List of 1950-59 Japanese films I've seen
I'm creating this list to have a public record of everything I've seen from the decade. I'd also want to mention that I know the decade started in 1951 and ended in 1960, but because of "Rashomon" I decided to start the list from 1950.
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- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsKuniko MiyakeSetsuko WakayamaYôko KatsuragiIn Japan, after the death of Mr. Masago, her wife Satomi Masago loses the family's company "Lily Cosmetic" to Mr. Mogy due to huge amount of debts relative to withdraws of money from the company made by her husband. Mogy blackmails Satomi's sister Hinako, asking her to marry him and he would not send Masago to jail, and Satomi wrongly understands that Hinako is dating her enemy Mogy. Satomi Masago founds the "Niagera Cosmetic" to compete with Lily and becomes a powerful executive. Hinako indeed likes Sonoike, former employee of Toyo Pictures and hired to work in Niagera, but Satomi plots the marriage of Hinako with her manager Tsuke Hinjatsu. Meanwhile, their young sister Chisuzu Satomi decides to live with the small time crook and pimp Ejima, from "Fashion & Films", being explored and abused by him. When Masago hires her lover Kojima to be the account of Niagera, she finds that Hinatsu is stealing the company with his mistress Yamashita. Hinatsu tries to kill Hinako and she loses her baby. Ejima publishes a book with the scandals of Masago, and her company bankrupts. In the end, the three sisters get rid off their mates and stay together.
- DirectorSatsuo YamamotoStarsTôru AbeMidori AriyamaShin Date
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsJûkichi UnoYasumi HaraYuriko HamadaSudo (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.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsRyô IkebeYûji HoriToshirô MifuneThree stories of young love, linked by each of the sets of lovers being counseled by the wise Professor Ishinaka. In the first story, a young man and his family search for a cache of hidden gasoline left over from the war. A pretty girl holds the key to whether the fuel can be found. In the second tale, two young lovers shame their fathers for going to see a burlesque show, leading to arguments that threaten to destroy the budding romance. The third story is about a girl given a prophecy that she will meet her future husband in the day couple of days, and the shy young farmer she encounters subsequently.
- DirectorHideo Sekigawa
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaToshirô MifuneJûkichi UnoA jewelry store president begins to fall for the doctor treating her husband's illness.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsYoshiko KugaEiji OkadaOsamu TakizawaThe hero Saburo (Okada Eiji) is obstructed by a series of events from meeting Keiko (Kuga Yoshiko), his fiancee.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsKinuyo TanakaHideko TakamineKen UeharaSetsuko is unhappily married to Mimura, an engineer with no job and a drinking habit. She's always been in love with Hiroshi, but he left for France years ago without proposing. Now he is back and Mariko (Setsuko's sister) tries to reunite them, although secretly she loves him too.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsMitsuko MiuraSô YamamuraEiji OkadaKeiko Yukawa is a former prostitute and the newest inmate at White Lily, a female rehabilitation facility.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneShirley YamaguchiYôko KatsuragiA celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
- DirectorMasahiro MakinoStarsUtaemon IchikawaRyûnosuke TsukigataIsuzu YamadaStage sword-fighting and fencing instructor and choreographer, or 'tateshi', Ichikawa Danpei was a man so focused on his art and job at hand that he fails to notice how the times are passing him by and the moving tastes of the audiences, which are calling for more realism, are contributing to less demand for his skills. This is the story of changing times.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMichiyo KogureYoshiko KugaKen UeharaYoung servant girl Hamako has just started working for her personal heroine, Madame Yuki, but her romanticized view of the Madame is broken immediately as she is introduced to a list of the Madame's personal problems.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJûkichi UnoIchirô SugaiShindo's directorial debut is the fictionalized account of the death of his first wife. 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.
- DirectorKeigo KimuraStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôTakashi ShimuraYone (Toshiro Mifune) is a horse trader who lives in a small village on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. He is a rough-and-tumble type who is prone to getting roaring drunk, starting bar brawls, and losing all his money at dice. The only problem is that he has a sickly wife, Haruno, and an infant son, Daihei.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsSetsuko HaraChishû RyûChikage AwashimaA family chooses a match for their daughter Noriko, but she, surprisingly, has her own plans.
- DirectorKôzaburô YoshimuraStarsKazuo HasegawaMichiyo KogureMachiko KyôBased 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 consequences of his obsession, Genji wanders from one affair to another, always seeking some sort of resolution to his life.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsKinuyo TanakaRanko HanaiYûji HoriA few days in the life of a quiet geisha, single mother of a young, smart boy, in the lively Tokyo quarter of Ginza. A woman devoted to other people's needs, she will end by taking part herself in one of the many disguises of Ginza.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsSetsuko HaraMasayuki MoriToshirô MifuneA Japanese veteran, driven partially mad from the war, travels to the snowy island of Hokkaido where he soon enters a love triangle with his best friend and a disgraced woman.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHideko TakamineShûji SanoChishû RyûA girl who had left her home village for life in Tokyo returns to her home years later, and evokes a scandal when the locals discover that she's a stripper.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsSô YamamuraMieko TakamineMariko OkadaThe troubled relationship between a writer and his ballet teacher wife, who has for years loved another man, finally leads to the breakup of the family.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsKen UeharaSetsuko HaraYukiko ShimazakiMichiyo lives in a small home in Osaka and is not happy with her marriage; all she does is cook and clean for her husband.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaYukiko TodorokiMasayuki MoriSet in post-war Japan, The Lady of Musashino tells the story of Michiko, a disillusioned young woman trapped in a loveless marriage. She confides in her younger cousin, Tsutomo, and the two become close.