A narrative feature made from a collage of clips from various films around the world.
Gozo Kunizaki
父が待つアメリカへの出発を一週間後に控えた女子大生の新井直美。憧れの永井先輩に誘われホテルへ向かった直美だったが、直美の伯父を名乗る男が飛び込んできて永井を追い出してしまう。男は直美の父の元秘書に雇われた辻山秀一という名の私立探偵で、彼女を出発まで守ることになっていた。ある日、辻山の元妻である幸子が彼のアパートに転がり込んできた。岡崎組の跡取りである和也がホテルで刺殺され、自分が容疑者として疑われているのだという。直美は辻山に、一緒に犯人を捜そうと言い出す。
青函トンネルの貫通に賭けた男たちの長きにわたる苦闘と人間模様を、主演・高倉健、「八甲田山」の森谷司郎監督が壮大なスケールで描く感動のドラマ。共演は吉永小百合。
昭和29年の青函連絡船・洞爺丸の遭難事故をきっかけに、本州と北海道を結ぶ青函トンネル構想が急速に具体化する。国鉄の技術調査員の阿久津は、海底地質調査のため津軽半島へとやって来る。厳しく美しい龍飛崎の自然を背景に、トンネルの貫通に賭けた男たちの熱いドラマが展開する。
Depicting the friendship of three boys in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Navy Minister Oikawa
昭和15年、船大工の小田切武市は、ひとり息子の正人が海軍兵学校に合格したと聞き、大喜び。一方、考古学者の本郷は、長男の英一が自分の反対を押し切って海軍少尉となったのに引きかえ、次男の真二が自分と同じ学問の道に進むと聞いて、ほっと胸をなでおろす。翌年、日本はハワイの真珠湾を攻撃して太平洋戦争が勃発。たえず死と隣り合わせにある英一は、恋人の陽子と結婚するが、彼女に指一本触れることなく戦場に舞い戻る。
A trio of high school boys get summer jobs at a seaside resort. Soon, however, they learn that the woman who runs it is in financial trouble. The three decide to help her.
Hanuemon Otowaya
いつものように江戸闇稼業の元締、音羽屋半右衛門の依頼の仕事を片づけた梅安は情婦おもんのいる料亭井筒で飲んでいた。そのとき、別室で、旗本、安部長門守の長男、主税之助が女中に乱暴して犯したうえ殺してしまった。父親の長門守も、自分の出世を考えると、この長男には手を焼いていた。
Ryokichi Sakata
関東ヤクザの一大勢力、東竜会幹部の加納は、東竜会を関西連合と合併させようと画策していた兄貴分の松岡を殺すはめとなり、まだ幼い松岡の娘・洋子の世話を舎弟の南に託すと、旭川刑務所に送られる。それから15年後、服役を終えて加納は出所するが、彼の不在の間に東竜会の連中はすっかり様変わりしていた。服役中、ブラジルにいる伯父と偽って洋子と文通していた加納は、すっかり美しく成長した彼女の姿を目の当たりにする。
Mainly the story of Shinsuke and his stepmother, ranging from Shinsuke's infanthood to his mid-teens. Coal workers and the mines dominate nearly every aspect of the life of the characters. Shinsuke's father dies while bravely using dynamite to rescue a group of trapped Korean miners. Several older men attempt to help he and his mother cope, including a kind Korean and a Harley-riding yakuza.
A ruffian joins the ranks of the emperor’s guards.
Chief Kishida
A theatrical release of The Return of Ultraman episodes 13-14. It was released on December 12, 1971 as part of the Toho Champion Festival along with Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Earth's Greatest Battle ( edited from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and shorter versions of The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee, and The Little Match Girl.
Former inmate Katsuji gets involved in the horse gambling business while lending a helping hand to a ranch operator.
Chief Kishida
Episodes 5 and 6 of Return of Ultraman show, screened at Toho Championship Festival.
Rear Adm. Tamon Yamaguchi
１９４１年１２月８日の日本軍による真珠湾攻撃の全容を、日米合作オールスター・キャストで映画化した超大作。
In the prewar days leading up to the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937, head flight instructor Lt. Katō Tateo of the Imperial Japanese Army-Air Corps trains new volunteers from the Army's Infantry to become Japan's next generation of fighter pilots at the Tokorozawa Flying School. Flying Kawasaki Ko-4 biplanes, Lt. Katō will train both friend and future foe alike. But as war in China breaks out, Katō now in command of the 5th Rentai will take his untested men flying antiquated planes into aerial combat against the Chinese Air Force who is now headed by Lt. Cho who Katō both earlier befriended and personally trained himself. While Katō's squadron ultimately achieves air superiority over the skies of Manchuria, it comes at a high price in men to which each loss carries a heavy burden that he alone must carry. As the war widens into the Second World War, Captain Katō must battle an ever advancing array of deadlier new enemies flying ever more modern fighter planes.
Uemura
日本連合艦隊とロシアのバルチック艦隊との海戦を描いた戦争スペクタクル。ロシアと交戦状態に入った日本軍は、からくもロシア太平洋艦隊を封じ込める。だがその先には、物量で2倍もの兵力を誇るバルチック艦隊が立ちふさがっていた......。多用された合成シーンが、ミニチュアによる日本艦隊を効果的に演出している。円谷英二の遺作となった作品でもある。
Kurita
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.
The second of two films based on the novel by Futaro Yamada.
Colonel Toyojiro Haga - CO Imperial Guards 2nd Infantry Regiment
昭和天皇や閣僚たちが御前会議において降伏を決定した1945年（昭和20年）8月14日の正午から、国民に対してラジオ（日本放送協会）の玉音放送を通じてポツダム宣言の受諾を知らせる8月15日正午までの24時間を描いている。
Shogen the Instructor
Sasaki Kojiro tells the story of the genius who staked his love, glory, and life on a duel with the supreme master of the sword, Miyamoto Musashi (Tatsuya Nakadai). Oscar winning Hiroshi Inagaki directs this epic motion picture based on Genzo Murakami’s fascinating story. Despite his humble birth, the orphan Sasaki Kojiro (Onoe Kikunosuke) is determined to become the foremost swordsman in all Japan, a title that traditionally belongs to a nobleman. At fencing school, young Kojiro receives the contempt of his classmates because of his superior swordsmanship. When rumors of the upcoming civil war between Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans spread, Kojiro leaves the school and sets out, seizing every opportunity to realize his dream.
The son of a prominent member of a fishing community returns home after a stint with the yakuza to find his father has died under orders of a local gang leader. He sets out to avenge his father, keeping his plans secret from his mother who is cold to him since his perceived abandonment of the family. This wonderful, if little-seen, Fulasaku gem deals with family, community and what it means to do right by both.
Tokutaro Hayami
A lone wolf tries to eliminate a drug-smuggling operation.
Japanese war movie.
Osaka Police Chief
第二次大戦末期、ドイツから極秘裏に運ばれた一つの秘密兵器があった。それは人造人間“フランケンシュタインの不死の心臓”である。日本軍はこの心臓をもとに、人間兵器を造ろうとしたのだ。だがそれは、広島の原爆によって研究途上で失われてしまう。そして十数年後、その心臓から再生した少年が登場したのだった……。
Akitani
1943年5月、北太平洋上のアッツ島で、米軍の猛攻に遭った日本軍が玉砕。同じアリューシャン列島にあるキスカ島の守備隊員約5200名は、これによって孤立。大本営の海軍部では、彼らを見殺しにするのもやむなし、との意見が大勢を占める中、司令長官の川島中将は、彼らを何としてでも救えと、大村少将に隠密の撤退作戦を任命。大村少将は、濃霧をついて敵の包囲をかいくぐり、キスカ島に艦隊を接近させる機会をうかがう。
The first of two films based on the novel by Futaro Yamada.
Police Chief
Three robbers escape with loot from a heist before one of them kills the others. Their corpses wash up near the aftermath of a maritime calamity, provoking a policeman's interest.
Tatewaki Todo
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.
General Iwasa
地球を周回していたTV衛星が突如爆発した事件は、放射能によって突然変異した宇宙細胞の仕業だった。北九州地方に宇宙細胞が襲来、自衛隊必死の攻撃の前に細胞は消滅するが...。
Head of JSDF task force
ゴジラシリーズ第4作。嵐によってインファント島から巨大な卵が日本に漂着した。成虫モスラと小美人は、卵の所有権を主張する興行師に返還を願うが聞き入れられない。小美人たちが帰途に着いたころ、ゴジラが復活し名古屋を壊滅状態に陥れる。そして卵をも破壊しようとしたとき、成虫モスラが現れた。ゴジラを相手に善戦するも、ついに力尽きて倒れるモスラ。だが、卵からは双子の幼虫モスラが孵り、ゴジラに攻撃を始めたのだった……。
Defense Commander
一万二千年前、地殻変動のため海底に沈んだムウ帝国。だが彼らは海底に都市を作り、世界征服を企んでいた。そのころ終戦間際にこつぜんと姿を消した神宮司大佐たちは、孤島でひそかに海底軍艦を建造していた。それを察知したムウ帝国は、神宮司の娘・真琴と恋人・旗中を連れ去ってしまう。やがて始まるムウ帝国の総攻撃。そしてその砲火の中、ついにムウ帝国撃滅を決意した神宮司は、海底軍艦を出動させる……。
Kagawa Tanomo
This Japanese action-adventure is set in the 17th century when all forms of swordplay were banned. One fighter, an excellent swordsman believes the law is unfair. His brother keeps his opinions about the law to himself. The swordsman vents his frustration by cutting off the thumbs of an enemy. The fighter is then banished. To live, he becomes a thief. To restore the family's lost honor, the other brother is forced to challenge the fighter to a duel.
Chief of First Investigating Section
ナショナル・シューズの権藤専務は、自分の息子と間違えられて運転手の息子が誘拐され、身代金3千万円を要求される。苦悩の末、権藤は運転手のために全財産を投げ出して3千万円を用意する。無事子どもは取り戻したが、犯人は巧みに金を奪い逃走してしまい、権藤自身は会社を追われてしまう……。
Yamato Commander Ito
Lt. Col. Senda resists the idea of sending Japanese fighter pilots on suicide missions. He believes that what is really necessary for Japan to regain momentum in the war is for the air force to gather its most brilliant pilots into an elite squadron and use the unit to pinpoint attacks on the Americans. Disrespected by the kamikaze pilots who think the "non-suicidal" pilots are afraid, the unit redeems itself by stunning victories. But success leads the military leaders to expect too much of the unit, and new orders portend disaster.
The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for over a year to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder.
Lieutenant Masamune
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).
Homma, Instructor Who Skips Town
やくざと元締めが対立するさびれた宿場町。そこへ一人の浪人者がやってくる。立ち寄った居酒屋のあるじに、早くこの町を出ていった方がいいと言われるが、その男は自分を用心棒として売り込み始める。やがて男をめぐって、二つの勢力は対立を深めていく……。ハメットの『血の収穫』を翻案、時代劇に西部劇の要素を取り込んだ娯楽活劇。
Katsuyasu Sakakibara
During the raging war between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans, the swordsman Mohei (whose family has been completely decimated) is recruited by Toyotomi to overcome the seat of power, Osaka Castle. Mohei's daredevil skills will be put to severe tests.
Detective
日本未利用土地開発公団の副総裁、岩淵の娘佳子と、秘書の西幸一の披露宴が執り行なわれようとしていた。しかし、この西という男、実は5年前、新庁舎の建設に絡む不正入札疑惑で自ら命を絶ち事件の幕引きを図った課長補佐・古谷の一人息子だった……
Lt. Koji Kitami is a navigator-bombardier in Japan's Naval Air Force. He participates in the Japanese raid on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and is welcomed with pride in his hometown on his return. As Japan racks up victory after victory in the Pacific War, Kitami is caught up in the emotion of the time and fights courageously for the standard of Japanese honor. But his assuredness of his government's righteousness is shaken after the Japanese navy is defeated in the debacle of Midway.
Magistrate Jubei Matsui
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.
Boss Daihachi
Tossing his hat in the air to pick a direction, Yataro the wanderer sets out on a journey of adventure, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. The son of a Hatamoto, he has left the samurai life and become a yakuza, gambling on life's fortune and ready to risk his life at a moment's notice. Featuring an all-star cast that includes the debonair Azuma Chiyonosuke, this is a tale of excitement and action that brings the best of black and white to the silver screen. An adventure like no other, this is one of Kinnosuke's lost gems. A series of mishaps leads Yataro to watching over the beloved daughter of his close friend.
Naruto Nitôhei
Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against the recruit Obara. He also sees his friend Shinjô Ittôhei defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.
太平洋戦争における日本の敗北を目前に控えた昭和20年の初夏、河本艦長率いる潜水艦イー57は某国の親日派高官父娘を乗せて極秘裏に和平工作を図るべく、カナリー諸島へ向けて出航した。乗組員の多くは徹底抗戦を主張し、和平にも否定的だったが、敵との遭遇などさまざまな困難を経て皆の意思はひとつにまとまっていく。しかしやがてポツダム宣言が発令される。
The mythical adventures of the legendary Chinese trickster Monkey, who must outwit a variety of wily demons who stand in the way of him and his fellow Buddhist travelers. Though portrayed as a literal, if rather anthropomorphized, monkey in the original legends, this film substitutes the spindly comic actor Norihei Miki, sans makeup.
General Yano
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.
General Hyoe Tadokoro
戦国時代、秋月家の武将・六郎太は、生き残った世継ぎの雪姫と共に隠し砦(とりで)にこもる。六郎太たちは、一獲千金をもくろみ、戦に参戦した農民の太平と又七に軍資金の黄金を背負わせ、敵陣を突破して友好国へ逃げ込もうとするが…。次々にふりかかる絶体絶命の危機を切り抜けていく大脱出劇。
狂言回し的な百姓コンビが、後に「スターウォーズ」の“C-3PO”“R2-D2”のモデルとなったことはあまりにも有名な話。
Kogoro Akechi
Adaptation of Edogawa Ranpo's novel.
Bright samurai movie innovatively adapted from a classic story. A traveling masterless samurai is asked by a daughter of an established samurai family to pretend they are a married couple, and gets involved in the troubles of the samurai clan.
Gen. Morita
火星と木星の間に分布するアステロイドベルトは、かつて存在していた惑星ミステロイドの爆発によって生まれたものだった。ミストロイドの住人・ミステリアンは新たな居住地を地球に定め、富士の裾野に巨大なドーム基地を作り上げる。そして地球人に対し、地球人女性との結婚と居住権を宣言した。防衛軍のミステリアン対策委員会は、地球の科学力を結集、自衛のためミステリアンに総攻撃をかける……。
A plane is forced to land at sea just off the Japanese coast. A young American boy is later befriended by a fisherman's son, with the two setting off on an unintended journey across the country.
Kaoru Inoue
Meiji Tenno portrayed the ramp up to the Russo-Japan War. In addition to showing the political events that led to war, it also showed the era from the story of a farm family in rural Japan who sent their son off to war. As such, it could be considered an anti-war movie, showing how, while war is devised by governments, the people do not really understand what war is, and it's combatants often do not know what they are fighting for.
Based on the famous novel by Yamagami Itaro, this is the story of a group of ronin living in abject poverty in the latter days of the Edo period. Starring the great Konoe Jushiro, Ronin Gai is populated by an ensemble of colorful characters, social outcasts who patronize a restaurant and bar on the outskirts of Edo. Among them are masterless samurai reduced to drunkenness and debauchery. One disgraced and disillusioned former warrior gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to retrieve a famous knife from a corrupt lord. This is the third version directed by Makino Masahiro and is considered a true classic.
1956 Japanese film, originally released in two parts.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto leads the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy to defeat the American Fleet.
1956 Japanese film, originally released in two parts.
Japanese comedy film.
Dad
A little girl who falls into a lake and is saved by a god who then takes her up to the clouds and shows her what the world was like before she was born and what the world would be like if she where never born. While in the clouds she meets her grandparents and a few other people she loved who have passed on.
Japanese war film.
Kingorô Tamai
Dai-ni-bu: Aijô ruten: Kiyoshi Saeki directed movie
Kingorô Tamai
Dai-ichi-bu: Dôkai-wan no rantô - Kiyoshi Saeki directed movie.
Japanese war drama.
Jiro Nomura
The film is about the Yamato's suicide mission to Okinawa in March 1945 to defend the homeland threatened by U.S. bombers. Adapted from Mitsuru Yoshida's 1952 book "Requiem for the Battleship Yamato".
Dr. Oka
A group of Okinawan high school girls are drafted as nurses during the American invasion of the island. As the enemy army advances further, the situation for the girls becomes increasingly desperate as food and shelter run out and the number of injured climbs, leading to the film's tragic finale.
Iori Saotome
Jidai-geki starring Kanjuro Arashi
Togashi
Yoshitsune Minamoto, disguised with his retinue as monks, must make do with a comical porter as their guide through hostile territory en route to safety.
Shunsuke Washimi, a member of the karate club, misunderstands the affections of Chiyo, a lodging house girl who is in love with him and in the midst of a confusion challenges Yamauchi Tatsuhiko to a fight, forgetting the true core of martial arts, that should only be used as a selfdefense.
Chief Takagi
Japanese drama film.
Sergeant Odagiri
War film by Kon Ichikawa
Adaptation of the original story by Hida Yoshiro, whose depiction of the world of the yakuza is unparalleled. Gisuke, a weather-beaten yakuza with nostalgia and memories of love in his heart.
Mimaki
谷崎潤一郎の同名小説を八住利雄が脚色し阿部豊が監督した文芸作。大阪を舞台に美しい四姉妹が織りなす物語。『細雪』はこの後、島耕二(1959年)と市川崑(1983年)により映画化された。四女の妙子を演じた高峰秀子が抜群の演技力を見せる。洪水のシーンに特撮が使われ、豪華な衣装が多数用意されるなど、当時としては破格の製作費がかけられたという。 昭和初期の蒔岡家。長女の鶴子は夫と共に古い暖簾を守り、次女の幸子は婿養子を迎えて芦屋に分家、三女の雪子は幸子夫妻から縁談を持ちかけられるが上手くいかない。四女の妙子は恋仲になったカメラマンが死亡したことから、自暴自棄になってしまう…。
Kumasuke Arai
An early film by Kon Ichikawa
Ishimatsu
The tale of a feudal swordsman who cynically takes no responsibility for anything, relegating it to others, and then taking the credit.
Directed by Eisuke Takizawa
A film dealing with the comings and goings of individuals in the immediate postwar period.
Goro Asahina
A newly hired daily newspaper writer covering the society beat receives an assignment to cover Tokyo at night by walking and observing it. He gets into the right frame of mind by dressing the part as a vagrant with not a penny to his name. He gets into trouble ending up at the police station slammer overnight. He has no material to write about and, with his assignment unfulfilled, faces a cross editor.
Ruykichi Noge
黒澤明監督の戦後最初の監督作品。京大・滝川事件とゾルゲ・スパイ事件をモチーフに、ファシズムの吹き荒れる時代にあって自らの信念に基づいて強く生きる女性の姿を謳い上げたドラマ。国民的アイドル原節子が芯の強いヒロインを好演。昭和8年。京都帝国大学の教授・八木原の教え子たちにとって教授の一人娘、幸枝は憧れの的。野毛、糸川の二人の学生も幸枝に想いを寄せていた。秀才型で日和見的な糸川に対して実直で行動派の野毛。軍国主義が強まる中、野毛が左翼運動へと身を投じる一方、糸川はひたすらに法曹の道を目指していた。やがて、幸枝は信念を持って行動する野毛に魅力を感じ始めるのだったが……。
Lord for a Night is a 1946 Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa.
Fujita
Two sisters, one a dancer and the other a script supervisor at a big movie studio, become embroiled in union activities when a strike is called in sympathy with striking railroad workers, one of whom boards with the sisters and their parents. The girls' father argues with them about their strike, but finds his views changing when he himself loses his job.
Tadashi Imai 1946 movie
Goro Urashima
Reputedly based on Frank Capra’s 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, A Descendant of Tarô Urashima is about a repatriated soldier who becomes populist politician in the Japanese Happiness Party.
The story of an airport and its air traffic control crew in a remote and northern Japanese town. Three of the air traffic controllers are female with one of them working with her dead fiancé's sister. The engaged man had gone to war and never returned.
Yagyu Tajima-no-kami
During the Warring States era, Hozoin Kakuzenbo and Yagyu Tajima-no-kami, being best friends, spend their days acquiring skills of the spear, sword and martial arts. Hozoin loses a series of matches with master swordsman Kozumi Ise-no-kami. Bitterly ashamed, Hozoin embarks on a journey, trying to perfect his skills. A few years later, Hozoin is ready and it's time for the ultimate showdown with Ise-no-kami!
Sanshiro Sugata
In this government-suggested sequel, Sugata again grows as a judo master, and demonstrates his (and by extension, all Japanese) superiority to the foreign warrior.
Mikami
Three IJN flyers Mikami (Susumu Fujita), Kawakami (Masayuki Mori) and Murakami (Akitake Kono) are good friends, and they are all renowned for their torpedo techniques. Mikami is posted as a staff officer at a base on an island in the Pacific. Kawakami and Murakami later joins him as the base squardron is reinforced. The enemy task force approaches the island and all three of them attack the fleet, killing themselves in the process.
Colonel Kato
A 1944 propaganda film that depicts the fictionalised career of IJAAF pilot Tateo Kato, who led the 64th Sentai during the early months of the Pacific War. The film has scenes featuring Ki-43 fighters escorting Ki-21 bombers to attack Rangoon, where they are attacked by P-40 Warhawk and Brewster Buffalo fighters.
Kensuke Shibata
Set in wartime at the Yawata Steel Works in Tobata, Yawata, and Kokura cities in Fukuoka Prefecture, the film depicts people taking on the evil blast furnaces that prevent increased production. The film was shot on location at the actual Yawata Steel Works for an extended period of time, and special effects were created using a miniature blast furnace that closely reproduces the actual one.
Sanshiro Sugata
The story of Sanshiro, a strong stubborn youth, who travels into the city in order to learn Jujutsu. However, upon his arrival he discovers a new form of self-defence: Judo. The main character is based on Shiro Saigo, a legendary judoka.
Yamashita
Japanese Navy air cadets train for the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the HMS Prince of Wales.
The premature death of a young mother serves as inspiration for her husband and son.
Set in Qingdao, China, a Japanese company locates an office there and begins work and cooperation with a local Chinese company for business. Many Japanese engineers also move to China, with their families, for the company in order to construct a canal. There are young Chinese resisting the Japanese in this area.
Shintaro Sagawa
In this semi-documentary, an older locomotive driver is tasked with training younger ones and is currently training two in particular. The old man is finding the task overwhelming as it is hard work with practical lessons and classroom components. His wife has died, but he has three daughters with the oldest taking care of her younger siblings.
A Japanese army engineer (Hasegawa) on the mainland must put his personal feelings for a beautiful Chinese woman (Ri) aside if he is to succeed at building a highway through the "bandit"- (aka anti-Japanese militia-) infested hinterlands.
Okumura Ioko story directed by Shiro Toyoda
Japanese propaganda film
The film was produced during Second Sino-Japanese War, before the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941. The film mainly concerns the training of newly-recruited pilots and their daily life, then their subsequent fighting experiences in China. Army supported the production, providing all the authentic airplanes, training and actual actions. They even provided the older biplanes disguised as Chinese fighter planes. Obinata plays the trainer-turned-combat-leader, who is passionate and cool at the same time. All his boys love him, of course. The film is not as intense, full of sugar-coated camaraderie, until young pilots are killed in action one by one. Last twenty minutes are fairly grim, as the message of self-sacrifice is heard loud and clear.
Song of the White Orchid was a co-production of Toho and Mantetsu, the railway that served the colonial region of Manchuria, and the first film in the Kazuo Hasegawa/Shirley Yamaguchi (Ri Koran) “Continental Trilogy.” Handsome Hasegawa (representing Japan) runs up against an impertinent Yamaguchi (representing the continent); not surprisingly, in the course of the film the woman comes around and realizes the benevolent intentions of the Japanese. In Song of the White Orchid Yamaguchi leaves Hasegawa, who plays an expatriate working for the railway, because of a misunderstanding. She joins a communist guerilla group plotting to blow up the Manchurian railway. Learning of the subterfuge that led to the misunderstanding, she renews her faith in Hasegawa—and by extension Japan—and tries to undermine the plot.
Genji's fellow worker
The Whole Family Works, Mikio Naruse's adaptation of a Sunao Tokunaga novel, feels more of a piece with the writer/director's quietly observant and psychologically charged later work. For the Naruse-familiar, it is an anomaly only in its placement within his filmography—indeed, this could be a film made by the elder, stasis-minded Naruse momentarily inhabiting, through a metaphysical twist of fate, his stylistically exuberant younger self. Set in depression-era Japan around the time of the Sino-Japanese War (which the director evokes, during a brief dream sequence, by dissolving between children's war games and actual adult warfare), The Whole Family Works gently observes a family coming apart at the seams. Ishimura (Musei Tokugawa) is the jobless father of nine children.
