Shochiku Kinema (Kamata)

Ryoichi and Chikako, brother and sister, live together. Chikako toils during the day and, at night, prostitutes herself to fund his college tuition.

A gangster tries to find redemption with the inadvertent help of an innocent shop girl and his jealous girlfriend will do anything to keep him.

Japanese movie from 1934. The final film of director Hôtei Nomura, who died from a stroke suffered at a screening of this film.

Japanese silent film from 1930 with an acclaimed performance by Sumiko Kurishima.

This pair of gentle yet witty and inventive comedies from the director of The Neighbour's Wife and Mine typify both the formal experimentation of early Japanese sound cinema and the social milieux that Shochiku tended to depict. 'Virtually plotless, and feeling more like comic sketches than fully developed stories,' writes Arthur Nolletti, Jr, 'these light comedies, or farces, take a wholly trivial matter (often a socially embarrassing situation) and use it as a springboard for a succession of gags.' Much of the films' distinction comes from the wit of Gosho's direction, the imaginative use of the new sound technology and the charm of the acting, particularly of the heroines (Kinuyo Tanaka in Bride; Hiroko Kawasaki in Groom). Yet in both films, Gosho finds room for some shrewd observation of character and environment, subtly exploring the values and assumptions of the suburban petit bourgeoisie.

The three-hour Ai yo jinrui to tomo ni are / Love, Be with Humanity (1931) starts as a satire of alienation in the world of money, develops into a lumberland epic with a forest fire on Sakhalin Island, turns into a tragedy of King Lear dimensions, and manages to amaze the blasé audience with a happy end in the Wild West.

Japanese home drama starring Kinuyo Tanaka.

A feature-length work based on Kan Kikuchi’s newspaper novel, adapted for the screen by Kōgo Noda. With performances by stars such as Shizue Ryūda, Kinuyo Tanaka, and Yukiko Tsukuba, alongside handsome leading men like Shin’ichirō Komura, Hikaru Yamauchi, and Ichirō Yūki, the film outshone its contemporaries. The collaboration between director Heinosuke Gosho and cinematographer Mitsuo Miura, recently returned from America, gave rise to a work of first-class quality in the Japanese film world, distinguished by its brilliance and delicacy.

A melodrama by noted auteur and father of director Yoshitaro Nomura, Hotei Nomura. This is apparently the first adaptation of Izumi Kyoka's The Romance of Yushima.

When a young man inherits his father's lucrative business, he cheats the system to set up three of his college friends with jobs.

The Siege of Osaka

This 1932 adaptation is the earliest sound version of the ever-popular and much-filmed Chushingura story of the loyal 47 retainers who avenged their feudal lord after he was obliged to commit hara-kiri due to the machinations of a villainous courtier. As the first sound version of the classic narrative, the film was something of an event, and employed a stellar cast, who give a roster of memorable performances. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa was primarily a specialist in jidai-geki (period films), such as the internationally celebrated Gate of Hell (Jigokumon, 1953), and although he is now most famous as the maker of the avant-garde silent films A Page of Madness (Kurutta ichipeji, 1926) and Crossroads (Jujiro, 1928), Chushingura is in fact more typical of his output than those experimental works. The film ranked third in that year’s Kinema Junpo critics’ poll, and Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie noted that 'not only the sound but the quick cutting was admired by many critics.

"The Dancing Girl of Izu" tells of the story between a young male student who is touring the Izu Peninsula and a family of traveling dancers he meets there, including their youngest girl. The student finds the naïve girl attractive even though he eventually has to part with the family after spending memorable time together.

Michiko gets pregnant after a rape. She marries a boring business partner of her father to avoid the shame. Later she meets the rapist again who is now a union leader in opposition of her husband.

Japanese silent film from 1928, ranked as Kinema Junpo's second-best Japanese movie of the year.

Japanese silent film from 1928. Kinema Junpo ranked it among the ten best Japanese movies of the year.

A blacksmith is chased out of the village by the sinister village chief and forced to move to the forest with his wife and two sons. The blacksmith's younger son is disabled, and the other children in the village tease him. The older son aspires to become a doctor in order to fix his brother's leg. The film depicts the bond between a father and his sons. Only 18 minutes survive.