Mikio Naruse — Playwright (22)

Movie

Delinquent Girl (1949) IMDb TMDB
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.

Movie

Morning's Tree-Lined Street (1936) 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...

Movie

Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro (1938) IMDb TMDB
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.

Movie

A Woman's Sorrows (1937) 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.

Movie

The Angry Street (1950) 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.

Movie

Man of the House (1936) IMDb TMDB
桃中軒雲右衛門
other title: Tochuken Kumoemon / 桃中軒雲右衛門
This film is based on a real Meiji era performer -- and tells of Tochuken's partnership with his wife (played by Chikako Hosokawa) who played shamisen for his songs/recitations), his affair with a geisha (Sachiko Chiba), and the deterioration of his partnership and marriage.

Movie

Sincerity (1939) IMDb TMDB
まごころ
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Takako Irie / Minoru Takada …
other title: Le Cœur sincère / Sinceridad …
Two young girls, Nobiko and Tomiko, go to the same school. The less fortunate girl Nobiko is one of the top students, while the rich girl Tomiko is not. At one time Tomiko's father was quite fond of Nobuko's mother.

Movie

No Blood Relation (1932) IMDb TMDB
生さぬ仲
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Shin'yō Nara / Yukiko Tsukuba …
other title: Sans liens de parenté / La hija adoptiva …
An actress returns to Tokyo after a successful stint in Hollywood to reclaim—with the help of her gangster brother—the daughter she abandoned years before.

Movie

Little Peach (1958) IMDb TMDB
杏っ子
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Kyōko Kagawa / So Yamamura …
other title: Anzukko / 杏っ子
Anzukko (Little Peach) is the daughter of a successful writer. She turns down each one of her suitors, until she marries a beginning writer named Ryokichi. Their life quickly sinks into despair.

Movie

The Girl in the Rumor (1935) WikiData IMDb TMDB
噂の娘
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Sachiko Chiba / Ryuko Umezono …
other title: La Fille dont on parle / La mujer en boca de todos …
A story of two sisters, the older being more traditional, the younger a "moga" ("modern girl"). Their widowed father runs the family sake shop, but is running into financial trouble, causing him to tamper with his stock; Meanwhile, his long-time mistress yearns for something more serious. Amidst this, the older sister is introduced to a well-off suitor: A university boy, much more intrigued by the less traditional little sister. A doddering grandfather, an officious uncle and busybody neighbors also don't make the lives of the hardworking members of the family any easier.

Movie

Avalanche (1937) WikiData IMDb TMDB
雪崩
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Noboru Kiritachi / Ranko Edogawa …
other title: 雪崩 / Nadare
The study of a one-year marriage that begins to crumble. A married man is torn between the love of his wife, and the attraction to a cousin of his wife.