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poster
Fandor
78
61
7.6
/2440/
71
/46/
79
/46/
3.9
/3072/
89
/563/

Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
In a slum in Edo Japan, a ronin hopes that his deceased father's former master will hire him while a disgraced hairdresser attempts to regain his pride by kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy pawnbroker, who is set to be married.
poster
73
36
7.5
/623/
65
/19/
70
/12/
3.9
/1377/
80
/5/

Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935)
Kimiko, a Tokyo white-collar working girl, lives with her serious, intellectual, haiku-writing mother. Kimiko seeks to marry her boyfriend but needs her absent father to act as the go-between and negotiate the marriage. Kimiko travels and finds her father living with a second family.
poster
?
7.0
/23/

Paradise of the Virgin Flowers (1936)
N/A
poster
?
6.7
/32/
60
/2/

Brother and Sister (1936)
Ino tries to control Mon’s every move, but she becomes a fallen woman, having an affair with a student, Obata whereas her sister San remains a “good girl.” The mother is very supportive of her daughters, but, the father, Akaza, who is the stonecutter foreman on the damn, lacks control of his family.
poster
?
5.3
/26/

Saga of the Vagabonds, Part Two: Forward at Dawn (1937)
Story of a bandit king part 2.
poster
?
7.5
/24/

A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again (1937)
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply towards Kayo. On the other hand, Kayo prays for the happiness of her best friend and marries a very ordinary man. However, at one point, this mediocre but increasingly ferocious husband died in an accident ... A triangular love story develops depicting a woman's heart that sways between love and morals. Based on a novel by Nobuko Yoshiya, there were originally two parts to the film (If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again), both supposed to be 85 minutes, but apparently what we have now is this 103-minute amalgam of the two.
poster
?
7.6
/35/
70
/1/
60
/1/

Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 1 – Momma, the Hat: The Nice Way (1937)
A comedic tale told in four parts, this film follows the antics of the pickpocket Kinta as he is pursued by a low ranking deputy named Kurakichi. The two get into all manner of peccadilloes and encounter a range of peculiar characters as their game of cat and mouse moves across the countryside in the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
poster
?
7.2
/24/

Tokyo Rhapsody (1936)
Film adaptation of the hit song
poster
?
6.3
/25/
60
/1/

I Am a Cat (1936)
1936 P.C.L. adaptation of Natsume's novel.
poster
?
5.6
/8/

Radio Queen (1935)
N/A
poster
65
?
6.9
/124/
70
/1/
60
/5/

Learn from Experience, Part One (1937)
Part 1 of a 2-part romance based on a story by noted author Kikuchi Kan. The central character here is Toyomi (played by Takako IRIE, star of Mizoguchi’s "Water Magician), a rich young woman in love with Shintaro (Minoru TAKADA), a rich young man. Unfortunately, Shintaro’s father is in the process of arranging a marriage for him with Yurie (Chieko TAKEHISA), the scion of an even wealthier family. In order to avoid this, the two young lovers flee to Tokyo to live together. When Shintaro comes back to proclaim his intent to marry Toyomi, his father browbeats him into attending the long-arranged marriage meeting with Yurie. While Shintaro is back home, Toyomi goes on a vacation trip with her closest chum, Michiko (Yumeko AIZOME). At a class reunion, Toyomi is to distressed (at not having heard from Shintaro for so long), she doesn’t go out on the town with her classmates. Michiko, however, runs into Shintaro and Yurie (also out on the town), and pulling him aside, demands an explanation.
poster
61
?
6.2
/130/
60
/1/
62
/7/

The Actress and the Poet (1935)
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.
poster
64
?
6.8
/166/
60
/1/
67
/6/

A Woman's Sorrows (1937)
Japanese domestic drama.
poster
64
?
6.8
/188/
60
/2/
59
/7/
3.6
/386/

The Girl in the Rumor (1935)
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.
poster
?
6.1
/88/
60
/1/
60
/2/

Man of the House (1936)
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.
poster
?
6.4
/22/
60
/1/

Tipsy Life (1933)
The film generally regarded as Japan’s first true musical was also the first film made entirely in-house by the pioneering studio P.C.L., a company founded specifically to take advantage of emergent sound technology. P.C.L. worked in collaboration with a brewer’s firm, Dai Nihon Biru, who met the production costs of the film in full, and whose products are featured in the film in an example of the sophisticated and modern merchandising typical of the studio’s early work. The film is partially set in a beer hall, and its story concerns a beer seller at a train station and her relationship with a music student trying to create a hit song. Director Sotoji Kimura was to become a company stalwart, making such films as Ino and Mon, while actress Sachiko Chiba would emerge the studio’s first real star, appearing in such films as Wife Be Like a Rose.
poster
68
?
6.8
/279/
73
/3/
65
/8/
3.4
/293/

Avalanche (1937)
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.
poster
64
?
6.1
/131/
70
/3/
63
/7/

The Road I Travel with You (1936)
The otherwise promising young man Asaji (Heihachirô Ôkawa) and his younger brother Yuji (Hideo Saeki) face blighted lives because of society's disapproval of their illegitmacy and déclassé family.
poster
?
6.5
/101/
40
/2/
54
/4/

Five Men in a Circus (1935)
The main focus is on the 5 member band of a small circus as it runs into problems while touring rural Japan. It also pays lots of attention to the two daughters of the aging and irascible ringmaster-circus owner. The high points are the sound (and score) and cinematography featuring a lot of vertiginous panning (appropriate - as high wire trapeze artists are also an important element in the film). A fascinating side-light on 30s Japan.
poster
?
6.3
/8/
40
/1/

Romantic and Crazy (1934)
Studio P.C.L. was specifically founded to make sound films, and this early musical balances the aesthetics of the sound film with those of the stage revue. The king of Tokyo’s revue stage, comedian Ken’ichi Enomoto (Enoken) had made his name in the capital’s theatrical district of Asakusa. The film employed not only the star, but his entire theatrical troupe, and the narrative was structured around scenes which Enoken had played successfully on stage. Billed as offering 'Japan’s number one comedy actor and Japan’s number one musical comedy,' the film self-consciously borrowed from Hollywood musical comedy; indeed, the original posters carried spoof endorsements by Eddie Cantor and the Marx Brothers! Director Kajiro Yamamoto, making his P.C.L. debut, would become a stalwart of the company and its successor, Toho. He was to have a profound influence on Japanese film history as mentor to Akira Kurosawa, who assisted him on a number of films including Horse (Uma, 1941).
poster
?
5.9
/9/

Enoken's Kondo Isami (1935)
Enoken plays both Kondo Isami and his deadly enemy Sakamoto Ryoma in this comedic, song-filled vision of the Meiji Restoration.
poster
?
6.9
/17/
60
/1/

Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 2 – Returning Is Scary, but the Weather Will Clear If You Wait (1937)
1930s Japanese comedy.
poster
69
?
7.1
/293/
65
/4/
68
/6/
3.5
/320/

Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (1935)
Three sisters earn money for their bossy mother by being samisen street musicians. This means mainly playing a banjo type instrument for tips in bars...
poster
?
6.6
/15/

Enoken’s Ten Millions Sequel (1936)
The story picks up from Part 1 as Enoken's young scion forsakes his wealth and takes a department store job – in drag and sometimes blackface – to prove to the girl of his dreams that he be a hard-working, serious man.
poster
?
7.2
/21/

Enoken’s Ten Millions (1936)
Enoken plays a cloistered rich kid whose father hires a disreputable tutor to teach him how to really be a millionaire: by drunken debauchery, women, and song.
poster
68
?
6.9
/123/
67
/6/
3.5
/217/

Morning's Tree-Lined Street (1936)
As suggested by the title, this film takes up the theme of the city, beginning with a series of traveling shots from Chiyo's point of view on a bus leaving the countryside and entering the metropolitan cityscape. After some fruitless job 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 neighborhood bar where the women are dirt poor, each having only one kimono to their name....
poster
?
6.9
/45/

Saga of the Vagabonds, Part One: Tiger and Wolf (1937)
Story of a bandit king.
poster
?

A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again (1937)
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply towards Kayo. On the other hand, Kayo prays for the happiness of her best friend and marries a very ordinary man. However, at one point, this mediocre but increasingly ferocious husband died in an accident ... A triangular love story develops depicting a woman's heart that sways between love and morals.
poster
?

A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes (1937)
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply towards Kayo. On the other hand, Kayo prays for the happiness of her best friend and marries a very ordinary man. However, at one point, this mediocre but increasingly ferocious husband died in an accident ... A triangular love story develops depicting a woman's heart that sways between love and morals.
poster
?

Tokai no kaii 7-ji 03-bu (1935)
Miyamoto Tokunosuke works at a Detective Agency in the heart of Tokyo. When his lover Ranko tells him that she's pregnant, he begins to worry. His company hasn't paid his backsalary and he doesn't know how he will pay for the new baby. His friend Suihei tells him about a job at a bar, but on his way there, Tokunosuke meets a mysterious man who sells him a newspaper...for tomorrow!
poster
?

Shape without Shape (1935)
Promotional film for the 50th anniversary of Tokyo Dento showing the power of electricity
poster
?

Botchan (1935)
1935 P.C.L. adaptation of Natsume's novel.
poster
?

Drifting (1935)
Adaptation of Fumiko Hayashi's novel.
poster
?

Hikoroku Laughs a lot (1936)
Hikoroku Laughs a lot
poster
?

The Kingdom of Spectacles (1937)
Hide-chan (Hideko Takamine) and her family are on a trip to Tokyo. While visiting a fairground, a pickpocket (Kamatari Furukawa) steals the father's wallet. While everyone is trying to hunt down the thief, Hide-chan decides to make the most of it and enjoy her stay, while the thief and his main pursuer (Akira Kishii) play hide-and-seek among the funfair's spectacles and freakshows
poster
?

Mother's Melody (1937)
The prewar film Haha no kyoku (Mother's Melody, 1937) is known for its place in Japanese film history as one of the top three melodramas as well as for its authorship: Yamamoto Satsuo is an auteur not usually associated with filming melodramas. Yamamoto made the film right after he moved, along with his mentor Naruse Mikio, to the Toho film company. A number of subsequent postwar mother's films adopted some of its essences, making it a genre-defining moment in Japanese cinema. This great melodrama is atypical of Yamamoto's output, much of which deals with political corruption and inequities within social institutions and offers a strong anti-establishment appeal.
poster
?

Akireta renchû (1936)
The first in a series of films featuring the comedy duo Entatsu-Achako, providing them with a background story to do their popular manzai-routines on film. Here, Entatsu and Achako start out as rivals for the affection of a young woman but ultimately pair up to face a bigger rival. Entatsu chooses to become a boxer to get his chance at punching the rival out of the way.
poster
?

Harikiri Boy (1937)
An early Tōhō salaryman musical.
poster
?

Enoken's The Magician (1934)
Enoken plays a magician real powers come from his magical hat. A jealous theater owner sends girls, then goons, to keep Enoken from performing his grand show!
poster
?

Enoken's Donguri Tonbei (1936)
Enoken plays a frog-oil-hawking conman whose claims to martial prowess land him in hot water with the local samurai gentry - but not before he falls in love with exactly the wrong girl. Another musical comedy period film quick on the heels of the earlier Kondo Isami.
poster
?

Tadano Bonji: Jinsei Benkyô (1934)
Based on the comic by Yutaka Asou


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