishiro Honda. Kurosawa's final credit as a screenwriter was removed from initial release due to various rewrites.

7.2/10

Three humorous love stories set in rural Japan.

6.7/10

A Japanese melodrama about three sisters, rival fashion companies, and attempted murder by overheated bathroom.

6.6/10

Woman melodrama by Shiro Toyoda

Adaptation of a novel by Yojiro Ishizaka, originally released in two parts.

6.5/10

The Angry Street includes a great deal of location shooting in the rebuilt city, including downtown streets, residential neighborhoods, the campus of the University of Tokyo, and the high life of jazzy dance halls. Sudo (Hara Yasumi) and Mori (Uno Jukichi) are two university students who make money by picking up rich girls in dance clubs and conning them into giving them cash. Mori is the brains of the operation, and Sudo is the suave dancer who picks up the girls. Over the course of the film, Sudo becomes involved with three different girls and is drawn into the gangster milieu, which he seems unable to resist even though he is responsible for his mother, grandmother, and sister, Masako (Wakayama Setsuko). In this world of bad boys and girls, Masako is the pillar of strength and moral virtue who finally enables Mori to straighten out.

6.9/10

Aoi sanmyaku (青い山脈), literally: The Blue Mountains, is a 1949 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Tadashi Imai. Its theme was sung by Ichiro Fujiyama and Mitsue Nara. It is an adaptation of 1949 novel Blue Mountain Range (青い山脈 Aoi sanmyaku) by Yōjirō Ishizaka.

7/10

Continuation of The Blue Mountains: Part I. Released a week later.

6.5/10

During his summer holiday, Kawasaki Ryuichi (Ryuzaki Ichiro), a handsome engineer in his late twenties, visits his teacher and mentor, Professor Inagaki (Sugai Ichiro), at his seaside home. There he meets the professor's lovely young wife, Sachiko (Hamada Yuriko), and is unsettled by the striking resemblance she bears to his wife, who died three years earlier. Attracted to Sachiko, he does his best to hide his feelings. The couple, however, senses a deep-seated melancholy in him. Attributing it to the loss of his wife, they urge him to marry their niece, Kaoru, but he is not interested. Shortly after, Fumiko , Sachiko's older sister, realizes that Sachiko and Kawasaki have feelings for each other, but she keeps her counsel. One day Kawasaki, Sachiko, and Kaoru go boating when a storm forces them to stay overnight at a hotel. Unable to sleep, Kawasaki takes a walk along the beach where he finds Sachiko, also unable to sleep. He declares his love for her.

7/10

Omnibus of love stories from 1947 directed by famous directors, featuring big stars.

6.7/10

Three bank robbers, Eijima, Nojiri, and Takasugi, flee the police and escape into the mountains. At an inn high in the Japanese Alps, Eijima and Nojiri encounter a young woman and her father, as well as Honda, a mountaineer. The inn folk do not realize their guests are wanted criminals and the visitors are treated with great kindness. Honda volunteers to lead them over the mountains, but Eijima's paranoia endangers all of them as they make the perilous trip.

7.2/10