Noriko Sengoku

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

Seven Samurai poster
8.5

A 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

Dr. Coto's Clinic poster
8.7

Dr. 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

Kwaidan poster
7.7

Taking 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

Invasion of Astro-Monster poster
6.8

Astronauts 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

Drunken Angel poster
7.6

In 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

The Young Wife Rolls Her Arms! poster
4.0

Tomoko 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

1980s · 6 titles

Legend of the Cat Monster poster
5.0

A 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

There Goes Benio, the Smart Girl poster
6.0

Benio, 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

The Sea and Poison poster
7.0

Two 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

Sotsugyou -GRADUATION- poster
NR

Momoko 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

Leave My Girl Alone poster
7.5

Hitomi, 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

School in the Crosshairs poster
6.5

Mitamura 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

Kwaidan poster
7.7

Taking 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

Invasion of Astro-Monster poster
6.8

Astronauts 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

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs poster
8.0

Keiko, 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

Blind Beast poster
6.5

A 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

Girls of the Night poster
6.5

In 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

The Inheritance poster
7.3

A 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

The Shape of Night poster
6.8

Yoshie 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

Apple Blossom Town poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Apple Blossom Town

1963

Beast Alley poster
7.0

Desperate 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

Sweet Sweat poster
8.3

This 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

Ken poster
7.7

Kokubu, 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

This Madding Crowd poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

This Madding Crowd

1962

Fifty-Fifty poster
10.0

The final film by Yuzo Kawashima.

Fifty-Fifty

1963

The Curio Master poster
NR

A contemporary comedy.

The Curio Master

1960

The Weed of Crime poster
7.0

Toho-produced crime drama involving the drug trade.

The Weed of Crime

1962

Eternal Love poster
8.0

The love story of an aspiring architect and a charcoal-making daughter, who discover that they are actually brother and sister.

Eternal Love

1968

The Youth and His Amulet poster
9.0

Gen 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

Chikuhō no kodomotachi poster
NR

A drama film based on Ken Domon's photography of the children around the Chikuho coal mines.

Chikuhō no kodomotachi

1960

Great Incidents poster
NR

Comedy starring the manzai team of Chick and Tack, and set in the world of salarymen.

Great Incidents

1967

A Woman's Identity poster
NR

1962 Japanese movie

A Woman's Identity

1962

Love's Family Tree poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Love's Family Tree

1961

Masseur War Story poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Masseur War Story

1965

A Comedy in Front of the Station: Lunchbox poster
8.0

Third 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

Seven Samurai poster
8.5

A 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

Floating Clouds poster
7.7

A 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

Chiyoda Castle in Flames poster
NR

A 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

The Idiot poster
7.0

A 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

The Munekata Sisters poster
7.1

Setsuko 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

I Live in Fear poster
7.3

An 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

Dorei no machi poster
NR

Yosuke 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

Scandal poster
6.9

A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.

Scandal

1950

White Beast poster
5.6

Keiko Yukawa is a former prostitute and the newest inmate at White Lily, a female rehabilitation facility.

White Beast

1950

Masura no Hashitsu Sequel: It's Hard to Be a Company poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Masura no Hashitsu Sequel: It's Hard to Be a Company

1956

The Lady of Musashino poster
6.3

In 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

Snow Country poster
6.7

It'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

Sanpei Mejiro Story: My Wife poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Sanpei Mejiro Story: My Wife

1957

Don't Make a Mistake! poster
NR

Based on the novel "Kyokatsu" ("Blackmail") by Ichiro Kashiwara.

Don't Make a Mistake!

1958

Here Is a Spring poster
8.2

The 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

The Face poster
NR

A 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

Policeman's Diary poster
7.0

Lending 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

An Edoite Judge poster
NR

Period film about a feudal era judge living in Edo

An Edoite Judge

1953

The Seven Faces of Bannai Tarao, Private Eye poster
7.0

Detective Tarao goes undercover to battle an evil gun smuggling business.

The Seven Faces of Bannai Tarao, Private Eye

1956

1940s · 5 titles

Series credits