Stray Dog

Stray Dog 1949

7.54

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

1949

The Life of Oharu

The Life of Oharu 1952

7.75

In Edo Period Japan, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.

1952

Mother

Mother 1952

6.90

A teenaged girl witnesses her widowed mother's attempt to sustain her family.

1952

Jigoku

Jigoku 1960

6.37

A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.

1960

Portrait of Madame Yuki

Portrait of Madame Yuki 1950

6.87

A young woman takes up her new job as the servant of a noblewoman and soon discovers that underneath her facade of luxury lies great unhappiness.

1950

The Munekata Sisters

The Munekata Sisters 1950

6.98

Setsuko is unhappily married to Mimura, an engineer with no job and a bad drinking habit. She had always been in love with Hiroshi but both of them failed to propose when Hiroshi left for France a few years ago. Now he is back and Mariko tries to reunite them. She too is secretly in love with Hiroshi.

1950

The Ghost of Yotsuya

The Ghost of Yotsuya 1959

6.60

This horror tale relates the consequences of a Japanese legend which tells of a man who has to betray his wife in order to achieve power.

1959

Yellow Line

Yellow Line 1960

7.00

The murder of the chief official of Kobe city's Customs triggers an investigation of a prostitution ring called the 'Yellow Line' that sells Japanese women. A hired assassin is betrayed by his organization, and kidnaps a woman who happens to be the girlfriend of a newspaper reporter.

1960

Stormy Virtue

Stormy Virtue 1959

1

Yuri is looking forward to marrying her fiancé Minoru. However, a few days before the wedding she falls victim to his brother Takehiko, and against her will, she becomes Takehiko's wife. The day after the wedding, Yuri begins her silent revenge by not talking to her husband. She retains her love for Minoru and never gives herself to Takehiko's embrace again. She also contributes large sums of money from Takehiko's fortune to charity.

1959

Ghost in the Regiment

Ghost in the Regiment 1958

1

Desiring another officer’s new wife, a military police lieutenant fabricates evidence of treason that consigns the innocent man to torture and a firing squad. The lieutenant rapes the wife, but is haunted by bad dreams which after he is assigned to a battalion with the victim’s brother.

1958

The Pacific War and the International Military Tribunal

The Pacific War and the International Military Tribunal 1959

1

In 1941, overpopulated Japan faces an economic boycott and its armed forces push further to the south. And despite negotiations between Japan and the U. S. A. war is declared with the attack on Pearl Harbour. Victories follow for Japan on land and sea and her forces push forward to the borders of India. But gradually the tide turns in favour of the Allies and after the atom bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan is compelled to accept the Potsdam Declaration and by the order of the Emperor agrees to unconditional surrender. Under the supervision of the occupation forces the International Military Tribunal opens in Tokyo to try the Japanese war leaders. Established in the cause of justice, and to prevent future aggressive wars the trials drag on for two and a half years. And on December 23, 1948, General Tojo and six other war leaders mount the thirteen steps to the gallows at Tokyo's Sugamo prison.

1959

The Battleship Yamato

The Battleship Yamato 1953

1

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".

1953

An Inn at Osaka

An Inn at Osaka 1954

7.30

An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka office. He takes a room at a small inn and tries to rebuild his life. Notable for its exquisite framing and cinematography, An Inn at Osaka allows its complicated plotlines to disappear behind the minutiae of penury and humiliation that Mito and others suffer during the post-war economic and social reconstruction.

1954

Emperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War

Emperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War 1957

1

Meiji Tenno portrays the buildup to the Russo-Japan War. In addition to showing the political events that led to war, it also shows the era from the story of a farm family in rural Japan that sends 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 its combatants often do not know what they are fighting for.

1957

Mole Alley

Mole Alley 1953

1

33-year-old poor writer Ogata was able to endure his miserable life cheerfully thanks to Yoshie, a 19-year-old innocent young wife. After graduating from a girls' school in Hokuriku, she immediately moved to Tokyo to meet and marry Ogata. After neatly writing Ogata's manuscript, he would buy dorayaki as a gratuity and devour it.

1953

Where Chimneys Are Seen

Where Chimneys Are Seen 1953

6.40

Where Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Senju, a poor industrial section of Tokyo.

1953