
Acting
Sozo Okada
Born 1903-06-15 · Tokyo, Japan
Sōzō Okada (岡田 桑三), widely recognized by his acting pseudonym Hikaru Yamanouchi (山内光), was a Japanese actor and producer who played a significant role in both the performing and visual arts of Japan. Born on June 15, 1903, his early life was distinctly shaped by extensive international travel during the 1920s and 1930s, aided by his English ancestry through his grandfather. He initially aspired to be a painter and studied in Germany from 1920 to 1923. Upon returning to Japan, he integrated into the Shochiku studio and began a successful cinematic career under the stage name Hikaru Yamanouchi. Displaying great versatility, he became a highly prolific actor, appearing in nearly 80 films between 1926 and 1940. During this era, he starred in notable productions such as Reijin (1930), Nihon josei no uta (1934), Street Without End (1934), Kajuen no onna (1935), and Courant chaud (1939). Despite his commercial success on screen, Okada maintained a profound interest in the European avant-garde and visual experimentation. In 1929, he traveled to Moscow to study avant-garde cinema, where he met director Sergei Eisenstein and was deeply marked by Soviet photojournalism and Russian constructivism. That same year in Stuttgart, he attended the original Deutscher Werkbund Film und Foto exhibition and successfully proposed to Asahi Shimbunsha to bring this groundbreaking itinerant exhibition to Japan. Driven by a desire to diffuse European avant-garde methods in his home country, he transitioned into production and cultural organization. He co-founded the Kokusai Kōga Kyōkai (International Photography Association) and actively engaged with international creative circles. Continuing his structural impact on Japanese visual media, he co-founded the influential Nippon-Kobo collective in 1933, and later founded the Tokyo Cinema studio, which became the pinnacle of his producing career in the field of documentary filmmaking. Following a multifaceted career that bridged the golden era of screen acting with pioneering documentary and photographic production, he died on September 1, 1983.
Acting credits
Directed by Yutaka Abe (as Jack Abe).
A Mermaid on Land
1926
7.5The eldest daughter of a noble family is in love with an aviator while being courted by a fellow aristocrat she thinks is a dullard. Told from the perspective of Ryota. In this second part, we learn that Akemi is pregnant...
The New Road: Ryota
1936
NRDomestic comedy involving a strong wife and a "henpecked" husband taking place in a family-run judo school.
Mother's Love Letter
1935
6.7Japanese silent film directed by Yasujirô Shimazu, originally released as a two-part movie on December 11, 1931.
ABC Lifeline
1931
6.6Mikio Naruse’s final silent film is a gloriously rich portrait of a waitress, Sugiko, whose life, despite a host of male admirers and even some intrigued movie talent scouts, ends up taking a suffocatingly domestic turn after a wealthy businessman accidentally hits her with his car.
Street Without End
1934
9.0Life and love in corrupt postwar Tokyo, as a young couple struggles against both the law and the mob.
The Most Beautiful Day of My Life
1948
6.8A period piece about the love of a wealthy blind woman, a teacher of koto and shamisen, and her devoted manservant. Based on a novella by Tanizaki Junichiro.
Okoto and Sasuke
1935
7.0The narrative is about a woman who faces hard times, when her husband is arrested for a crime committed by his boss. The woman also has a child to look after, and they end up meeting several colorful personalities.
Housewife Camellia
1936
7.0Melodrama about a talented singer who finally makes her debut
Lovers' Duet
1939
6.0Pre-war Asakusa was a riotous district of cabarets, dance-halls and brothels - a striking backdrop for Shimazu's story of innocence and experience. Pretty, young Reiko is the new dancer in an infamous theatre troupe, and her fellow performers try to protect her virtue in a land of vice. Meanwhile, an ageing actor wants to be a hero off stage as well as on, and the troupe matriarch Marie has to keep them all together.
The Lights of Asakusa
1937
NRA modern girl suddenly intrudes into a widower's family home.
Youth, Why Do You Cry?
1930
NRA melodrama about a businessman's relations with the three women in his life.
Family Meeting
1936
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.
The Model of New Women
1929
8.5The eldest daughter of a noble family is in love with an aviator while being courted by a fellow aristocrat she thinks is a dullard. This part is told from the perspective of Akemi.
The New Road: Akemi
1936
No synopsis available yet.
Reijin
1930
9.0Record of Love and Desire a.k.a. Desire of Night (愛慾の記[b], Aiyoku no ki; lit. "Memories of Love and Desire") is a 1930 Japanese silent film directed by Heinosuke Gosho, starring Kinuyo Tanaka and Ichirō Yuki.
Record of Love and Desire
1930
NRApproaching their graduation ceremony, Saegusa, Sanae, and their classmates go on an overnight trip to Hakone with their teacher Ms. Kawahara, who will soon leave school. They thank her doing so and go on their respective paths, ending soon their student life.
Hotaru no hikari
1938
8.0The poor novelist Yamamoto is writing his novel, determined and with a headband around his head. With him, the novelist who is always in trouble paying his bills, is the girl Saya who becomes the model for his novel. Saya however is in love with a young driver. When he is forced to move into a spa town as the result of the jealousy of another man Saya is terribly sad. But with the help of Yamamoto the driver's rival can be revealed and Saya can finally be with her beloved.
Osayo Koi Sugata
1934
Japanese drama from 1934. A major production of Shochiku Studio, directed by Hiroshi Shimizu.
Mother of the East
1934
5.3Adaptation of Kishida Kunio's novel. Set against the backdrop of a power struggle within a hospital, depicts the love lives of the director's daughter, the administrative director, a doctor, and a nurse.
Warm Current
1939
10.0Film by Hiroshi Shimizu, featuring an early role for frequent Ozu and Naruse collaborator Hideko Takamine.
Passion
1932
Japanese silent film from 1930.
A Smiling Life
1930
Japanese film from 1932.
My Brother's a Fool
1932
NRJapanese silent film from 1928.
The Glory of the Shōwa Era
1928
Behind the camera
No synopsis available yet.
美しい国土―その生いたち―
1964
No synopsis available yet.
Mikuro no sekai: Kekkakukin o otte
1958
NRCameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.
The World of Pulses - Electronics and Living Organism
1962
NRNo synopsis available yet.
ヒトの染色体
1966
NRCameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.
Life is Born
1963
NRCameraman Yonesaku Kobayashi (1905-2005) is a pioneer of scientific films of Japan. He and producer Sozo Okada made many scientific educational films, and in 60's - 70's, many avant-garde composers composed music for these films.
Electronic Processes - In Crystal and Living Organism
1964
This unusual film uses beautiful images and powerful music to depict the function of lubricants used in steel mill rolls and airplane jet engines.
Lubricating Oil
1960