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生活線ABC (1931)
Character: N/A
Japanese silent film directed by Yasujirô Shimazu, originally released as a two-part movie on December 11, 1931.
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愛よ人類と共にあれ 前篇 日本篇 (1931)
Character: Bank President
The three-hour Ai yo jinrui to tomo ni are / Love, Be with Humanity (1931) starts as a satire of alienation in the world of money, develops into a lumberland epic with a forest fire on Sakhalin Island, turns into a tragedy of King Lear dimensions, and manages to amaze the blasé audience with a happy end in the Wild West.
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愛よ人類と共にあれ 後篇 米国篇 (1931)
Character: Bank President
The three-hour Ai yo jinrui to tomo ni are / Love, Be with Humanity (1931) starts as a satire of alienation in the world of money, develops into a lumberland epic with a forest fire on Sakhalin Island, turns into a tragedy of King Lear dimensions, and manages to amaze the blasé audience with a happy end in the Wild West.
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お坊ちゃん (1926)
Character: Uda Kyozo
Japanese silent film from 1926. (Obo-chan meaning "Young Master.") Written by Ayame Mizushima, the first female screenwriter in Japan.
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金色夜叉 (1932)
Character: Josuke Arao
Kan’ichi Hazama and Omiya Shigisawa are engaged to be married, but Omiya breaks the engagement to marry a wealthy banker’s son. Heartbroken, Kan’ichi becomes a moneylender, and years later their paths cross again under changed circumstances. Adapted from a popular serialized novel of the same name.
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勝敗 (1932)
Character: N/A
Japanese film from 1932, adapted from the novel by Kan Kikuchi. The first sound film from director Yasujiro Shimazu.
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輝け日本女性 (1932)
Character: Principal
Shigeko and Midori, star swimmers at the renowned Kirishima Girls’ School, are training relentlessly with their sights set on the Los Angeles Olympics. But for the past week, Shigeko has been absent from practice. Her father has fallen ill, and to support her family’s struggling finances, she has secretly taken a job at a trading company. When Masao discovers this, he asks Midori to convince her to return, but soon the school learns of her secret. The students rally to raise funds, though the principal refuses their help, promising instead to handle the situation himself. Shigeko resumes training and travels to Tokyo for the qualifying meet. She touches the wall first in the 100-meter freestyle—only to receive news of her father’s passing. Overcome with grief, she collapses, cared for by Midori, whose own exhaustion leaves her finishing fourth. Despite these hardships, their prior accomplishments earn them a place on Japan’s Olympic team.
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沈丁花 (1933)
Character: Sagiyuki Ikeda (Painter)
Japanese film from 1933, adapted from Masao Kume's serialized newspaper novel.
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東京の英雄 (1935)
Character: Kaichi Nemoto
The story focuses on the widower Nemoto, ostensibly a businessman, who has one son, Kanichi, the hero of the title. Nemoto remarries; his new wife is a widow with a son and daughter of her own. However, Nemoto’s business turns out to be out a shady scam, and he disappears, leaving his wife to raise the three children alone. In order to support the family, she is obliged to become a bar hostess. She conceals this shameful employment from the children, but the truth comes out years later, after her daughter is rejected by her husband’s family when they investigate her background.
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忠臣蔵 (1932)
Character: Kurobee Ōno
This 1932 adaptation is the earliest sound version of the ever-popular and much-filmed Chushingura story of the loyal 47 retainers who avenged their feudal lord after he was obliged to commit hara-kiri due to the machinations of a villainous courtier. As the first sound version of the classic narrative, the film was something of an event, and employed a stellar cast, who give a roster of memorable performances. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa was primarily a specialist in jidai-geki (period films), such as the internationally celebrated Gate of Hell (Jigokumon, 1953), and although he is now most famous as the maker of the avant-garde silent films A Page of Madness (Kurutta ichipeji, 1926) and Crossroads (Jujiro, 1928), Chushingura is in fact more typical of his output than those experimental works. The film ranked third in that year’s Kinema Junpo critics’ poll, and Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie noted that 'not only the sound but the quick cutting was admired by many critics.
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新女性問答 (1939)
Character: N/A
Jie attended a women's university with the financial support of her geisha sister Oha and became a lawyer. The aim. Michiko, one of the seven best friends from the same women's college, is getting married. The man she's marrying is her sister's lover.
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蒼氓 (1933)
Character: Yōnoshin Ōuchi
Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.
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不滅の愛 (1928)
Character: N/A
Japanese silent film from 1928.
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永遠の心 (1928)
Character: N/A
The logger Yamato has been raising his daughter alone since his wife died in childbirth. The baron who owns the forests where he works convinces him to let him adopt the child, despite his reluctance. Fifteen years of age pass without Yamato seeing his daughter again.
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輝く昭和 (1928)
Character: Secretary Taiji Watanabe
Japanese silent film from 1928.
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輝く昭和 (1928)
Character: Taiji Watanabe
Japanese silent film from 1928.
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東洋の母 (1934)
Character: Omura
Japanese drama from 1934. A major production of Shochiku Studio, directed by Hiroshi Shimizu.
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七つの海・前篇・処女篇 (1931)
Character: Shingo
The film is a lengthy work interweaving characters from different backgrounds and social strata in a narrative centered around the experiences of its heroine, Yumie Sone. Over two hours long, Seven Seas was released theatrically in two parts, with the first part entitled "Virginity Chapter" coming out in December 1931, while the second part, "Chastity Chapter," followed in March 1932. Near the beginning of the narrative, at a garden party given by the wealthy Yagibashi family in Tokyo, Yumie meets Takehiko, the Yagibashis' playboy son and the brother of Yumie's fiancé, Yuzuru. Yumie, a young middle-class woman, lives with her ailing father, a retired ministry official, an older sister, and a younger sister still a child (played by a very young Hideko Takamine). Takehiko, who has just returned from a trip to Europe, is attracted to Yumie and contrives to have her stay overnight at his family's mansion where he takes advantage of her.
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男性対女性 (1936)
Character: N/A
A musical film made for the inauguration of Shochiku's Ofuna Studio, with an all-star cast of the era.
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隣の八重ちゃん (1934)
Character: Hattori Shosaku
Keitaro is a law student and Yaeko is a high school girl. They are neighbors, and their friendship is starting to develop into something more romantic. Then, Yaeko's sister Kyouko has a breakup with her husband and returns home. Kyouko is clearly interested in Keitaro and Yae becomes anxious.
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虞美人草 (1935)
Character: Tomotaka Inoue
Fujio is beautiful, talented, well-heeled, and engaged to up-and-coming diplomat Munechika. She has promised him a gold watch, a family heirloom, as an emblem of their engagement. However, she becomes enamoured with Ono, a student employed to tutor her in English, who is attracted by her beauty and wealth. Ono himself is bound by an engagement to Sayoko, daughter of his mentor, Professor Inoue.
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母を恋はずや (1934)
Character: Kajiwara
A young man discovers that the woman who raised him is his stepmother. His stepbrother, who is unaware of the revelation, resents his mother for always punishing him more severely than his stepsibling.
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