Movies: Takashi Shimura

When Katsukawa, a low ranking vassal, learns that his greedy superior, Tatewaki, has hatched a plan to expand his territory, he and his comrades decide to take matters into their own hands. Lots of action in this all-star production from Toei Films, ...

In 1853, Gentetsu Nishiyama tells his students that the French prophet Nostaradamus foretells great change for Japan, some of his students revolt, calling his words heresy and his wife flees with a book of Nostradamus’s predictions… In the present da...

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1942 Japanese movie...

Somewhat unique as it appears to be one of the very rare appearances of master thespian Itô in a yakuza role....

Dramatic story of one man trying to make a difference....

1961 Japanese movie...

Young Lord Gentaro (Otomo Ryutaro) takes a journey to Edo in search of his future wife. Easier said than done, evil forces lurk in Edo and Gentaro must use his phenomenal sword skills to overcome the evil and find the love of his life. Another must h...

When a group of young geologists declares a mountainside marked for residential development unstable, they are met with scorn on two fronts. On one end, they must contend with the local villagers who balk at the prospect of relocation; on the other, ...

The 11th and final film in the Gang series. Most of the films had different directors and cast, and were only connected by the title and Toei's marketing department. Unlike the early entries, which were jazzy capers, this final entry is a prototype j...

One of Japan's most popular stories is the tale of Kutsukake Tokijiro, a traveling gambler who finds that he must take care of the wife and child of a yakuza he had been forced by the code of the gamblers to fight man to man. In a brilliant performan...

A gorgeous tragic love picture scroll depicting a beautiful woman who weeps over her strange fate and falters in her search for true love!...

Japanese soldiers stranded in Manokwari, New Guinea, improvise a theater play to keep their spirits up and endure the extremely difficult conditions....

Soldiers Hayate and Yaheiji secretly escape from their besieged castle. Hayate has left behind his lover, Kano. On his way, Hayate is wounded and cared for by O’Ryo, who falls in love with him. But when Hayate accidentally kills her caretaker, he fle...

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....

Film directed by Senkichi Taniguchi...

The Way of Drama unfolds in the world of kabuki in Osaka, but also addresses the politics of popular culture and the rivalry between theatrical styles like those used by amateur actors to dramatise contemporary events....

A historical drama that depicts the touching beauty of world obsession and human love in the style of light comedy, in the center of which is a young man who has a master license menkyo kaiden in the art of swordsmanship, but weak against lies and wo...

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A young scriptwriter with a yakuza upbringing, an iron-fire dancer, a young painter, and a pure-hearted downtown girl fall in love in Asakusa in this entertaining tale of love and action....