Masao Oda

Lead Tombstone (1964)

LEAD TOMBSTONE tracks the progress of a young sociopathic rake who had, immediately post-WW2, rescued his country farmer mother from rape by stabbing the offending American soldier in the back with a pitchfork. Once grown, the boy continues his violent lif ...

Roadside Stone (1964)

The Wayside Pebble is an effective drama about the hardships of a childhood spent with a brusque, cold-hearted father and a submissive mother. The year is 1910 and the place is a small Japanese village. Goichi is suffering because he wants to go to school, ...

The Desperate (1964)

A noir drama depicting the downfall of a veteran detective who hates evil and falls into its depths. Ace detective Sugai pursues Chiyo, the mistress of a man who was arrested for extortion, and takes advantage of her weakness. However, as his colleague Tok ...

The Third Ninja (1964)

Three Iga ninja are on a hunt for Chidoken, a Takeda ninja sent out to assasinate Lord Nobunaga. ...

Mr. Giant's Victory Flag (1964)

Apparently a baseball drama starring real-life stars Nagashima (The Babe Ruth of Japanese Baseball) and teammate Oh-known collectively as ON-from the Yomiuri Giants. Nagashima nickname was 'Mr. Giants. ...

Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple (1964)

In the fourth installment, Musashi's potentially greatest opponent Kojiro jumps in and out of the story at the oddest and most coincidental moments. As his great love Otsu has succumbed to madness. Musashi then sets off to beat the functionaries of a treac ...

A Woman's Life (1963)

A woman remembers her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son. ...

A House in the Quarter (1963)

With her family suffering from extreme poverty, Yuko, as the eldest daughter, is sold to a successful brothel in Kyoto. There she is assigned to serve Takamatsu, one of the brothel's top customers. But while Takamatsu falls madly in love with Yuko, she fin ...

Kyu-chan, Draw Your Sword (1963)

A laid-back man tries to become a member of the yakuza. ...

Beautiful Calendar (1963)

Yajima Sadako is a bright pawnbroker's daughter in the third year of high school. At school, there is a young and handsome teacher Takei who has just started, and a chemistry teacher Murao who she respects, and is enjoying every day. ...

The Red Water (1963)

Comedy drama film ...

Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai (1963)

After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he recounts his gruesome family history which saw generations of his ancestors suffer and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their cruel lords. ...

Rififi in Tokyo (1963)

Van Hekken, an old gangster, arrives in Tokyo to direct a bank hold-up in order to get a very valuable diamond. ...

High and Low (1963)

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur's son but demand the ransom anyway. ...

Itsudemo yume o (1963)

This is a factory area in downtown Tokyo, and Hikaru, nicknamed Pika-chan, is a nurse at the Mihara Clinic, a friend of the poor. ...

Beyond the Green Hills (1963)

Shinko Terasawa was always considered to be the odd ball of the bunch. At a time when romance was against school regulations, Shinko was the first to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit. Expelled from her former school, she finds herself in an all-girls ...

Satsujin-sha o oe (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her. ...

Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights (1962)

The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete ...

Mark of Blood (1962)

Three young yakuza, Fujitaro, Matsugoro and Kanjuro, travel the country fighting evil. ...

A Wanderer's Notebook (1962)

Based on the life and career of novelist Fumiko Hayashi, she bitterly struggles for literary recognition in the first half of the 20th-century – her affairs with feckless men, the jobs she took to survive (peddler, waitress, bar maid), and her arduous, o ...

The Daughters of the Saotome Family (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Our Failures (1962)

Tells the story of Shintaro, a lawyer who quits his job to work at a camera factory, and his love adventures. ...

A Comedy in Front of the Station: Onsen (1962)

Fourth entry in the Ekimae series, focusing on the restoration of a Fukushima hot spring inn. ...

Kōkōsei to jokyōshi hijō no seishun (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

A Carpenter and Children (1962)

A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an affectionate woman named Oritsu. It's a winning combination of drama and humor. The warm friendship that grows between the carpenter, the woman and the childr ...

Tokyo Bay (1962)

An investigation into a drug smuggler who is assassinated in front of an insurance building sets two detectives, Sumikawa and Akine, into a sprawling investigation through Tokyo's underworld. ...

Woman of Design (1962)

Story of romance and rivalry between two ad agencies vying for the same account with a pharmaceutical firm. ...

Nippon no obaachan (1962)

Two obaachans become fast friends listening to music in front of a record store. They both boast about their loving sons but in reality, one had just escaped a retirement home and the other was looking for an escape from her son and daughter-in-law. With n ...

Run, Genta, Run! (1961)

A touching story about a young boy, Genta, who bravely takes on life's challenges in hopes of finding a better life for himself and his sickly mother. ...

Different Sons (1961)

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 ...

City (1961)

The Last War (1961)

A Japanese family is torn apart by the tensions of an avoidable nuclear world war between the superpowers. ...

Snow in the South Seas (1961)

Japanese soldiers stranded in Manokwari, New Guinea, improvise a theater play to keep their spirits up and endure the extremely difficult conditions. ...

Fateful Birthplace (1961)

A sad love story between young Umihiko Kojima and a beautiful girl named Yukiko Shino. ...

A Good Man, A Good Day (1961)

The university professor Ozeki Hitoshi (Ryu Chishu) is regarded as an eccentric by people in his surroundings. When his daughter Tokiko is asked to marry a colleague, she and her mother are overjoyed, but Hitoshi is not satisfied with the situation. ...

The Orphan Brother (1961)

After their father quarrels with local military men, Anju and Zushio are forced to flee, but they are captured and sold into slavery. When their mother dies, they are sold to Sansho the Bailiff, a cruel man who subjects them to hideous torments. While Anju ...

Fine Man (1961)

A young son of a master of the Kuwana clan gets disowned for his rebellious behavior. After he goes from the mountains to the ocean defeating the evil, he becomes a fine man. ...

Red Flowers of Hell (1961)

1961 gangster film. ...

Love and the Shop Curtain (1961)

Otami and daughter Yuri run the Matsuoka, a 150-year-old Japanese-style inn in Tokyo which they plan to renovate into a modern hotel before the '64 Tokyo Olympics. Maki, the son of the owner of the Benten Hotel, likes Yuri and wants to get closer to her. S ...

Zero Focus (1961)

One week into newlywed Teiko Uhara's marriage, her husband, Kenichi, leaves on a short business trip and never returns. Teiko travels across Japan to search for him, and along the way discovers some surprising facts about her husband's past. With only a pa ...

Hidden Fangs (1961)

Set in a juvenile detention center and depicted with a documentary touch. ...

Police Department Part 15: Alibi (1961)

The First Investigation Department is investigating a murder case that took place at a government agency, with particular attention to finding an alibi for the suspects. A security guard was killed in the building, the safe was broken into, but nothing was ...

Happiness of Us Alone (1961)

The story is of two people. One is deaf, the other deaf and mute. They marry after meeting at a school reunion, and the film follows their trials and tribulations ... and joys. ...

Mahiru no wana (1960)

On his way to Tokyo one night, a truck driver picks up a country girl and has his way with her amidst a forest. A few days later he loses his job after a run-in with some punks, but is offered a job by a gangster impressed by his fighting skills. He tries ...

Chikuhō no kodomotachi (1960)

A drama film based on Ken Domon's photography of the children around the Chikuho coal mines. ...

The River Fuefuki (1960)

In a time of continuous civil wars ravaging the fields of feudal Japan, the eldest son of a very poor peasant family, living alongside the bridge over the Fuefuki river, decides to serve a warlord to escape his miserable condition, being soon followed by h ...

The Angry Sea (1960)

A semi-documentary story about the vicissitudes in the life of an elderly fisherman. ...

Blood Is Dry (1960)

An employee in an assurance company threatens to commit suicide when management announces a massive layoff, the company uses this threat to its own advantage by turning the incident into an advertising campaign. With the success of the campaign, however, h ...

Shinran, Part II (1960)

Continuation of the biographical film about the monk Shinran, based on the novel by Eiji Yoshikawa. Shinran, born of the fading aristocratic class, was placed in a monastary on Mount Hiei when still a child. He did not come down for twenty years, when his ...

The Twilight Story (1960)

In this Japanese drama, a village girl goes to Tokyo and becomes a sex worker to support her ailing mother. While there she meets an unmarried teacher (at least he says he's unmarried) and falls in love. ...

Shinran (1960)

A biographical movie about Shinran ...

Police Precinct Part 13 (1960)

On a quiet spring day in the suburbs, a stray dog found the corpse of a baby. Three days after his death, the blood group of the victim was determined. Detectives Hayashi, Kaneko, Nagata and Yamagata begin their investigation, suspecting the parents of the ...

Irohanihoheto (1960)

The anonymous partnership Investment Economic Association, led by its president Ryuichi Amano, collected money from many ordinary people and paid out large dividends, making it famous as "Japan's only investment bank for ordinary people." On the other hand ...

The Master Spearman (1960)

Kurando is a retired samurai. Granted a last-second reprieve from the obligation to commit harakiri, he decides to settle down and marry one of the two kabuki actresses who helped him enjoy what he thought would be his final days. ...

The Gambling Samurai (1960)

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 ...

Sotobori Murder Case (1960)

A taxi driver hits a woman on the streets. He takes care of her while she gets better. While realizing they're both at a brink in their lives they'll start falling for each other against their odds. ...

The Lost Alibi (1960)

Suspense drama about a married salaryman whose affair with one of his co-workers is compromised when, returning from a clandestine meeting with his lover, he runs into a neighbor who is later accused of murder. Questioned by police about the neighbor, and ...

Echigo jishi-sai (1960)

1960 version of Lion Festival of Echigo ...

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)

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 d ...

Spring Dreams (1960)

When a wealthy, selfish family decides to take care of an elderly hobo who collapsed near their home, they are beset by visits from his numerous friends. ...

The Counterfeiters (1959)

Lucky Adventurer Nobunaga Oda (1959)

Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) was a major daimyo during the Warring State period of Japanese history. He was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a deputy military governor with land holdings in Owari province. Nobunaga lived a life of continuous military conquest ...

A Killed Stewardess: White or Black (1959)

Chikamatsu's Love in Osaka (1959)

Chubei, the adopted son of an Osaka courier, falls desperately in love with the courtesan Umegawa. To prevent a wealthy client from purchasing her, he steals money from his employer to buy her freedom himself. Now hunted criminals, the lovers flee toward Y ...

Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender (1959)

In World War II, the commanding officer of a sub, against his will takes on board two Western diplomats, to take them to the Canaries and arrange an armistice. When they get there, peace has been declared, but the sub's crew don't know as their radio has f ...

I Want to Be a Shellfish (1959)

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. ...

Kiku and Isamu: Two Siblings Born in Japan (1959)

Kiku and her brother Isamu are social outcasts, children of a prostitute mother and black GI father, in postwar Japan. ...

Whistling in the Morning (1959)

Minoru delivered newspapers to earn money for high school, but when his mother came down with illness he decided to use this money for her doctor's bill and gave up going to high school. His friends heard about this, and they donated money to his mother. S ...

Points and Lines (1958)

Based on Matsumoto Seicho's classic mystery novel of the same name, the story centers around a group of detectives who are determined to find the truth behind an apparent double suicide. ...

The Invisible Wall (1958)

Based on the novel of the same name by Seichô Matsumoto. ...

Summer Clouds (1958)

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 ...

The Child Writers (1958)

A touching story about little Futyan and his sister Matiko. Their parents are very poor, but the children are not discouraged—they run to school together and find many interesting things in life. The children love literature and are good at writing essay ...

The Ballad of Narayama (1958)

In a remote village where food is scarce, elders who reach the age of 70 are carried by their children to the top of a nearby mountain to die in solitude. Orin, a vibrant 69-year-old grandmother, has accepted her fate — but struggles to prepare the rest ...

Akutoku (1958)

A movie adaptation of Funayama Kaoru's novel of the same name, which depicts the story of a modern youth who is attracted to the evil path. Saburi Shin, a well-known actor who also demonstrated his skill as a director in a bold social work, embodies a pe ...

Island of Fury (1958)

Five boys escape from their life of bondage on an island 10 miles off Hiroshima, and are picked up in the Inland Sea, drifting in an open boat. ...

Black River (1957)

A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era. ...

Harbor Rats (1957)

A scrap iron carrier arrived at Tokyo bay. The ship swarmed with the stevedores, the souvenir seller and the hookers. The crews of ship were oppressed by arrogant captain and his officers. The crews caused an uprising. A manager of stevedore ordered his em ...

Hadaka no Machi (1957)

Shiroi natsu (1957)

Hey, please, hold me... A thrilling physical farewell gift that a pure-hearted adult received while trembling!! Set in a simple rural town's post office, this youthfully bright and humorous story depicts the intricacies of life experienced by a rookie youn ...

A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era (1957)

Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can't pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a "commission" for his ...

Eight Hours of Terror (1957)

A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers. ...

Frankie the Milkman (1956)

Roppeita is big in size, clumsy and full of energy. When his grandfather orders him to move out to Tokyo to save a sinking milk delivery business a distant relative of his runs, he encounters the most strangest of clientele. ...

Dotanba (1956)

Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan's national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida's rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure o ...

Nikoyon monogatari (1956)

Japanese drama film. ...

Meiken monogatari (1956)

Japanese film. ...

Phoenix (1956)

Emi Ikushima, a star actress in the Roses, is half-hearted, but she wasn't disappointed by the news of her father Enmy's sudden death, and she performed enthusiastically on the stage that night, attracting a crowded audience. ...

Tengoku wa doko da (1956)

Japanese drama. ...

Avalanche (1956)

Fountainhead (1956)

A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply. ...

The Baby Carriage (1956)

Upon discovering that her father has a mistress, a young girl befriends the "other woman" and her child. Realizing that her half-sister is doomed to being regarded as an outcast, the heroine sets about to spiritually legitimize the girl. ...

Mune yori mune ni (1955)

Japanese drama ...

Tales of Ginza (1955)

In the thriving Tokyo neighborhood of Ginza, a woman in the process of selling her estranged husband's art collection attempts to identify the man who painted her own portrait fifteen years prior. ...

Yukiko (1955)

Sisters (1955)

Keiko and Toshiko are sisters who leave their mountain home, where their parents live in a hydroelectric plant company house to study in the city. They stay with their kind-hearted aunt and her jovial but heavy-drinking carpenter husband. Keiko, the 17-yea ...

Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji (1955)

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 i ...

A Billionaire (1954)

An ethical, young tax collector new to his area encounters increasingly absurd individuals and groups coping with their post-war woes. ...

The Street Without Sun (1954)

Based on the novel by proletarian writer Sunao Tokunaga. The story is about a long strike by workers at a large printing house and the strikers' steadfastness, which neither hunger nor violence could break. The heroine of this story actively participates i ...

Tomoshibi (1954)

Students in a small rural school love their poor but unconventional teacher Mr. Matsukuma, although he is misunderstood by most of the villagers and is forced to leave. After his departure there is great depression, but there is a chance to rekindle the la ...