Yuriko Hanabusa

The effervescent and charming Chiba Sachiko (Naruse's wife at the time) plays Kimiko, the bold daughter who travels to the countryside to find her estranged father to seek his consent for her forthcoming marriage. When Kimiko discovers that her father has taken up with a young geisha and is just as difficult as ever, her journey forces her to reconsider her ideas about familial ties. The film was Naruse's biggest success to date and one of his warmest films...

Film based on a non-fiction best-seller which follows a dedicated female doctor as she cajoles patients to leave their homes on a small island to move to the leprosarium where she works. (bourdaghs.com)

This early-ish Naruse is best remembered for having two giants of 50s Japanese cinema in its crew - Akira Kurosawa and Ishiro Honda. Somewhat ironically, very little has been written about the film itself. It's a fascinating nonlinear study of a marriage, only one year old, beginning to crumble. Kusaku is married to Fukiko but is in love with Yayoi. A nice little film (runs under an hour) that features some flashes of the future Naruse.

This is ostensibly a sex-education film -- with hardly any education! -- but it's incredibly beautiful. The spring and early summer scenery in Nagano (probably) echo the budding sexuality of the film's young characters. A good dose of German romantic poetry also adds to the barely sublimated sexual atmospherics. The film isn't perfect; the cast is obviously inexperienced and the film hypocritically avoids a frank discussion of sex.... (imdb comment)

Young Japanese Teruo is returning from studying in Germany, financed by his rich stepfather. His stepfather expects him to marry his daughter, a marriage that had been arranged long ago. He rejects his designated wife until he realizes that he has to obey tradition...

Idealistic young Koichiro is the sensitive artistic type; he longs for success as a violinist. Worse luck, he's a small-town boy from the Hokkaido provinces: if he hopes for success as a fiddler, he'll have to up sticks (fiddlesticks?) and move to Tokyo. Koichiro's practical-minded father Yasushi is dead-set against this, and Yasushi has an even better reason for his argument: Koichiro has a wife and young daughter. (imdb)

Based on an original story by Yojiro Ishizaka, this well-made drama is set in a Christian school in a beautiful northern harbor town. Teacher Masaki (Obinata) speaks up for Keiko, one of the girls at the school, every time she causes problems because he feels sorry for her, a child born out of wedlock. Sumi, one of Masaki's colleagues and who is secretly in love with him, strongly disagrees with him about Keiko.

The last film of director Itami took inspiration from Les Miserables. Transpiring during the Southwestern War of 1877 in Japan, which was the last civil war in the country, a criminal escapes prison only to be found by a monk. The criminal decides to turn a new leaf based on their conversation and goes on to become a town's mayor. He hears news of a mistaken arrest and identity. The revelation of truth is the start of a series of miseries. (imdb)

A father with no wife has three daughters with the oldest one (played by Hara Setsuko) at the age to be married off, which means the man needs to re-marry in order for someone to take care of him and his daughters. With the eldest and father now married, there is tension and an uncomfortable distance between the two remaining daughters and the mother-in-law. (imdb)

It was supposed to be about a love story, but it was and was not. An aircraft mechanic working for the government is matched by his boss with the latter man's daughter (Setsuko Hara) who is both beautiful and aggressive. Yet, he picks a woman who is less assertive as his bride. (imdb)

Toward the Decisive Battle in the Sky describes the challenging training of young boys in the Yokaren, a program feeding new pilots into the Army and Navy. By the time of the filming, the pressure of the war had led the government to shorten the training and expand the age range of the recruits. Yokaren was highly selective, and thus an object of great fascination and desire for boys and young men. In this Navy–sponsored film, ... (letterboxd)

During World War II a young woman quits university and instead obtains a job at a magazine about film that her mentor set up for her. The mentor herself is an actress. Here the woman meets Hara Setsuko as a colleague. The work is hard however. (imdb)

In a village subsisting on it herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu, decides to overthrow Jakoman and his cohorts. (imdb)

Strongly anti-war film based on the collection of writings by Japanese student soldiers who died during World War II. The location is Burma. It shows the everyday problems of soldiers in contrast of their ideas and the cynicism of their commanders.

Based on the classic novel by Murasaki Shikibu, written over 1000 years ago. Genji, the son of the emperor, has gained renown among the nobility of Kyoto for his charm and good looks, yet he cannot stop himself from pursuing the one object of desire he must never obtain: his father's young and beautiful bride. Following the tragic onsequences of his obsession, Genji wanders from one affair to another, always seeking some sort of resolution to his life. (KG)

Story is based on the popular novel of the same name. It follows the title character as he grows from a reckless and rambunctious youth into a respected teacher.

Following the breakout of the Pacific War, the Japanese film industry was forcibly downsized. Numazaki, a mediocre screenwriter, faces imminent dismissal. His wife Takako encourages him to seek work in Kyoto. Numazaki fails his aptitude test, which is to write a script for the famous but demanding director Sakaguchi (a veiled reference for Kenji Mizoguchi). Takako offers to support his husband for a year, so that he can hone his craft from scratch. (imdb)

1936 P.C.L. adaptation of Natsume's novel.

One month has passed since Japan plunged into the Pacific War, but it has not yet touched the suburban life. The state of the suburbs where you can see from the train window is relaxing. It is not much different from now. Ms. Takamine, a female student, goes hiking with some of her colleagues in the suburbs.

A Japanese war-era comedy film.

Hanako-san (1943, TOHO, MAKINO Masahiro), a thoroughly light and joyful musical comedy, influenced by Busby Berkeley films, against the national policy under wartime, was made into a film from comic serials by SUGIURA Yukio published in a magazine.

Sachiko Chiba is the daughter of a cosmetics manufacturer. She is a modern girl who works because she wants to as a kindergarten teacher, who entertains her charges with stories and songs. She gets roped into performing on the radio and becomes a celebrity. Sadao Maruyama is a test pilot for his father's airplane manufacturer. They fall in love, but their fathers quarrel over women having a career.

Melodrama that lovingly portrays working people who live in poverty but righteously. Kosaburo Yoshimura, the master of “women’s films,” cast Yasuko Fujita, an unknown newcomer, in the leading role for this masterpiece about the joy of love. The Yoshikawa family is a typical small town family. With only the father’s and daughter’s salaries to support the family’s six members, life is not easy. (Letterbox'd)

Ino tries to control Mon’s every move, but she becomes a fallen woman, having an affair with a student, Obata whereas her sister San remains a “good girl.” The mother is very supportive of her daughters, but, the father, Akaza, who is the stonecutter foreman on the damn, lacks control of his family.