Japanese films I've watched from the 1950s
by tsfinfilm24 | created - 11 Dec 2021 | updated - 1 week ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Floating Weeds (1959)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama
The head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Ganjirô Nakamura, Machiko Kyô, Haruko Sugimura, Ayako Wakao
Votes: 8,973
2. The Burmese Harp (1956)
Not Rated | 116 min | Drama, Music, War
A conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Tatsuya Mihashi, Jun Hamamura
Votes: 6,460
3. Ugetsu (1953)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito
Votes: 25,809 | Gross: $0.01M
4. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama
In medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô
Votes: 18,223
5. The Big Boss (1959)
101 min | Crime, Drama
Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead.... See full summary »
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Kôji Tsuruta, Akira Takarada, Yumi Shirakawa, Keiko Yanagawa
Votes: 111
6. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,539 | Gross: $0.06M
7. Late Spring (1949)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
Several people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Votes: 19,325
8. Tokyo Story (1953)
Not Rated | 136 min | Drama
An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura, Setsuko Hara
Votes: 68,572
9. Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
Not Rated | 156 min | Drama
Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Itsuo Watanabe, Makoto Miyagawa, Takeo Terashita
Votes: 2,828
10. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 180,396 | Gross: $0.10M
11. The Life of a Horsetrader (1951)
113 min | Drama
Yone (Toshiro Mifune) is a horse trader who lives in a small village on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. He is a rough-and-tumble type who is prone to getting roaring drunk, ... See full summary »
Director: Keigo Kimura | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Takashi Shimura, Ichirô Sugai
Votes: 81
12. Sword for Hire (1952)
135 min | Action, Drama, Adventure
The adventures of a few brave men and women who are scattered around Japan after the siege of a castle, during the wars of the Sengoku period.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Rentarô Mikuni, Danshirô Ichikawa, Shirley Yamaguchi
Votes: 198
13. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,762 | Gross: $0.27M
14. Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
Not Rated | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
Depicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentarô Mikuni, Kurôemon Onoe
Votes: 9,508
15. Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)
TV-PG | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
Musashi Miyamoto returns to Kyoto after years of absence. After a series of fights against the Yoshioka School, he challenges its master to a duel.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Kôji Tsuruta, Kaoru Yachigusa
Votes: 6,961
16. I Live in Fear (1955)
103 min | Drama
An aging Japanese industrialist becomes so fearful of nuclear war that it begins to take a toll on his life and family.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Eiko Miyoshi
Votes: 5,534
17. Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)
TV-PG | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Musashi Miyamoto is challenged to a duel by a confident swordsman Sasaki Kojiro. He agrees to fight him in a year's time.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Kôji Tsuruta, Kaoru Yachigusa
Votes: 6,698
18. A Wife's Heart (1956)
101 min | Drama
A young woman tries to raise money to open her own coffee shop.She arranges a loan when her rigid family won't help and then her husband becomes jealous of the loan officer.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Toshirô Mifune, Keiju Kobayashi, Akemi Negishi
Votes: 229
19. Throne of Blood (1957)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 55,933
20. Yagyû bugeichô (1957)
106 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the Tokugawa Era, the clan of Lord Yagyu has hidden away three scrolls containing clan secrets which, if revealed, would cause revolution and disaster for the clan. The information is ... See full summary »
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yoshiko Kuga, Kyôko Kagawa, Mariko Okada
Votes: 155
21. The Lower Depths (1957)
Not Rated | 137 min | Drama
In a Japanese slum, various residents play out their lives, dreaming of better things or settling for their lot. Among them is a man who pines for a young woman but is stymied by her deceptive family.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Kyôko Kagawa, Ganjirô Nakamura
Votes: 5,945
22. Yagyû bugeichô: Sôryû hiken (1958)
105 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the Tokugawa Era, the clan of Lord Yagyu has hidden away three scrolls containing clan secrets which, if revealed, would cause revolution and disaster for the clan. The information is ... See full summary »
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Kôji Tsuruta, Toshirô Mifune, Nobuko Otowa, Yoshiko Kuga
Votes: 108
23. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 42,229
24. The Rickshaw Man (1958)
103 min | Drama
A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Hideko Takamine, Hiroshi Akutagawa, Chishû Ryû
Votes: 1,173
25. The Big Boss (1959)
101 min | Crime, Drama
Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead.... See full summary »
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Kôji Tsuruta, Akira Takarada, Yumi Shirakawa, Keiko Yanagawa
Votes: 111
26. Samurai Saga (1959)
111 min | Action, Drama, Romance
Japanese version of 'Cyrano de Bergerac', a poet/swordsman with a huge nose who loves a woman who loves another. Ignoring his true feelings, he helps them get together.
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yôko Tsukasa, Akira Takarada, Keiko Awaji
Votes: 448
27. Dokuritsu gurentai (1959)
109 min | Drama, War, Action
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. The ... See full summary »
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Makoto Satô, Izumi Yukimura, Misa Uehara, Tadao Nakamaru
Votes: 251
28. The Life of Oharu (1952)
Not Rated | 133 min | Drama
Follows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Kinuyo Tanaka, Tsukie Matsuura, Ichirô Sugai, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 7,644
29. Godzilla (1954)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable dinosaur-like beast.
Director: Ishirô Honda | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi
Votes: 39,628 | Gross: $2.42M
30. Kyojin to gangu (1958)
95 min | Comedy, Drama
In the middle of a fierce commercial competition between three caramel companies, an executive builds up a ditsy teenage girl as a mascot while simultaneously trying to uncover the rival companies' plans.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Hitomi Nozoe, Hideo Takamatsu, Michiko Ono
Votes: 1,239
31. Samurai Vendetta (1959)
Not Rated | 109 min | Drama, Action
Tange Tenzen and Nakayama Yasubei are honorable samurai living in an era of corrupt officials and treacherous clans. But after finding themselves in opposing clans and ensnared in a love ... See full summary »
Director: Kazuo Mori | Stars: Raizô Ichikawa, Shintarô Katsu, Chitose Maki, Tokiko Mita
Votes: 305
32. The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)
76 min | Horror
The ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa | Stars: Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntarô Emi
Votes: 1,818
33. I Am Waiting (1957)
91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara | Stars: Yûjirô Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Isamu Kosugi, Kenjirô Uemura
Votes: 991
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