Masaru Satō

Birth : 1928-05-29, Rumoi, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan

Death : 1999-12-05

History

Masaru Satō (佐藤 勝) was a Japanese composer of film scores. The youngest of six brothers, all of them music lovers, Masaru Sato decided early in life that he wanted to be a composer. His models were two other composers born, as he was, on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido: Akira Ifukube and Fumio Hayasaka. After hearing Hayasaka's score for Rashomon (1950), Sato decided Hayasaka was the only one he wanted for his teacher. He absorbed much of Hayasaka's modernist leanings, and grew to know Hayasaka's best friend Akira Kurosawa during this period. The year 1955 was a vast turning point for Sato: after scoring numerous insignificant pictures for various studios in Tokyo, Sato won the assignment for Gojira no Gyakushu (1955). Then his teacher Fumio Hayasaka died tragically young, while finishing the score for Kurosawa's Ikimono no Kiroku (1955). Sato stepped in to complete the score, uncredited. Kurosawa was sufficiently pleased with Sato to use him for all his pictures for the following ten years. Though the two had a falling-out after Akahige (1965), Sato remained one of Japan's most in-demand film composers, returning to the Gojira series several times and remaining a favorite of many other directors such as Kihachi Okamoto and June Fukuda. After scoring Dun-Huang in 1987, Sato had to call a brief halt to his career in order to tend to family interests in real estate in his native Hokkaido; but within a few years, the problems were wrapped up, and Sato was able to go back to film composing full time, at last reaching and surpassing his 300th movie score. Sato is almost unique among Japan's prolific film composers in that he has written extensively for his chosen field, but has never written for the concert stage.

Movies

After the Rain
Original Music Composer
A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the trapped travelers.
East Meets West
Original Music Composer
A disgraced warrior planning the murder of a Japanese diplomat, and a ninja in the employ of a navy official are about to land in San Francisco when a band of thieves steal the money the diplomats are carrying. The two set off on a chase across the American west to catch the robbers.
In Blazing Love
Original Music Composer
An illustration of the tragic lives of geishas at a popular geisha house, Shinonomero. Shortly after being sold to a geisha house at age 5, Shizu is befriended by a fellow older geisha, Tsuru. After years of living and working together, Tsuru and Shizu manage to run the operations of Shinonomero as the proprietress and assistant. Despite vows to never to let their lovers come between them or Shinonomero, moments of weakness leave Tsuru and Shizu caught up in a web of betrayal and plunged into debt. With the guilt of losing Shinonomero to Udo, a yakuza who loaned them money, it is now up to young Shizu to redeem Tsuru’s honor and restore Shinonomero as their own.
Free and Easy Special
Music
Approached by a friend about a matchmaking arrangement, Su-san goes to Hama-chan's home seeking help. Hama-chan is away on a business trip, but Michiko entertains Su-san late into the night. When he gets drunk and ends up spending the night, Hama-chan, begins to question his boss's relationship with Michiko.
Bloom in the Moonlight
Music
A dying pianist composes one final song for his childhood friend.
The Oil-Hell Murder
Original Music Composer
The indolent son of an oil vendor becomes a regular customer of a prostitute, racks up a mountain of debt, and is disowned by his parents.
War and Youth
Music
An auto repairman's daughter questions him about what happened to her aunt during the war, but the father remains reticent. Finally the man opens up, and the girl is able to piece together her aunt's tragic story.
Heat Wave
Original Music Composer
Rin Jyoshima lost her father to death-by-gambling; years later, she's grown up in the Kosugi household and has fallen victim to gambling herself.
Rainbow Kids
Original Music Composer
A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place.
13 Assassins
Original Music Composer
In between the original 1963 13 ASSASSINS film and the 2010 remake by Miike Takashi, Fuji TV produced a version for TV. Starring Nakadai Tatsuya and Natsuyagi Isao, with strong support from Tanba Tetsuro and Tanaka Ken, this is the ultimate tale of samurai justice carried out in a historical masterpiece. The shogun’s half-brother, Matsudaira Naritsugu has been slated to join the Roju Council of Elders as a senior adviser even though he is criminally insane. His outrageous acts cause one of his top retainers to commit ritual suicide in protest over his lord’s crimes. Alerted to these crimes, Roju Councilor Doi asks Inspector General Shmada Shinzaemon to assassinate Naritsugu before he can be seated on the council. Gathering a band of 13 (including himself), Shimada sets out on a death-defying journey to cut down the lord before he can reach Edo. Can a band of 13 samurai defeat the vile Naritsugu’s 200 man entourage and enact justice against his cruelty?
She-Shogun
Original Music Composer
The rise to power of the famed Lady Kasuga no Tsubone, who established the 'Ooku' (the women's quarters at Edo castle) and acted as nursemaid to Tokugawa Iemitsu, the future 3rd Shogun is chronicled in this historical drama. Intrigue and suspicion abound as the two brothers Iemitsu and Tadanaga vie for the post of Shogun, while behind the scenes the remnants of the defeated Toyotomi faction, lead by Lord Ishida Mitsunari attempt to discredit the Tokugawa Shogunate and regain their former position as rulers of the nation. The hidden battles between Shogun Hidetada's wife and mistresses of the 'Ooku' come to light as they force the two brothers into a life or death struggle.
Fancy Dance
Songs
Yohei, a punk rocker, becomes a Buddhist monk in order to inherit a mountain temple. Though initially rebelling against the tough monastic discipline, he learns to adjust. Then his girlfriend shows up, enticing him to return to his rock 'n' roll roots.
Dream Street
Original Music Composer
A comedy about the lives of people living in the shopping district of Osaka.
Shogun's Shadow
Original Music Composer
Iemitsu, Tokugawa Shogun III, hates his eldest son Takechiyo; all his love is given to his younger son Tokumatsu. One day, he orders Takechiyo to an initiation rite in Yedo. Takechiyo lives far away under the surveillance of Hotta Masamori, head of the Skura clan, where he was also raised. Hotta does suspect some kind of treachery, but he can not ignore the direct command of the Shogun. Therefore, he starts on his travel with Takechiyo and seven accompanying samurais. A large army under the command of Iba Shoemon, a vassal of the Shogun, attacks their night camp in the vicinity of a copper mine. Hotta dies in this first battle, but Takechiyo and the samurai manage to escape. They are chased by the army, and several skirmishes between the small force and the larger army follow.
The Silk Road
Original Music Composer
In 1026, students in western China are shanghaied into the forces of crown prince Li Yuanhao of Xi Xia, who wants to control the length of the Silk Road. One student is Zhao Xingde, who becomes the favorite of his commander, Zhu Wangli. While sacking a fortress, Xingde discovers Tsurpia, princess of the Uighur. He hides her; they fall in love. When he's sent away to study Xixian, he leaves Tsurpia in Zhu's care, but returns to find her engaged to Li. Tragedy follows, and he and Zhu enter a pact to take revenge when Li arrives at Dun-Huang, the region's seat of learning and culture. Against overwhelming odds, they find a surprising way to leave a monument to their life and love.
The Forest of the Little Bear
Original Music Composer
Hunting master Ginzo kills a man-eating bear. When he finds out the bear had a cub, Ginzo decides to raise the cub, but the bear later becomes a troublemaker.
Taikoki
Music
Rising from the lowliest of country samurai to the heights of power as Taiko, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is one of the pivotal figures of the Sengoku period.
Yakuza Ladies
Original Music Composer
While her husband is in prison doing time, Tamaki, the wife of a yakuza capo, runs her spouse’s gang with an iron hand. Meanwhile, Makoto, her younger sister, marries a member of a rival band after being raped by him. The two sisters, united by blood ties but married to enemy yakuzas, will ultimately have to decide whose side they’re on.
Kāsan no ki
Music
A mother fights to reverse her dismissal from her job as a telephone operator
Death Shadows
Original Music Composer
Three men sentenced to death are spared and changed into “shadows executioners”, a group of ruthless ninja working for mysterious high ranking officials. During their investigation on some illegal business, one of them, called “Yazuke the Viper”, finds his abandoned daughter, Ocho, who has now become a mistress of Denzo, a smuggler. After Yazuke’s death, Ocho is also recruited as a “shadows executioner”, with the task of completing her father’s mission.
Tracked
Original Music Composer
When a fugitive begins a romance with the woman hiding him from the law, it becomes uncertain whether he will ever escape the shadow of his heinous crimes--or the detectives hot on his trail.
Oar
Original Music Composer
Drama about the difficult relationship between a former wrestler, his wife and their adopted children.
Fireflies in the North
Original Music Composer
Set in the icy wilderness of Hokkaido during the early days of the Meiji era, where the brutal warden of Kabato Prison terrorizes convicts sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory.
君のふるさとに太陽がのぼった
Original Music Composer
Japanese drama film.
Adrift at Sea
Original Music Composer
The Story of the three Japanese castaways Otokichi, Kyukichi and Iwakichi. After their ship the Hojunmaru was damaged, they drifted to America and landed on the US-Westcoast in 1834. They had the wish to return to Japan, a long journey was awaiting them.
The Geisha
Original Music Composer
Yokiro was the most successful Geisha house in Western Japan during the first half of the 20th century and remains open to this day. At its peak, it was home to over 200 geisha, however behind the fabulous facade, there were many battles - between family members, men and women, and with the Yakuza. Momokawa was sold to Yokiro at age 12, and despite being the top geisha, her many complicated relationships provide unending challenges throughout her glamorous but turbulent life.
Our Teacher
Original Music Composer
Japanese film.
Lowly Ronin 6: Betrayal at Yatate Pass
Original Music Composer
Accused of being a spy for a rival clan by Nanbu Clan samurai who then attack him, the 'Lowly Ronin' barely escapes with his life after being shot. Nursed back to health by Yamaoka Daijiro, the one Nanbu Clan retainer that believes him, he must find a way to prove his inno-cence to the others. The two team up together to uncover the mystery and find out who the real spy is that threatens the security of the clan. Against all odds, the two master swordsmen must rely on all their skills to defeat a vast conspiracy and save the clan from being abolished.
Lowly Ronin 5: The Teenage Orphan Girl
Original Music Composer
When the 'Lowly Ronin' helps an orphaned teenage girl avoid being turned into a prostitute, she then claims he is her father and they start a farm as father and daughter until fate steps in and he must draw his sword.
Lowly Ronin 4: Living Hell
Music
The "lowly ronin" meets a child who is being chased bymen that killed his father before his eyes. Feeling indebted to the child for buying him dinner, the Ronin takes the child back to his village. There, the Ronin reluctantly gets involved in a pathetic revolt by the cowardly villagers against their tyrannical governor. Mifune at his best!
Irezumi (Spirit of Tattoo)
Original Music Composer
To satisfy her lover's fetish for tattooed women, Akane agrees to have her body covered in eloborate tattoos by Kyogoro, an old craftsman. Kyogoro has developed a special technique, by which his assistant, Harutsune, keeps Katsuko's mind off the pain while Kyogoro does his work. After the work is done, Harutsune makes the shocking discovery of how Kyogoro mastered his technique.
The Highest Honour
Original Music Composer
After a highly successful raid on Singapore Harbour, soldiers of Z Special Unit lead a new expedition in Singapore, with disastrous results.
The Lowly Ronin 3: Duel at Dawn
Original Music Composer
After saving a young Lord from an assassination attempt the Lowly Ronin finds that he is now a wanted man! Accused of being a thief by those that tried to kill the young Lord he must now clear himself of the accusations. Befriended by an old woman, she then attempts to use him for her own designs.
近頃なぜかチャールストン
Original Music Composer
A young man gets thrown into detention after an episode of sexual assault; he soon meets several impostors in the same situation.
Willful Murder
Music
The president of the Japanese National Railways is found dead during a period in which train service is plagued by numerous layoffs, strikes and shutdowns. The government says that the president was murdered; the police claim it was a suicide. A quizzical reporter follows the case for years, but the basic question remains unanswered: was the victim killed by members of the burgeoning Communist movement in Japan, or was the death stage-managed by the authorities in hopes of discrediting the Communists?
Lowly Ronin
Original Music Composer
Reprising his role from the popular TV series "Koya no Suronin" (The Lowly Ronin), Mifune Toshiro stars in this full-length, stand-alone made for TV movie. The wandering ronin is reminiscent of his most famous role as the samurai without a name in Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro". He travels about Japan, and while he may seek happiness, violence and tragedy always cross his path. This time, he reluctantly agrees when a girl hires him to kill a local offical who has unfairly taxed her villagers. But he soon discoves that not all is at it appears when he finds a direct link to his past.
Toward the Terra
Original Music Composer
A young boy learns he is part of a powerful race of psionic humans who must fight the normal humans determined to keep them from Earth.
A Distant Cry from Spring
Original Music Composer
The quiet life of a mother and her young son living on a farm in Hokkaido is changed by the arrival of a man who ignites flames of romance in the heart of the mother and shows her boy the importance of grit and kindness, but then he leaves with the autumn wind.
The Shogun Assassins
Original Music Composer
This is a film about a real person. Sanada Yukimura fought a war against Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Nomugi Pass
Original Music Composer
The story of the silk industry and the young girls who worked as silk spinners in the early 1900s in Japan. The silk mills were located in Okaya which lies just beyond the Nomugi Pass. The women and girls worked in a hot, humid atmosphere without rest, and endured those conditions and sexual harassment to earn money for their poor families. Across the ocean, it was the great depression in America.
Hunter in the Dark
Original Music Composer
Yataro Tanigawa, a one-eyed hired assassin, impresses yakuza boss Gomyo Kiyoemon with his skill. Gomyo hires Tanigawa as his bodyguard, or yojimbo, to protect him during an inter-clan conflict. Tanigawa quickly rises in stature in the clan, but finds his boss's enemies almost overwhelming.
Blood Type: Blue
Original Music Composer
UFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new "blue-bloods" being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them.
Dynamite Don-Don
Music
Yakuza Gang War is at the height in North Kyūshū Area in the summer of 1950, particularly between the Okagen Group and the rising Hashiden Gang. Now with the mediation/interference of the Americans, they decide to settle it in a peaceful, *democratic* way, that is, to settle it with a baseball game. Now, with its money and power, The Hashiden group soon recruits a group of gamblers known to be good at baseball from the whole country. So, what is the Okagen Gumi gonna do?
August without Emperor
Original Music Composer
Taking the Chilean coup as an example, a group of young officers plan to overthrow the Japanese government on V-J Day. They aim to abolish the post-war constitution, restore the national army and revive the traditional spirit of Japan. As the conspiracy is exposed, the coup squadrons are wiped out one by one. The remaining squadron takes over a night train bound for Tokyo.
The Glacier Fox
Original Music Composer
Director Koreyoshi Kurahara chronicles the lives of Flep and Leila, two foxes living in northern Japan. First, Flep must fight for Leila before the two can become partners and mate. After Flep defeats another male fox, he and Leila eventually produce a group of five cubs. However, with their family complete, the group must deal with human interferences in their habitat, such as chicken farms and snowmobiles, and fight against the debilitating cold of winter.
Sweet Revenge
Original Music Composer
Masao is falsely accused and jailed for the murder of a loanshark to whom he owed a lot of money. His sister Kiriko makes the long trip to Tokyo, specifically to accost Otsuka, Japan's top criminal defence lawyer, and plead with him to take her brother's case. They live in Kitakyushu which, though a city, she contends that the local lawyers are not up to the job. Otsuka contemptuously brushes her off. A year passes. Masao has suicided in jail, his appeal having failed due to the lack of interest and competence of the local defence lawyer. Kiriko returns to Tokyo, planning revenge on Otsuka for refusing the case and causing her brother's death.
Sugata Sanshiro
Music
The story of Sanshiro Sugata, a young man who wants to learn the new art of judo. A wise teacher reveals to Sanshiro that judo is not merely a means of combat nor a demonstration of physical skill, but an art which reveals the artist to himself.
The Yellow Handkerchief
Original Music Composer
The story is about a convict released from prison for an old murder who is thinking about returning to his ex-wife and his former life. If she puts a yellow handkerchief on the window, it would mean that she wants him back at home.
The Love and Adventures of Kuroki Taro
Original Music Composer
Taro Kuroki, 42, is a stuntman with a samurai's heart. He loves adventures, plays pranks with the police, tries to cure a cat lady by reversing her trauma, and finally, rescues his niece who is about to be lured into prostitution.
The Alaska Story
Original Music Composer
A Japanese sailor finds a colony of Eskimos in the Arctic and decides to stay with them. He comes off at a certain moment to look for his luck in the gold rush in Alaska. But he does not forget them.
A Portrait of Shunkin
Original Music Composer
Okoto is blind since childhood. Her young servant Sasuke is in love of her. One day Koto is badly scarred on her face. In order to preserve the memory of her once beautiful face, Sasuke takes away his own sight.
The Corporation
Music
Drama and intrigue about defense contracts and corruption.
Solar Eclipse
Original Music Composer
When bribe money from a rigged election funnels into a dam construction project, collusion, lust, greed and even murder are on the ballot.
Without Complaint
Original Music Composer
Based on the novel of the same name by Seichô Matsumoto.
Aoba shigereru
Original Music Composer
Based on the novel of the same name by Hisashi Inoue.
Lupin the Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy
Original Music Composer
The Maccherone organization is out to get a priceless national treasure. But when they see third-generation cat-burglar Lupin as an obstacle, countless assassins are sent to kill him on sight and kidnap his girl Fujiko! Can Lupin get the loot before the Maccherone gang, rescue Fujiko, and stay alive at the same time?
Machi no Hi
Music
Violent Streets
Music
With a Kansai syndicate setting their sights on Tokyo, a former yakuza boss gets dragged back into a world of violence.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Original Music Composer
An Okinawan prophecy that foretells the destruction of the Earth is seeming fulfilled when Godzilla emerges to return to his destructive roots. But not all is what it seems after Godzilla breaks his ally Anguirus's jaw. Matters are further complicated when a second Godzilla emerges, revealing the doppelgänger as a mechanical weapon.
Demon Spies
Original Music Composer
Deep in the mountains of feudal Japan, a group of children endure cruel and unorthodox training in order to become the Shogunate's most secret and deadly weapons - the Demon Spies! Their true identities are hidden - even from each other. Behind their demon masks, they are educated in the deadly arts of infiltration, espionage, assassination - and seduction! If they survive to become strong enough to kill their teachers, they will become - the Demon Spies! Sent on a suicide mission to uncover a deadly conspiracy, five inexperienced Demon Spies must infiltrate a powerful fief, discover the location of its secret arsenal, and destroy it. But Lord Shogen, the Demon Hunter, plans to brutally interrogate, ingeniously torture, and cruelly execute - the Demon Spies!
The Family
Original Music Composer
Adaptation of the novel by Toyoko Yamasaki.
Submersion of Japan
Music
A team of geophysicists investigating seismic activity on the seafloor discover that the islands of Japan, after suffering from massive volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, will be pulled into the ocean, killing millions.
Stray Dog
Original Music Composer
When his pistol is stolen, police detective Murakami is humiliated, especially when the gun is later implicated in a crime. Working with his superior, Chief Detective Sato, Murakami works feverishly to trace the location of his pistol, ultimately clashing with a gang of youthful Okinawans.
Men and War III: The Final Chapter
Original Music Composer
Final part of epic drama about war and its effects upon human beings, follows the fortunes of the Godai family through the Sino-Japanese War through the Soviet Union's sudden attack upon Japanese troops at the end of the war.
Long Journey into Love
Original Music Composer
A beautifully told story of a woman hardened by marriage to a man she doesn't love, after giving herself to another. She dedicates herself to her work, designing and creating plaited cords for kimono.
Deeper Than Blue
Original Music Composer
About a girl who marries in the middle of the Pacific War, is widowed at 18, and her unflagging struggle to survive during and after the war with her son.
The Twilight Years
Music
A woman looks after her father in law.
Home from the Sea
Original Music Composer
On a beautiful island in Seto Inner Sea, Seichi and Minko make their living by transporting rocks to construction sites by boat. They cherish the deepest affection for this piece of land they call home, and the simple life they lead. But rapid industrial growth makes it all but impossible to continue their chosen living style, and they are forced to leave their beloved hometown in search of a brighter future. But their hometown lingers on their hearts, and they dream of a time when they may once again return.
Special Boy Soldiers of the Navy
Music
Japanese youngsters enduring hard training in Recruit Camp and then going to Iwo Jima in the last days of World War II.
Sapporo Winter Olympics
Music
A documentary about the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan.
Onna no hanamichi
Music
The Wolves
Original Music Composer
After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi (Tatsuya Nakadai) gets released early -- only to find that his former gang has merged with the Kannos. But with bitter resentments lingering on both sides, how long will it be before the bloodshed begins anew? Set in 1926 Japan, this serpentine crime thriller from director Hideo Gosha also stars Toshio Kurosawa and Isao Natsuyagi as Iwahashi's closest ally.
The Battle of Okinawa
Original Music Composer
The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.
Men and War II: Land of Love and Sorrow
Original Music Composer
Second part of an epic drama of war and its effects upon human beings, follows the fortunes of the Godai family from 1935 through Japan's invasion of China. Based on the novels by Jumpei Gomikawa, who also penned The Human Condition.
幻の殺意
Original Music Composer
Adaptation of the Shôji Yuki novel.
Where Spring Comes Late
Original Music Composer
The story is set in 1970 during the time of the first EXPO in Japan. The film’s main figure is a miner who suddenly becomes unemployed because the mine he worked in was shut down. He decides to resettle with his whole family to Hokkaido in northern Japan and start a new life as a farmer.
Song of the Horse
Original Music Composer
An old man talks about a horse and human relations to his grandchild through the growth of the Derby horse. Akira Kurosawa's visual poem for the horse, the creature which he loved.
Men and War I: Prelude to Destiny
Music
Keisuke Godai, head of the upstart Godai family conglomerate, plans to strengthen ties with the hardliners in the Kwantung Army as they plan military expansion into Manchuria.
野獣都市
Music
Japanese crime movie.
The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan
Original Music Composer
An outlaw pushes the residents of Edo's red light district to rebel against a growing number of stifling, moralistic laws.
Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor
Original Music Composer
Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...The Shinsengumi, a small army of samurai, farmers and peasants, band together to do battle against the tide of history. Their leader, Isami Kondo is a man who rises from farmer to fighter to head the fierce Shinsengumi brigade. Using a stern hand and a heart of gold, he rallies his men in defense of the tottering Shogunate. But bloodshed and treachery lurk around every corner.
The Great Japanese Pick-Pocket Club
Music
A crime story (with strong elements of comedy) that pits a determined detective against a gang of pickpockets in Osaka. The detective (played by Keiju Kobayashi) and the leader of the gang (played by Norihei Miki) have an interesting wartime backstory together that fuels much of the story.
Travels of Lord Mito
Music
In the 9th year of Genroku, Mitsukuni Mito Komon of Hitachi Province set out on a pilgrimage to various countries with his reluctant vassals, Sukesaburo and Kakunosuke, under the name of Koemon, a retired peasant.
The Magoichi Saga
Original Music Composer
Lord Oda Nobunaga gains control of nearly all of Japan and tries to enlist the aid of Magoichi and his 3.000 gunners.
Tenchu!
Original Music Composer
A ronin desperately seeks a way out of financial straits; he allies with the Tosa clan under the ruthless leader Takechi, who quickly takes advantage.
Battle of the Japan Sea
Music Producer
Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront the Russians, with results which stun both nations. Meanwhile, Major Genjiro Akashi makes secret negotiations with the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, negotiations that have repercussions far beyond the conflict at hand.
Admiral Borneo: Betting at the Equator
Music
Takeo (Kiniya Kitaoji), son of a wealthy car industry executive, is unhappy with his job and goes to Singapore to become a fisherman. At first ridiculed by the local fishermen, he eventually gets their respect but his rebel temper pushes him to find new adventures in Alaska.
Forward, young people!
Music
The second film tells about the life of matured brothers and sister Sato. Taro became a foreman. He saves every yen to fulfill his dream of building his own house with stone gates. Jiro continues to work in the transportation office, he dreams of getting married. Saburo faces a moral problem: in order to get a good position, he must answer the questions of the entrance test differently than his conscience tells him. At the exam, Saburo does not hide his views on life and is deprived of the promised position. Orie and Suekiti believe that he did wrong and betrayed his older brothers. But the anxiety in the Sato family is not limited to these events. Orie was being asked to marry a handsome, well-established young man, but she suddenly announced her decision to marry Tozaka, who was suffering from radiation sickness. Sato's peaceful home is falling apart...
Goyokin
Original Music Composer
A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.
Vagabond Schemer
Original Music Composer
The return of a man to Japan from Borneo creates chaos in a village.
Samurai Banners
Original Music Composer
Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda's realm, advance the claim of Yu's son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?
Young People
Music
"Young People" is a story about the lives of four brothers and a sister, Sato. After the death of his parents, the older brother, Taro, who works in construction, decides to replace them. The second brother, Jiro, is a truck driver. The third, Saburo, is a student, dreams of a better future for the whole family are connected with him, with his career. Brothers and sisters are fighting to give him a higher education. And, finally, the youngest of the brothers, Suekichi, is also going to enter the university after graduation. The life of the Sato family is complicated. Taro is kind, but limited, not always able to find a common language with his brothers and sister Orie. The girl cannot stand the despotism of her brother, leaves her home and goes to work at the factory. With her departure, everything in the house goes upside down. Suekichi fails her university entrance exams, Orie is forced to return to her family.
Scrap Collectors
Music
Based on a story by Akiyuki Nosaka.
The Human Bullet
Original Music Composer
A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.
Admiral Yamamoto
Original Music Composer
As Japan joins in a political pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is appointed supreme commander of the Japanese fleet. With Japan headed inexorably toward war, Yamamoto, despite his misgivings, believes the only possible victory lies in destroying the American fleet by surprise at Pearl Harbor. The attack succeeds, but fails to sink the American carrier fleet. Thus Yamamoto must lead the Japanese navy into war with ever-diminishing likelihood of success.
Hishakaku and Kiratsune: A Tale of Two Yakuza
Music
With his penultimate film, Uchida revisited one of his popular prewar titles, 1936’s Theatre of Life, an adaptation of Shiro Ozaki’s eponymous novel. Three-time Seijun Suzuki collaborator Goro Tanada wrote a gangsterized adaptation of Ozaki’s story for Uchida at a time when the yakuza had eclipsed the samurai genre as Toei's main cash crop. Protagonist Hishakaku murders a man in a quarrel over a barmaid and goes to jail. In his temporary absence, his girlfriend Otoyo, a former geisha, falls for Hishakaku’s brother, inciting a dangerous love triangle that, in typical yakuza fashion, ends tragically.
Kill!
Original Music Composer
A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.
Golden Eyes
Original Music Composer
A killer-for-hire gets mixed up with a cast of wacky characters involved in a gold smuggling route from Beirut to Tokyo.
Son of Godzilla
Original Music Composer
Reporter Goro Maki stumbles upon scientists conducting weather experiments on Sollgel Island in the South Seas. He discovers the island is inhabited by giant mantis and a woman named Saeko who's been cast away since the death of her father. The pair soon find a helpless infant monster that Godzilla must adopt and learn to raise as one of his own.
Japan's Longest Day
Original Music Composer
Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.
Organized Violence II
Music
Organized Violence
Original Music Composer
A war breaks out on the streets between rivalry Yakuza clans.
The Age of Assassins
Original Music Composer
A nerdy young college instructor named Shinji Kikyo returns home one day to find himself the target of a mad assassin. Surviving somewhat miraculously, he fends off other assassins and with the help of reporter Keiko Tsurumaki and car mechanic Bill Otomo, eventually discovering that a "population control" association is really an assassination squad led by Shogo Mizorogi, who has been training patients of a mental asylum to become killers.
Three Faces of Love
Music
When a gifted Japanese craftsmen dies, his three daughters are summoned to decide who will take over the family ribbon business in this family drama. Only one daughter cares to carry on her father's work, but she is met with resistance from her stepmother. One sister cares nothing for the artisan tradition, while the other is an icy opportunist whose only love is for money. It is the daughter who cares the most for her father's work who wanders away in a symbolic journey of self discovery.
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
Original Music Composer
Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. The group shipwrecks on Letchi island and discover the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization controlling a crustacean monster. Finding a sleeping Godzilla, they decide to awaken him to defeat the terrorists and liberate the natives.
Koto—The Lake of Tears
Original Music Composer
A touching story following young shamisen string maker, Saku. Beautiful Saku moves to Lake Yogo, known for its production of quality shamisen strings, only to find her peaceful life turned upside down when a master musician takes personal interest in her.
Zero Fighter
Music
Japanese war movie.
Moment of Terror
Original Music Composer
When an only child is struck by a car and dies, the child's mother seeks vengeance against the driver in this thrilling drama. The car was driven by the wife of a company president who is having an affair. The woman's husband manages to buy silence about the incident, but the victim's mother discovers the identity of the driver. After she secures a job in the home of the company president and his philandering spouse, the woman plans to murder the couple's son when he reaches the age of her late son.
Thirst for Love
Original Music Composer
Natsuko, a Tokyo bar proprietress, and Yuki, a Kyoto Ryokan owner, vie for the affections of an advertising professional.
The Sword of Doom
Original Music Composer
Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.
Cash Calls Hell
Original Music Composer
Before leaving prison, Oida uncomfortably enters into an agreement with his cell mate: in exchange for a half-share of 30,000,000 yen, he is to assassinate three strangers given to him on a list. However, upon meeting his first potential victim, Oida has second thoughts. Yet, even as he tries to back out, the body count starts climbing. Oida must now try to alert the people on his list of their impending danger, and find out why they are being targeted in the first place.
Ironfinger
Original Music Composer
After being mistaken for an Interpol agent, a man who was just supposed to go on vacation gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favor of a notorious arms dealer.
Rokujō yukiyama tsumugi
Music
Young widow Ine is suffering under the harsh treatment of her mother in law. As a former Geisha, Ine had struggled to be accepted into the well-established Rokujo family from the beginning. With the support of Jiro, a young man Ine's late husband had saved from homelessness as a young boy, Ine tries to keep the family's heritage of silk processing alive. Their close relationship soon causes gossip among the villagers and threaten Ine's position in the family even further ...
Fort Graveyard
Original Music Composer
Charged with insubordination for punching a superior, Sergeant Kosugi is shipped to China in the last desperate days of the Second World War. His commander, Captain Sakuma, is vicious and dictatorial. Sakuma places Kosugi in charge of training for combat what once was the military band. Kosugi must somehow prepare his inept soldiers for the rigors of combat.
Sanshiro Sugata
Original Music Composer
Remake of Kurosawa's films Sanshiro Sugata and Sanshiro Sugata part 2. A young man, Sanshiro Sugata, troubled by personal problems, takes up judo. His teacher, Shogoro Yano, is a devout man who has aroused the enmity of the local practitioners of jujitsu, the older and more accepted of the two sports. Sugata uses his newly learned prowess to gain a measure of respect from others; however, Shogoro insists that the sport has a spiritual side, a lesson Sugata has yet to learn. Eventually, in hand-to-hand combat with the father of a young woman he loves, he comes to understand the true meaning of judo.
Three Yakuza
Original Music Composer
A tale of three Yakuza gamblers who traveled Japan during the samurai era living by their wits and sword skills. Told in 3 separate vignettes, each part tells the story of a different drifter’s life. Part 1: A man is on the run after killing two Hasshu Officials to avenge his Boss. He must make a life or death decision as he is asked to protect a gang from attack. Part 2: A pair of gamblers chased out of a crooked game must fight not only their pursuers, but the ghosts of their pasts as well. Part 3: A wanderer who wants to live according to the Yakuza Code, but is not sure that he can do so when asked to save a town from an evil official.
Cold Rice, Osan, Chan
Original Music Composer
Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.
Red Beard
Original Music Composer
Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.
The Tattooed Lord
Music
Samurai Assassin
Original Music Composer
Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.
Raised in a Palace
Original Music Composer
Set in the pleasure district of Kyoto, Tamiko (Yoshiko Mita, in her first lead role) is a young girl attending high school by day and training as a geisha at night She sees her future as an entertainer, not a prostitute, & she expects a happy marriage with a medical student, Yasuke (Katsuo Nakamura), a sweet fellow she deeply loves. but things started to getting worse for Tamiko and she's forced to become the mistress of the disgusting Tsukada (Seiji Miyaguchi).
Samurai from Nowhere
Original Music Composer
Misawa Ihei (Nagato) is traveling with his wife Tae (Iwashita Shima) who abhors the practice of sword fighting for prize money. Tae is the daughter of the clan's chief counselor who married the low-ranking Ihei to avoid becoming the clan lord's mistress. Into the mix comes Oba Gunjuro (Tetsurō Tamba), a mysterious ronin who will do anything for money. This leads to a fitting climax as the forces of hate and love converge while the couple attempt to break through the border!
Oh, Bomb!
Original Music Composer
During the mayoral election, two ex-prisoners decide to replace the lucky pen of an annoying candidate with a mini-bomb.
The Desperate
Music
Jakoman and Tetsu
Original Music Composer
In a village subsisting on its 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.
Zoku ôsho
Original Music Composer
Adaptation of novel.
The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman
Original Music Composer
A salaryman's drunken ravings in public attract the attention of journalists who coerce him into telling them his life's story.
A House in the Quarter
Original Music Composer
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 finds herself attracted to a young priest named Kunugida. Torn by jealousy, Takamatsu hatches an evil plan to tear them apart.
Lost World Of Sinbad
Original Music Composer
An adventurous and daring sailor sets sail to the castle of an ailing king to stop an evil premier, hungry for power and wealth, from succeeding the throne and marrying the king's beautiful daughter. Along the way, with the help of some courageous rebels and a lustful wizard, he must overcome the powers of a bewitching witch, a band of ruthless pirates, and the castle's Imperial guards. He must also free those kidnapped into slavery and restore the king's reputation.
Tale of Army Brutality
Original Music Composer
Director Jun'ya Satô's debut film focuses on the inhuman training of recruits, the brutal drill system that reigned in the Japanese army during World War II, where in the first two years of training, ordinary people were turned into inhuman killers. For his first film, the director was awarded the Blue Ribbon Awards in the Debutant of the Year nomination.
Life of Hishakaku 2
Original Music Composer
Upon his release from the prison, Hishakaku joins the Kikkyo family who is struggling to regain their turf from their rival, Domoto family. To reciprocate the kindness of the Kikkyos, Hishakaku heads to meet the leader of Domoto, Osumi, and finds himself emotionally involved with her.
Legacy of the 500,000
Original Music Composer
During World War II, Japan sends gold to the Phillipines. After the war, the gold is lost in the bay of Manille. Former soldier Takeichi Matsuo is now working as a business executive. He meets Mintsura Gunji, the boss of a large company, who offers him to go to the Philippines and bring back the gold.
Warring Clans
Music
A brave, highly principled warrior resigns his post as a body guard to the head of a powerful clan after he learns that his employers have been smuggling arms to the enemy. The remaining samurai try in vain to coerce him back, but their efforts are thwarted by crooked warriors who launch an attack...
Life of Hishakaku
Original Music Composer
After eloping with a prostitute named Otoyo, Hishakaku takes refuge in the Kogane family’s turf. Indebted to Boss Kogane for his kindness, Hishakaku swears to dedicate himself to protect the Koganes in time of crisis. Hishakaku’s humble life comes to a sudden halt when the Kogane family becomes involved in a fatal feud with their rival, and Hishakaku’s services are called upon.
High and Low
Original Music Composer
An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
Modern Children
Music
After their father dies, his children try to get by on a house boat.
Operation Enemy Fort
Original Music Composer
Soldiers on the front lines in China during World War II are besieged by guerrilla attacks and attempt to destroy an enemy fort.
Our Failures
Music
Tells the story of Shintaro, a lawyer who quits his job to work at a camera factory, and his love adventures.
The Ambitious Youth
Original Music Composer
As descendent of famed fishmonger Isshin Tasuke, young feisty Ishii Tasuke uses his talent to flourish his employer’s food business.
Operation Sewer Rats
Music
Sanjuro
Original Music Composer
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
Run, Genta, Run!
Original Music Composer
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.
Blood on the Sea
Original Music Composer
Four fishermen friends are caught up in a piracy plot.
Lord Mito: Struggle of Suke and Kaku
Original Music Composer
The story of two young men whose ambition is to become the personal bodyguards to the Shogun's uncle, Lord Mito Komon. Portrayed by a pair of up and coming stars, Sasaki Sukesaburo (Matsukata), the son of a widower and Atsumi Kakunoshin (Kitaoji), whose mother is a widow find themselves constantly in trouble and are forced to become two of the most powerful fighters in all Japan. The stories about Mito Komon and his travels througout Japan are many, but this is one that had yet to be told. The struggles of Suke-san and Kaku-san faced in order to join the Elder in his quest to fight against injustice and corruption during the samurai era.
Challenge to Live
Original Music Composer
An employee at an oil cartel (Mihashi) is haunted by an act years before when he euthanized a fellow soldier when the two were adrift at sea during the Pacific War. Matters are complicated further when he falls in love with the soldier's younger sister (Tsukasa).
Yojimbo
Original Music Composer
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
Blueprint of Murder
Original Music Composer
Yuzo Kayama plays the protagonist, a whale-hunting cannon manufactuing supervisor, whose brother is an automobile tester for Komatsu Motors which has a fatal accident. As his brother investigates the "Accident" with his old college friend (makoto Sato), now a reporter... They stumble across murder, espionage and cover-ups. High-class night club, femme fatale, and a "Blueprint of Murder" all adds up to a bigger plot then first expected.
Westward Desperado
Original Music Composer
Follow-up to Desperado Outpost (1959) sees Japanese soldiers seeking the flag of a defeated regiment in China.
Sixteen years old
Music
Senko Tamagawa is a third-year junior high school student, and she is the captain of the badminton club. Her father, Kinzo, remodeled her barn and lent it to her only Mikayo. Senko was somehow envious of her flashy life... In a tragedy with a girl living in the base as the main character, Katsumi Miki of "Life like a weed" adapted the original story of Muraji Uchiki and directed by Eisuke Takizawa of "Ajisai no Uta".
The Bad Sleep Well
Original Music Composer
In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.
Man Against Man
Original Music Composer
Kikumori runs a cabaret on the docks, while his friend Kaji operates transport boats. When a gang of drug dealers tries to force the pair to cooperate in a smuggling scheme, conflict arises between the two friends. Falsely blamed for murder, Kikumori is blackmailed into an attempt to sabotage Kaji's boats and kill him. But the friendship between the two men proves an obstacle to the gangleader's plans.
The Gambling Samurai
Music
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 the rich and giving to the poor, always with an eye toward avenging himself on Magistrate Matsui.
Intimidation
Original Music Composer
Koreyoshi Kurahara’s ingeniously plotted, pocket-size noir concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for a promotion. The marvelously moody Intimidation (Aru kyouhaku) is an elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced crime drama.
The Last Gunfight
Original Music Composer
Japanese police detective Saburo Fujioka is suspected of corruption, demoted, and sent to the city of Kojin. Kojin is the scene of fierce fighting between rival gangs. Fujioka is assigned to investigate the death of the wife of gangster Tetsuo Maruyama of the Kozuka gang, probably at the hands of one of the Oka gang. During a gang gunfight, Maruyama is rescued by Detective Fujioka and the two become friends. But Maruyama insists on avenging his wife's murder, even if it means conflict with his new friend.
Desperado Outpost
Original Music Composer
When Sergeant Okubo's brother is murdered at a Japanese outpost in Northern China during the Second World War, Okubo poses as a war correspondent and seeks out his brother's killer.
Someday I'll Know
Original Music Composer
A modern love story involving different affairs.
A Man Explodes
Music
Kensaku Muro and his father manage a farm in Sakudaira at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains. One day Kensuke saves a suicidal woman, Fukiko Uzu, who jumps into a waterfall. Having injured his eyes in the process, he is brought to Tokyo for medical treatment. In Tokyo, Kensaku visits his mother Kaneko who left her son years ago. She now owns an exclusive club and has a son, Isao, with the president of Kobe Concern. Isao plots to steal Kensuke's farm as part of a land development scheme with Fukiko's husband. Without knowing they are blood related, their conflict over the farm intensifies.
I Want to Be a Shellfish
Music
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.
The Praying Man
Original Music Composer
The Stream of Youth
Music
Crimson Wings
Music
At about the same time as lwami, president of a Tokyo company is murdered by an unknown assailant, it happens that an urgent call has been received from an airline company's office on remote Hachijo Island for a special serum. A Cessna aircraft which has been chartered by a man named Ohashi takes off for the island with the serum piloted by Ishida. But when airborne, Ohashi, who is the murderer of lwami, holds up Ishida at gunpoint and orders him to land on a small island west of Hachijo where a ship is waiting to take him to Hong Kong...
The Hidden Fortress
Original Music Composer
Japanese peasants Matashichi and Tahei try and fail to make a profit from a tribal war. They find a man and woman whom they believe are simple tribe members hiding in a fortress. Although the peasants don't know that Rokurota is a general and Yuki is a princess, the peasants agree to accompany the pair to safety in return for gold. Along the way, the general must prove his expertise in battle while also hiding his identity.
The Man Who Wagers Tomorrow
Music
Former boxer Daishiro lost his wife, and his only son, Kaoru, went missing, it was a heavy blow for Daishiro. One day, Daishiro got a call from his relative Morihiko. He said he forgot the winning lottery ticket of 2 million yen at the hotel, so he wants Daishiro to go and pick it up. Morihiko used the hotel for secret meetings, so he said he couldn't go there himself because he was afraid it would become public. When Daishiro entered the hotel, the Yakuza, who learned about the lottery from the newspaper, threaten the hotel maid Noriko, and want to rob her. Daishiro helps Noriko and safely picks up the lottery, but a message arrives from his relative Seikichi from Osaka. His missing son Kaoru is said to be a boxer in Osaka. "My son... He has the blood of a boxer in him..." Daishiro is heading to Osaka in a hurry...
The H-Man
Original Music Composer
Nuclear tests create a radioactive man who can turn people into slime.
A Slope in the Sun
Original Music Composer
The young Takako Kuramoto has come to Tokyo to study and starts working for the rich Tashiro family as tutor of the daughter, Kumiko, while she receives attention from her two older brothers, Yukichi and Shinji. Meanwhile, the exact parentage of Shinji comes to light.
Rusty Knife
Original Music Composer
Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata, a laughing, self-confident thug. The D.A. gets an anonymous letter about the suicide five years' before of a city council member. Evidence about the case leads the D.A. to Tachibana, struggling to go straight after involvement with the mob and a prison sentence for killing the man responsible for the rape and suicide of his fiancée. One of Tachibana's friends is Keiko, the daughter of the dead councilman and the ward of another powerful official. How do these stories connect?
Akutoku
Music
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 person with a complicated dilemma in a shadowy manner, and is a dramatic work that plays a part in the lead role.
Song for a Bride
Music
An Ishiro Honda film.
I Am Waiting
Original Music Composer
A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.
The Lower Depths
Original Music Composer
Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.
The Living Koheiji
Original Music Composer
The actor Koheiji is terribly in love with the wife of his best friend, the playwright Takuro; to get her, he would even kill Takuro.
Streetlights
Music
A sophisticated comedy about love games between men and women that arise from an intentionally dropped train ticket.
Throne of Blood
Original Music Composer
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Crazed Fruit
Original Music Composer
Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking.
Season of the Sun
Original Music Composer
The film tells the story of a group of high school boxing team members who spend their days drinking, sailing and chasing girls, and who more often than not spend their nights getting into brawls. In particular, it focuses upon Tatsuya, a sullen young man, who falls in love with Eiko, a proud upper-class girl.
The Vampire Moth
Original Music Composer
The story of a professional nude model stalked by a bizarre, unknown man wearing a hideous mask.
Crossroad
Original Music Composer
Ise, a successful entrepreneur, accidentally murders his lunatic wife after he is spotted having an affair with his secretary, Harumi. In his attempt to perfect his crime, he drives to a remote quarry to bury his wife’s body, but along the way, he finds another dead body in the back of his car! Given no choice, Ise dumps both bodies. Meanwhile, Yoshie begins her search for her missing brother, Yoshihiko. After surprising twists and turns, Ise faces his fate.
Nigetekita hanayome
Music
I Live in Fear
Original Music Composer
Kiichi Nakajima, an elderly foundry owner, is convinced that Japan will be affected by an imminent nuclear war, and resolves to move his family to safety in Brazil. His family decides to have him ruled incompetent and Dr. Harada, a Domestic Court counselor, attempts to arbitrate.
Taira Clan Saga
Original Music Composer
Special Forces commander Captain Tadamori returns to Kyoto after successfully defeating the uprising of pirates in the western sea of Japan. But because the high courtiers dislike career soldiers gaining power and influence, they ignore the will of ex-Emperor Toba and refuse to reward the captain. Reward recommender Lord Tokinobu is punished, and the captain sends his son Kiyomori to the Lord's residence, where he falls in love with Tokiko, the Lord's daughter. Meanwhile, Kiyomori finds out that he is possibly the ex-Emperor's son... Written by L.H. Wong
Half Human
Original Music Composer
Three competing parties all race against time to track down an elusive creature known only as the Snowman.
Godzilla Raids Again
Original Music Composer
Two fishing scout pilots make a horrifying discovery when they encounter a second Godzilla alongside a new monster named Anguirus. Without the weapon that killed the original, authorities attempt to lure Godzilla away from the mainland. But Anguirus soon arrives and the two monsters make their way towards Osaka as Japan braces for tragedy.
Ootone no Taiketsu
Music
In the town of Yumoto, Asakichi, a left-arm-less gambler who had been winning at the gambling hall, was attracted by the sound of a faintly heard storyteller, Saman, and left his seat. Asakichi was fascinated by the voice of Oyasu, who sounded exactly like his wife Ochiyo, who had died three years earlier. Asakichi told Oyasu that Ochiyo had fled with him to his home town of Omigawa just before he was deposed by the samurai Shingo Inaba, but that he had put her through a lot of hardship to make her die. Oyasu's husband Tokujiro was a palace carpenter in Edo, but his skills were damaged and he came to take a cure. Asakichi heard about Oyasu's story and offered him money, and Tokujiro's arm was almost completely healed by Oyasu's nursing care.
Banner of the young
Music
The final part of the trilogy. It is about a younger brother, Suekichi. He learned well the lessons that life taught his older brothers. Therefore, he does not think to study, but strives for material well-being alone. To make a career, he ruthlessly pushes his colleagues with his elbows. For him, the high ideals of trade union activists Jiro and Saburo are an example of old-fashioned thinking, naive behavior.