Toshio Yasumi — Playwright (26)
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Enoken's Yaji and Kita (1939) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
エノケンの弥次喜多
director: Nobuo Nakagawa actor: Kenichi Enomoto / Teiichi Futamura …
other title: エノケンの弥次喜多
Enoken's anachronistic take on the beloved (and already very funny) Edo-period novel "Shank's Mare," aka Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige, in which Yaji and Kita, two plebeian nobodies, have all sorts of strange and colorful encounters on the long road from Edo to Kyoto.
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Till Tomorrow Is (1962) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
明日ある限り
director: Shirō Toyoda actor: Kyōko Kagawa / Shūji Sano …
other title: 明日ある限り
Natsuko’s daughter Saori is born blind in 1941, just before her father is drafted. Despite an attempted surgery and years of struggle, her condition proves permanent. Growing up, she faces stigma and danger but eventually finds hope and love with a fellow blind student.
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Elegy of the North (1957) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
挽歌
director: Heinosuke Gosho actor: Yoshiko Kuga / Masayuki Mori …
other title: Élégie du Nord / 挽歌
​Reiko, a young woman with a physical disability, begins a clandestine affair with the married architect Katsuragi, but also becomes dangerously obsessed with his unfaithful wife, Akiko.
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Castle of Flames (1960) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
炎の城
director: Tai Katō actor: Hashizo Ōkawa / Denjirō Ōkōchi …
other title: 炎の城
In 17th century Japan, Young Lord Masato returns after years abroad to find everything changed: his peace-loving father has died in what he soon finds to be mysterious circumstances, and his mother's married to his uncle, whose ruthless ambition is causing turmoil in the kingdom. Not knowing who to trust, Masato feigns madness, vowing to get to the truth, even though his act causes distress to the girl he loves, who's waited for him all these years. The ghost of his father turns up now and then to show him the way. Meanwhile a peasant revolt is brewing... It all ends tragically.
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Our Town (1956) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
わが町
director: Yūzō Kawashima actor: Ryūtarō Tatsumi / Yōko Minamida …
other title: わが町
In 1906, after finishing a tough migrant job in the Philippines, Takichi has returned to Japan. He starts to work as a rickshaw driver, but his lover had died of an illness, leaving a baby girl, Hatsue. Hatsue grows up beautifully and falls in love with Shintaro. But Takichi objects to their relationship...
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Man in the Storm (1952) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
嵐の中の母
director: Kiyoshi Saeki actor: Yaeko Mizutani / Hatae Kishi …
other title: 嵐の中の母
Returning from wartime China, Keiichi reunites with his mother Inako and adopted sister Tomi. He becomes drawn to Tomi’s beauty, and his mother appears supportive. But Keiichi soon meets Tsuneko, a former wartime nurse who has borne his child. Faced with a summons to stand trial for wartime atrocities, he entrusts Tomi and his son to Inako, then voluntarily turns himself in—believing he must answer not just to Japan, but to the world’s conscience.
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The Way of Drama (1944) [Movie] TMDB IMDb
芝居道
director: Mikio Naruse actor: Kazuo Hasegawa / Isuzu Yamada …
other title: Le Chemin du drame / 芝居道
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.
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A Woman's Life (1962) [Movie] IMDb TMDB
女の一生
director: Yasuzō Masumura actor: Machiko Kyō / Chieko Higashiyama …
other title: 女の一生
Based on Kaoru Morimoto oft performed 1945 play, a starring vehicle for famed actress Machiko Kyo as Kei an abused orphaned girl that eventually finds sanctuary with a wealthy family that trades goods with China and becomes a successful businesswoman. Masumura dilutes the originally intended pro-Japan propaganda elements for a more anti-war approach.