
Acting
Noriko Sengoku
Born — Died
1922-05-29 — 2012-12-27
Place of birth
Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
64 titles
Reiko Mori (April 29, 1922 – December 27, 2012), known by her stage name Noriko Sengoku, was a Japanese film and television actress active primarily in the 1950s and 1960s. She made her film debut in 1947 and starred in several of Akira Kurosawa's early films such as Drunken Angel, The Quiet Duel, Stray Dog, Scandal, The Idiot and Seven Samurai. During the war, she was a member of the traveling theater troupe Sakura-tai , which was wiped out in the Hiroshima atomic bombing . However, she escaped the atomic bombing because she was away from Hiroshima giving birth She was highly praised as a great supporting actress, and excelled in the role of a spiteful landlady. She believed that "a suppo…
Known for
8.5A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Seven Samurai
1954
8.7Dr. Goto Kensuke transfers to a remote island clinic after an incident at his Tokyo hospital. His first task: winning over the wary locals.
Dr. Coto's Clinic
2003
7.7Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Kwaidan
1965
6.8Astronauts Glenn and Fuji investigate Planet X and encounter mysterious aliens known as the Xiliens, who ask Earth's people to help save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. As Glenn investigates, he develops a romance with Miss Namikawa and uncovers the Xilien's true intentions.
Invasion of Astro-Monster
1965
7.6In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.
Drunken Angel
1948
4.0Tomoko and Satoshi who got married after the great love affair. Start a sweet newly-married life of only two people. At that time, Satoshi older brorher Haruo suddenly ordered an American relocation order, the three daughters Mari, Hanabi, Chieko , and mother-in-law Suddenly living with them.
The Young Wife Rolls Her Arms!
1988
Film credits
2000s · 3 titles
6.9Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.
Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad
2007
5.6When pregnant lunchbox factory worker Yayoi has finally taken all the abuse she can handle, she strangles her brutish husband and disposes of the body parts, piece by piece. She's soon joined by three down on their luck housewives who murder their own husbands and find various ways to hide the evidence.
Out
2002
5.7One of a gang of karaoke loving middle aged women is murdered by a young man. Her friends track him down and kill him. His friends track them down and kill the killer and it escalates!
Karaoke Terror
2003
1990s · 3 titles
6.8When a hooded stranger appears in private eye 'Mike' Hama's office with the cryptic challenge "I want you to look for me," Hama is drawn into a string of bizarre serial murders that have Yokohama's police baffled and the city terrified.
The Trap
1996
7.2Broke, with his vintage Nash convertible repossessed, private eye Mike Hama is reduced to combing the mean streets of the Yokohama waterfront on a borrowed bicycle. But when Lily, a beautiful stripper from out of Hama's past, returns to town, the fuse is lit on a criminal powder keg set to blow the lid off the Yokohama underworld.
The Stairway to the Distant Past
1995
6.0A straight young woman living in Tokyo becomes involved in the lives of a gay man and his married lover.
Okoge
1992
1980s · 6 titles
5.0A legendary actress thought to be dead is discovered living in an isolated mansion. A screenwriter is tasked with writing her comeback film, which leads the two to live under the same roof.
Legend of the Cat Monster
1983
6.0Benio, a peppy tomboy, is surprised to learn that she has been secretly betrothed by her grandfather to a young officer named Shinobu Ijuin. Because of his family’s noble status, Benio must first undergo rigorous training to learn how to be a proper bride and wife before she can marry. However, because of her vivacious personality, this proves to me more challenging than anyone imagined.
There Goes Benio, the Smart Girl
1987
7.0Two interns and a nurse are interrogated by American MPs for their involvement in an atrocity during the war: the vivisections of a downed American air crew.
The Sea and Poison
1986
NRMomoko Watanabe—a student who, upon visiting a shrine in order to wish good luck on a friend of hers, witnesses a murder in the forest...and she knows the culprit! Unfortunately, she doesn't have it in her to tell anybody about it, and to make matters worse, said aforementioned friend gets accused of the murder.
Sotsugyou -GRADUATION-
1985
7.5Hitomi, a former orphan who is trying to leave behind her delinquent ways, one day agrees to tutor a wealthy young boy who has just become an orphan himself…
Leave My Girl Alone
1986
6.5Mitamura Yuka is a normal, shy high school student. Except for the fact that she has psychic powers. When a new student with similar powers begins to show her skills, creating a force of psychic Nazi student enforcers, Yuka and her friends vow to stop her. But behind it all is a mysterious force that will put Yuka's powers to the ultimate test!
School in the Crosshairs
1981
1960s · 23 titles
7.7Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Kwaidan
1965
6.8Astronauts Glenn and Fuji investigate Planet X and encounter mysterious aliens known as the Xiliens, who ask Earth's people to help save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. As Glenn investigates, he develops a romance with Miss Namikawa and uncovers the Xilien's true intentions.
Invasion of Astro-Monster
1965
8.0Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
1960
6.5A blind sculptor kidnaps an artists' model and imprisons her in his warehouse studio – a shadowland of perverse monuments to the female form. Here a deranged passion play of sensual and sexual obsession is acted out in world where sight is replaced by touch.
Blind Beast
1969
6.5In the wake of the 1956 Prostitution Prevention Law, a young woman recently released from one of Japan's new rehabilitation centers struggles to build a new life.
Girls of the Night
1961
7.3A dying businessman intends to will ¥200 million to his three illegitimate children, but his associates scheme to take advantage of the situation.
The Inheritance
1962
6.8Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, works as a bar hostess at night. She begins a passionate affair with one of her regulars, but his changing demeanor and constant demands for money lead Yoshie down a dark path.
The Shape of Night
1964
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Apple Blossom Town
1963
7.0Desperate to escape her grueling life caring for her paralyzed husband, Tamiko murders him and burns down their home to start anew. She is soon entangled in the dark web of an influential, elderly power broker, becoming his mistress and a pawn in his political schemes. As she descends further into a downward spiral of moral decay, Tamiko realizes that the freedom she sought is merely a new form of entrapment.
Beast Alley
1965
8.3This film by Toyoda depicts the hard life of an unmarried mother in Tokyo. Umeko (Machiko Kyo), at 36, is working in a bar, struggling valiantly to keep her family together. Her 17-year-old daughter Takeko becomes increasingly upset by her mother's constant drinking and yakuza boyfriend, and runs away from home. Kyo's performance was highly praised.
Sweet Sweat
1964
7.7Kokubu, captain of his university's kendo team, is a mystery to those who know him: An ascetic dedicated to a point of obsession with the simplicity and beauty of the sword arts. Kagawa, a promising but arrogant kendo student, is attracted to Kokubu's devout leadership but kept at a distance by his standoffish nature. With the national championships fast approaching, the pair clash as Kokubu drives his students with increasingly rigorous training and Kagawa tests Kokubu's grip on the class.
Ken
1964
7.0No synopsis available yet.
This Madding Crowd
1962
10.0The final film by Yuzo Kawashima.
Fifty-Fifty
1963
NRA contemporary comedy.
The Curio Master
1960
7.0Toho-produced crime drama involving the drug trade.
The Weed of Crime
1962
8.0The love story of an aspiring architect and a charcoal-making daughter, who discover that they are actually brother and sister.
Eternal Love
1968
9.0Gen is a lonely orphan boy. His sole sense of companionship comes from an imaginary friend, the god Prince Fudo-Myo. Prince Fudo-Myo comes to the boy's rescue in times of difficulty.
The Youth and His Amulet
1961
NRA drama film based on Ken Domon's photography of the children around the Chikuho coal mines.
Chikuhō no kodomotachi
1960
NRComedy starring the manzai team of Chick and Tack, and set in the world of salarymen.
Great Incidents
1967
NR1962 Japanese movie
A Woman's Identity
1962
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Love's Family Tree
1961
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Masseur War Story
1965
8.0Third film in the "Ekimae" series, this time set in Hamamatsu. A widow named Keiko and her brother Jiro run the bento shop, "Goraku." One day, Keiko asks for advice from her childhood friends Kintaro, a textile manufacturer, and Magosaku, an entrepreneur, about a big-shot from Osaka who wants to invest in her shop. However, Kintaro and Magosaku suspect that things are not what they seem...
A Comedy in Front of the Station: Lunchbox
1961
1950s · 19 titles
8.5A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Seven Samurai
1954
7.7A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.
Floating Clouds
1955
NRA historical drama that tells the story of a simple girl, Chizuru, who entered the imperial palace as a maid and rose to the top because of her love affair.
Chiyoda Castle in Flames
1959
7.0A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the disgraced Taeko Nasu, the proud Ayako, and his possessive friend Akama. Kameda’s saintly compassion exposes everyone’s wounds, steering the quartet toward jealousy, violence, and inexorable tragedy. Adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel.
The Idiot
1951
7.1Setsuko is in an unhappy marriage to Mimura, an unemployed, alcoholic engineer. She had always been in love with Hiroshi but both failed to propose when Hiroshi left for France a few years ago. But now he's back and Mariko tries to reunite them, although she too is secretly in love with Hiroshi.
The Munekata Sisters
1950
7.3An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him declared incompetent, a family-court counselor witnesses his obsession slide into ruin—and asks whether ignoring the atomic threat is any saner.
I Live in Fear
1955
NRYosuke Machida of the Daito Shinpo hears from a boy named Toshi-bo, whom he found on the street, that Toshi-bo’s older sister, Toyo, was deceived by a man named Taichi Tachikawa and sold into prostitution in a red-light district. He then set foot in this district for the first time and met Michiko Kawabe, a female reporter known by the nickname “Yoshie.” After hearing various details about the situation from her, he learned that Toyo was at “Kotogawa.”
Dorei no machi
1951
6.9A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
Scandal
1950
5.6Keiko Yukawa is a former prostitute and the newest inmate at White Lily, a female rehabilitation facility.
White Beast
1950
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Masura no Hashitsu Sequel: It's Hard to Be a Company
1956
6.3In post-war Japan, Michiko, a disillusioned young woman trapped in a loveless marriage, confides in her younger cousin, Tsutomo, and the two become close, but decide not to consummate their affair. He instead becomes involved with the flirtatious Tomiko, who is also conducting an affair with Michiko's husband. When Michiko finds that her husband has abandoned her, she decides to take her fate into her own hands.
The Lady of Musashino
1951
6.7It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and her family loses their home. Complications arise when Shimamura doesn't come back as promised. Then Komako discovers that he and Yuko knew each other in Tokyo. Can Komako escape destiny?
Snow Country
1957
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Sanpei Mejiro Story: My Wife
1957
NRBased on the novel "Kyokatsu" ("Blackmail") by Ichiro Kashiwara.
Don't Make a Mistake!
1958
8.2The story of a group of young people who organise their own travelling symphony orchestra to provide music for people living in remote villages shortly after the war.
Here Is a Spring
1955
NRA notorious abortion doctor fell down from a night train and he was dead. A man who knows the truth of this accident starts to chase a up-and-coming model.
The Face
1957
7.0Lending money, job hunting for civilians and babysitting. All these things are usually not listed on a policeman's job description. But for the officers of this local police station, it‘s part of their daily routine. One day, patrolman Yoshii (Hisaya Morishige) finds an abandoned baby and a six year old girl standing in front of the station. When he's declined by the welfare office, orphanage and local health clinic to take them in, he decides to take care of them himself.
Policeman's Diary
1955
NRPeriod film about a feudal era judge living in Edo
An Edoite Judge
1953
7.0Detective Tarao goes undercover to battle an evil gun smuggling business.
The Seven Faces of Bannai Tarao, Private Eye
1956
1940s · 5 titles
7.6In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.
Drunken Angel
1948
7.6A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.
Stray Dog
1949
7.3A young army surgeon, Kyoji Fujisaki, accidentally contracts syphilis during a WWII field operation. Back at his father’s clinic, he treats himself in secret and breaks off his engagement rather than risk his fiancée’s future, even as he confronts the irresponsible patient who infected him—testing his ethics, pride, and capacity for sacrifice.
The Quiet Duel
1949
7.0During the late Meiji period, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Sumako, a country girl, becomes a great actress with the help of Hogetsu, a scholar who brought European realism to the Japanese stage. The relationship leads to the end of his marriage and the breakup of his Arts Society.
Actress
1947
9.0No synopsis available yet.
A Woman's Life
1949
Series credits
8.7Dr. Goto Kensuke transfers to a remote island clinic after an incident at his Tokyo hospital. His first task: winning over the wary locals.
Dr. Coto's Clinic
2003
4.0Tomoko and Satoshi who got married after the great love affair. Start a sweet newly-married life of only two people. At that time, Satoshi older brorher Haruo suddenly ordered an American relocation order, the three daughters Mari, Hanabi, Chieko , and mother-in-law Suddenly living with them.
The Young Wife Rolls Her Arms!
1988
NRFirst Japanese TV drama about flight attendants.
Attention Please
1970
6.0Set in slums of Tokyo, the daily life of the child Takeshi Kitano and his family is depicted with a comedy touch, the drama revolves around the Takeshi Kitano who is kind but mischievous.
Takeshi-kun, Hai!
1985

