Mikio Naruse — Director (60)
A Descendant of Urashima Taro (1946) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
浦島太郎の後裔
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Susumu Fujita / Hideko Takamine
other title: Les Descendants de Taro Urashima / 浦島太郎の後裔
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.
Delinquent Girl (1949) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
不良少女
other title: La Mauvaise Fille / 不良少女
A melodramatic love story, a would-be apprenticeship between the titular bad girl and the optimistic scholar returning from the big city. It is presumed to be a lost film.
A Whistle in My Heart (1959) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
コタンの口笛
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Ken Yamauchi / Ryoko Koda
other title: Le Sifflement de Kotan / El silbido de Kotan
The story is about the social problems faced by Japan's indigenous Ainu, mostly centered on the reactions of the characters to their oppressed state.
Morning's Tree-Lined Street (1936) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
朝の並木路
other title: Une avenue au matin / 朝の並木路
After some fruitless career hunting in downtown Tokyo, Chiyo accepts a job as a bar hostess in Shiba ward. Well away from glamorous Asakusa and Ginza, this is a neighbourhood tavern where the women are dirt poor, each having only one kimono to their name...
The Actress and the Poet (1935) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
女優と詩人
other title: L'Actrice et le Poète / 女優と詩人
Among the tight-knit neighbours are a poet, his actress wife, a bachelor budding author, a tobacco shop owner-cum-landlady, an insurance salesman and his nosy and greedy wife. Enter a young and seemingly high-class couple who just so happens is open to purchasing life insurance from their swift neighbour. In the meantime, life is imitating art across the street, which may end up providing for either a happy ending or a rude split - eventually that is.
Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro (1938) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
鶴八鶴次郎
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Kazuo Hasegawa / Isuzu Yamada
other title: Tsuruhachi et Tsurujiro / 鶴八鶴次郎
Mr. Tsurujiro is a Japanese folk singer assisted by Ms. Tsuruhachi on the shamisen. The pair is popular, but he often nitpicks her music and so they split. She marries a benefactor, but after a joint show, feels music is above marriage.
A Woman's Sorrows (1937) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
女人哀愁
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Takako Irie / Masako Tsutsumi
other title: Les Larmes d'une femme / 女人哀愁
Young Hiroko’s conservative principles place her at odds with most modern women, as she has already submitted to her mother’s choice of man for any marriage prospect. Wed into an affluent family that practically treats her as a housemaid, locked away like a 'doll' by her estimation, Hiroko’s own submission to traditional thinking brings contradictions to light.
Dancing Girl (1951) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
舞姫
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Mieko Takamine / So Yamamura
other title: La Danseuse / La bailarina
The troubled relationship between a writer and his ballet teacher wife, who has for years loved another man, finally leads to the breakup of the family.
Battle of Roses (1950) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
薔薇合戦
other title: La Bataille de roses / Batalla de rosas
Following the death of Mr Masago, his wife Satomi loses the family's cosmetics company to Mr Mogy due to huge amount of withdrawal debt caused by her husband. Mogy blackmails Satomi's sister Hinako into marrying him, so he will not send Masago to jail, and Satomi wrongly understands that Hinako is dating Mogy.
The Angry Street (1950) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
怒りの街
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Jūkichi Uno / Yasumi Hara
other title: La Rue en colère / 怒りの街
University students Sudo and Mori make money by picking up rich girls in dance clubs and conning them into giving them cash. Mori is the brains of the operation, and Sudo is the suave dancer who picks up the girls. Sudo becomes gradually involved with three different girls and is drawn into the gangster milieu, which he seems unable to resist even though he is responsible for his mother, grandmother, and sister Masako. In this world of bad boys and girls, Masako is the pillar of strength and moral virtue who finally enables Mori to straighten out.
A Tale of Archery at the Sanjusangendo (1945) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
三十三間堂・通し矢物語
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Kazuo Hasegawa / Kinuyo Tanaka
other title: Histoire de l'arc au temple de Sanjusangendo / 三十三間堂・通し矢物語
Young, timid bowmaster Kazuma seeks to beat the archery record set by Hoshino Kanzaemon, a mysterious figure who, it is rumoured, drove the previous champion—Kazuma’s father—to suicide. Possessed of much raw talent, Kazuma is very much a coward, holing up in an inn and generally avoiding confrontation. Despite his best attempts to remain clandestine, the locals know of Kazuma’s purpose and an attempt is made on his life. He's saved by Karatsu Kanbei, a samurai who offers to help Kazuma hone his archery skills, though it becomes clear that this apparently selfless stranger has potentially shady ulterior motives.