Haruyo Ichikawa

Young Japanese Teruo is returning from studying in Germany, financed by his rich stepfather. His stepfather expects him to marry his daughter, a marriage that had been arranged long ago. He rejects his designated wife until he realizes that he has to obey tradition...

"Dokuro sen" (The Skull Coin) is the first film adaptation of the popular novel by Kikuo Sumita. The story evolves around the seven cursed coins (the Skull Coin) that are supposed to reveal the secrets of the hidden Tokugawa treasure. (imdb)

This early gem starring the great Mifune Toshiro tells the tale of Katakana Yonetaro aka "The Shark," a rough-and-tumble horse trader in Japan's rugged northernmost territory of Hokkaddo... (imdb)

Based on an original story by Yojiro Ishizaka, this well-made drama is set in a Christian school in a beautiful northern harbor town. Teacher Masaki (Obinata) speaks up for Keiko, one of the girls at the school, every time she causes problems because he feels sorry for her, a child born out of wedlock. Sumi, one of Masaki’s colleagues and who is secretly in love with him, strongly disagrees with him about Keiko.

Long thought to be one of the lost treasures of Japanese cinema that had been destroyed by MacArthur’s Occupation forces, this brilliant portrait of samurai warlord Date Masamune has recently been found and restored to its original form in a digital print that brings this classic tale to DVD with English subtitles. (themoviedb)

Ito Daisuke’s wartime retelling of the Miyamoto Musashi story. (imdb)

A story about a little boy who, after his widowed mother decides to remarry, is shuffled about, from relative to relative.

Director Watanabe Kunio The first talkie film by Tamagawa Studio Starring Sugi Kyoji as Hosoi Ichikawa Haruyo as Kinuko Hoshi Reiko as Mitsuko Matsumoto Shutaro as boy of liquor shop Uemura Setsuko as landlord widow Kitahara Natsue as hysteric wife Oosaki Kenji as her husband Matsudaira Akira as singer at next door Hanano Kuniko as maid Kawagoe Ippei and Bando Mieshi as old couple Kanbe Hikaru as thief

In the early years of the Meiji Restoration, traditional Japanese sports were in decline, particularly sumo wrestling. In this movie, Chiezô Kataoka becomes the hope of the sport, rising to Nippon-ichi, "best in Japan", along with some heartbreak along the way.