Kan Yanagiya

Acting

Kan Yanagiya

Born

1911-11-08 (114)

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

Known for

Stray Dog poster
7.6

A 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

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity poster
8.2

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

1959

A Taxing Woman poster
6.7

Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.

A Taxing Woman

1987

Moonlight Mask: Duel to the Death in Dangerous Waters poster
NR

The masked hero 'Moon Light Mask' battles the villainous 'Skull Mask' and his numerous masked henchmen who are trying to steal the secrets of the deadly HO evaporation bomb. This movie is part one of a two-part story arc that continues in the second movie.

Moonlight Mask: Duel to the Death in Dangerous Waters

1958

Yearning poster
8.1

War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment.

Yearning

1964

Eight Hours of Terror poster
7.5

A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers.

Eight Hours of Terror

1957

Film credits

1960s · 17 titles

Yearning poster
8.1

War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment.

Yearning

1964

A Woman's Life poster
7.1

A woman remembers her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son.

A Woman's Life

1963

Moment of Terror poster
5.9

When the only son of a working class woman is fatally struck by a car driven by the adulterous wife of a company president in a hit-and-run, the victim's mother changes her identity and infiltrates the couple's home to work as their maid, plotting to murder their similarly-aged son.

Moment of Terror

1966

Crazy Operation: First Move poster
10.0

After being fired from his company, Hitoshi Ueda opens a arbitration company. Experts from various fields gather around him and with their natural vitality, they solve one dispute after another. But as it turns out, their next dispute will be at a global scale.

Crazy Operation: First Move

1963

Ant Hell War poster
9.0

The sixth film of the desperado outpost series directed by Takashi Tsuboshima

Ant Hell War

1964

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman poster
6.0

The legendary one-eyed one-armed swordsman Tange Sazen is back to aid a Magistrate in his efforts to steal bribe money on its way to Edo for the benefit to poor farmers.

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman

1960

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3 poster
NR

Popular geisha Koharu suspects that Yusaku, a handsome stranger she falls in love with, is involved in a robbery of precious diamond.

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3

1960

The White Rose of Hong Kong poster
7.0

Narcotics officer Matsumoto’s investigation into a drug smuggling ring leads him from Tokyo to Hong Kong, where personal ties and painful secrets unravel a complex web of betrayal. As love, family, and justice collide, Matsumoto must face a truth too deep to escape—and a loss too great to mend.

The White Rose of Hong Kong

1965

Police Precinct Part 14 poster
NR

An elderly woman, Ume Matsumoto, informed the First Investigation Department that her son Hirasaka, who runs a shoe store, had disappeared. The detectives had a bad feeling which hit the mark, an unidentified drowned body is identified as Hirasaka. Some prime real estate he owned was also mysteriously sold. Suspecting that this is a planned murder and fearing the escape of the criminal, the Department begins to investigate secretly, without creating an investigation headquarters.

Police Precinct Part 14

1960

The Man from Planet Alpha poster
8.0

A film produced by Toho and Watanabe Productions as part of the Crazy Movie project featuring The Crazy Cats comedy group and jazz band members. It is the sixth film in the Crazy Operation series where the lead role was handed over from Eikichi Ueki to Kei Tani. According to the plot, Planet Alpha Secretary severely worried by the effects of the Earth's atomic bomb experiment and sent Mistake 7 and Zero 8, as a watchers to Earth for a nuclear disarmament.

The Man from Planet Alpha

1966

A Cat and Dried Bonito Flakes: The Story of a Swindler poster
NR

Based on the story "Tokyo Station" by Tsunehiko Sagawa.

A Cat and Dried Bonito Flakes: The Story of a Swindler

1961

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2 poster
9.0

Young geisha Kohana scrambles to realize her dream of bringing back her grandmother’s restaurant business.

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2

1960

Dynamite Doctor Returns poster
NR

Second movie in the yoidore hakase serie

Dynamite Doctor Returns

1966

Lord Mito: All Star Version poster
8.3

In 1691 a terrible fire broke out in Denmacho, Yotsuya, burning down the towns around it, up to the shores of Shibaura. A month and a half later, another fire broke out, this time in Komagome, burning down the two gates of Asakusa and Sujikai, and continuing on into the night. As the government Elders consider evidence that these fires were arson, a fire breaks out in Hirakawa-cho, outside of Hanzo Gate. Nishonmaru catches on fire and burns down completely. When this rash of fires even strikes Kyoto, the task of finding who’s behind the arson, and stopping them falls to the Shogun’s uncle, the Elder Lord of Mito. Together with his trusted bodyguards, Kaku and Suke, the trio set of to save Japan from this scourge of evil. Featuring virtually all of their most famous stars, this is the best film in the Toei series about Mito Komon, one of Japan’s most popular historical figures who traveled through the country incognito to check on the people and fight injustice.

Lord Mito: All Star Version

1960

Salaryman Idea Book: Man of Worrisome Episodes poster
NR

A university graduate determined to become a fishmonger defies his mother's wishes, tangles with bar hostesses and a beer company heiress, and—after misunderstandings, brawls, and a second chance—discovers that maybe the salaryman life isn’t so bad after all.

Salaryman Idea Book: Man of Worrisome Episodes

1960

Detective poster
NR

The first film with Tetsuro Tamba as a detective. An exciting drama about the pursuit of a criminal, which takes place in Yokohama. Tamba enthusiastically plays a police inspector who pursues a criminal who kidnapped his sister.

Detective

1964

Storming Squadron poster
NR

1960 Toei war movie.

Storming Squadron

1960

1950s · 32 titles

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity poster
8.2

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

1959

Moonlight Mask: Duel to the Death in Dangerous Waters poster
NR

The masked hero 'Moon Light Mask' battles the villainous 'Skull Mask' and his numerous masked henchmen who are trying to steal the secrets of the deadly HO evaporation bomb. This movie is part one of a two-part story arc that continues in the second movie.

Moonlight Mask: Duel to the Death in Dangerous Waters

1958

Eight Hours of Terror poster
7.5

A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers.

Eight Hours of Terror

1957

Moonlight Mask poster
8.0

First Moonlight Mask theatrical film.

Moonlight Mask

1958

Children of Hiroshima poster
7.1

Shows the devastation caused by the atomic bomb, and by use of a fictional storyline, portrays the struggle of the ordinary Japanese people in dealing with the aftermath.

Children of Hiroshima

1952

Voice Without a Shadow poster
6.2

Asako, a former telephone operator once heard the voice of a murder suspect which has continued to haunt her. Years later her husband invites his boss, Hamazaki, over for dinner and she realises his voice is suspiciously like that of the killer. Before she can investigate further, Hamazaki is found dead and her husband becomes the prime suspect.

Voice Without a Shadow

1958

Moonlight Mask: The Monster Gorilla poster
7.0

Fourth Moonlight Mask theatrical film.

Moonlight Mask: The Monster Gorilla

1959

Duel in the Sun poster
NR

A film by Kiyoshi Saeki

Duel in the Sun

1950

The Angry Street poster
6.7

University students Sudo and Mori make money by picking up rich girls in dance clubs and conning them into giving them cash. Mori is the brains of the operation, and Sudo is the suave dancer who picks up the girls. Sudo becomes gradually involved with three different girls and is drawn into the gangster milieu, which he seems unable to resist even though he is responsible for his mother, grandmother, and sister Masako. In this world of bad boys and girls, Masako is the pillar of strength and moral virtue who finally enables Mori to straighten out.

The Angry Street

1950

Tokyo Sweetheart poster
8.0

Following the Second World War, the lives of various people in a poverty-stricken area of Tokyo are entertwined. Pachinko parlor girls, shoeshine boys, a maker of costume jewelry, and a streetcorner artist all struggle to make their livings and to find happiness in difficult surroundings.

Tokyo Sweetheart

1952

The Blue Pearl poster
7.5

The Blue Pearl depicts the interplay between a young man from Tokyo and two ama (pearl divers; literally “women of the sea”) in a superstitious coastal town. Though raised within the same tradition-bound crucible, the two women – Noe and Riu – are portrayed as diametric opposites; the former meek but affectionate, the latter strong-willed but jaded by a tryst with metropolitan life.

The Blue Pearl

1951

The Wolves poster
6.9

A group of five rookie insurance salespersons, driven to desperation by the impossibility of their work in Japan's failing postwar economy, form a plan to rob a cash delivery truck in order to provide for their families.

The Wolves

1955

Turbid Youth poster
9.0

Shigeki Kachi, Tosuke Satomura, and Nanako, who belong to the theater company Vuanbert around Dosa, withdrew at the indignation of the chairman Hayashi and seeked their own careers in the film industry.

Turbid Youth

1954

Moonlight Mask: The Last Death of the Devil poster
10.0

The sixth and last Moonlight Mask film in the original series produced by Toei in the 1950s.

Moonlight Mask: The Last Death of the Devil

1959

The Skin of the South poster
8.0

When a group of young geologists declares a mountainside marked for residential development unstable, they are met with scorn on two fronts. On one end, they must contend with the local villagers who balk at the prospect of relocation; on the other, they face the ambitions of the headstrong lumber baron, whose actions will only further destabilize the land. Their pleas for reason ignored, the scientists can do little but observe as nature runs its inevitable course.

The Skin of the South

1952

The Happy Family poster
NR

Japanese family drama.

The Happy Family

1959

Dancing Sisters poster
NR

It’s been five years since her husband had passed away. Fuyuko lives in the quiet suburbs, in a small but loving home with her three beautiful daughters. Haruko, the eldest, is the lead vocalist in a band. Natsuko is the conscientious type, who spends her days in ballet classes beautifying herself. The youngest of the three, Akiko is a bookworm who found her niche in philosophy. Although the sisters may appear to have nothing in common, there is one thing they all agree on; "Mom needs a new husband".

Dancing Sisters

1957

Sasaki Kojiro poster
6.0

Director Hiroshi Inagaki's early version of the life and death of famed swordsman Sasaki Kojiro. Otani Tomoemon gives a brilliant performance as Sasaki Kojiro, who rises from humble beginnings to national fame, and a young Toshiro Mifune appears as the legendary master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi for the first time and essentially sets the standard for future portrayals.This masterpiece is based on the original story as written by noted author Murakami Genzo and is far superior to any other versions. Following Kojiro from his earliest days through his fateful meeting with Musashi, this movie is filled with exciting and dramatic moments culminating in the best version of the final duel ever seen on film.

Sasaki Kojiro

1951

The Naked Sun poster
7.0

A young, struggling couple are making every sacrifice so they will one day in the not-too-distant-future, have enough money to get married. As they have agreed on this procedure, it comes as a shock to the young woman to find out from her husband-to-be that he just loaned all the money they had saved to a friend. She is understandably miffed, and a big disagreement results. But after some time goes by, she discovers why the friend needed the money so badly, and the couple are back on solid footing again.

The Naked Sun

1958

Escape from Prison poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Escape from Prison

1950

Escape at Dawn poster
6.0

Mikami, a Japanese soldier, is captured by Chinese forces. Although able to escape, he is treated with contempt by his peers. After falling in love with a prostitute named Harumi, she convinces him to desert the army and live with her.

Escape at Dawn

1950

Nikoyon monogatari poster
9.0

Japanese drama film.

Nikoyon monogatari

1956

Dispersed Clouds poster
7.0

Five women classmates from a college in Tokyo are on the first stretch of a walking tour when one of them, Masako, falls ill at a railway station. Osen, a middle-aged maid from a nearby inn, takes her in and nurses her, assisted by Dr. Minami, a young physician who diagnoses her illness as a mild case of pneumonia. With Masako in good hands and needing a few days to recuperate, her classmates continue their tour. Masako’s recovery, however, is hampered by her spoiled and immature nature and her determination to punish the world for the loss of her mother.

Dispersed Clouds

1951

The Valley Between Love and Death poster
8.0

A great ambition to portray with sharp satire and humor the course of modern anxiety and love that is about to be driven to despair.

The Valley Between Love and Death

1954

Koibito poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Koibito

1951

The Black Current poster
10.0

A reporter Takuo, who is sleeping in the newspaper room of the Maichō newspaper company, receives a sudden report from a reporter that the missing Akiyama JNR president was found dead.

The Black Current

1954

Family Affairs: They're Stupid, Aren't They? poster
NR

Tonii is a salesman at a mortgage company, and although he is in a romantic relationship with Haruko, a typist at the company, they cannot get married because they have nowhere to live. Growing impatient, Haruko declares, “As long as he can support us, I’d even marry an old man,” leaving Tonii deeply troubled.

Family Affairs: They're Stupid, Aren't They?

1954

Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka poster
6.9

Three humorous love stories set in rural Japan.

Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka

1950

With Songs in My Heart poster
NR

Sayuri, a young woman born to a simple life on a farm, moves to Tokyo to pursue a life long dream of becoming a singer. Through dance, music, and songs, this story shows how a girl raised on a farm was able to make her dream a reality, with the love of those around her.

With Songs in My Heart

1958

No artwork available
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Crossing the Flames of War

1950

No artwork available
9.0

Japanese drama film.

The Motherless

1955

Forty-Eight Man poster
8.0

Jidai-geki by Kiyoshi Saeki

Forty-Eight Man

1952

1940s · 6 titles