Movies: Yōko Umemura

In late 19th century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that he is only praised for his acting due to his status as his father's heir. Devastated by this, he turns t...

In 1701, Lord Takuminokami Asano has a feud with Lord Kira and he tries to kill Kira in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Lord Asano to commit suppuku and deprives the palace and lands from his clan, but does not punish Lord ...

Umekichi, a geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto, feels obliged to help her lover Furusawa when he asks to stay with her after becoming bankrupt and leaving his wife. However her younger sister Omocha tells her she is wasting her time and money on a ...

When a civil war threatens to break out, two geishas flee from their village with aristocrats. During the long journey, the socially inferior women prove to be morally superior to their betters....

Based on Soseki Natsume’s 1908 novel of the same title, Poppy is an ornately complicated story of desire and ambition. Fujio is beautiful, talented, well-heeled, and engaged to Munechika, a rising young diplomat. She has promised him a gold watch, a ...

Ayako becomes the mistress of her boss so she can pay her father's debt and prevent him from going to prison for embezzlement....

Tōjin Okichi is a 1930 film by Kenji Mizoguchi based on the novel by Gisaburo Juichiya. Only 4 minutes have survived. The fragment has been published on DVD coupled with The Downfall of Osen (1935) by Digital MEME in 2007....

...

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Released in 2 parts. His only release of 1931...

A samurai is ordered by his lord to go to Edo and investigate the truth behind the rumor of a rebellion against him....

Japanese war film....

A quintessential example of the period "ghost cat" (bakeneko or kaibyo) movie, this was one of at least six such titles released by the studio Shinko Kinema between 1937-40 featuring Japan's first scream queen, Sumiko Suzuki. Here she plays Mitsue, t...

...

Silent Japanese film....

Directed by Yutaka Abe....

A lost film directed by Ushihara Kiyohiko based on a story published in the Mainichi Sunday Newspaper entitled '恋女扇.' It stars a wild man who falls passionately in love with a woman....

Silent Japanese film....

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi....

Silent Japanese film....

Directed by Yutaka Abe (as Jack Abe)....