
Acting
Yōko Katsuragi
Born 1930-04-06 · Tokyo, Japan
Yōko Katsuragi (桂木洋子, Katsuragi, Yōko, 6 April 1930 – March 2007) was a Japanese actress active from 1948 to 1963. She appeared mostly in films of the Shochiku film studios, often under the direction of Keisuke Kinoshita.
Acting credits
6.2A young widow, made world weary by her abusive, neglectful husband, finds herself in a minor scandal when she's seen with her intense, no-nonsense childhood sweetheart.
The Tattered Wings
1955
8.0Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Late Spring
1949
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
6.0In the Meiji period, a schoolteacher tries to hide his lower-class upbringing as he supports a visiting liberal intellectual.
Apostasy
1948
NRBorn to a prestigious family, Natsuko is not impressed by any one of her suitors. Determined to spend her life serving god, she sets off to a convent in Hakodate, Hokkaido, and meets along the way a young bear-hunter with whom she begins an adventure.
Natsuko’s Adventure in Hokkaido
1953
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Ushiwakamaru
1952
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Ai to chie no wa
1956
6.7When the future of his construction company falls into danger, a controlling father pushes his children into unsatisfying marriages and careers in order to regain financial stability.
Broken Drum
1949
9.0Also known as Crazy Uproar.
Crazy Uproar
1950
9.0Yoshida Denkichi does loses sight of his wife Chiyoko and daughter Toyoko during the war, and is taken in by a familiar woman, Oshige, and becomes the owner of "Fujimura" in the town of Hato. Eiko is a timid woman who hates Terada, a watchmaker who is obsessed with her; Tamie is a hard worker who asks for money from customers to support her mother and daughter Teruko; Tane, who dreams of the day they can be together, gives money to her lover Takeda; Machiko, an apres girl, is selective about her customers in the name of romance. They are women working in the red light district at "Fujimura."
House of Many Pleasures
1955
5.8At the close of the war in Japan, a widowed mother makes every possible sacrifice to bring up her ungrateful son and daughter who are unimpressed with their poor standard of living at home. They gradually reject her in search of the material comforts that working as a maid cannot provide. The mother's despair becomes interminable.
A Japanese Tragedy
1953
NRA Hibari Misora musical about an impoverished girl and her brother in Postwar Japan.
Weeping Doll
1951
7.0A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era.
Black River
1957
NRA former samurai, whose lover had died while he was traveling, was returning to Edo when he met a woman at Shinagawa-juku.
Ashi o aratta otoko
1949
NRJoe Shishido is an ambitious bike racetrack tout who becomes inadvertently involved in a triangle with a vulnerable prostitute (Izumi Ashikawa) and her brutal yakuza pimp (George Ai).
Glass-Hearted Johnny
1962
Produced by Shochiku’s all-star cast as a commemorative film to mark the completion of the “Shochiku Kaikan” in Tsukiji, Tokyo, this movie introduces both the Shochiku Ofuna and Kyoto studios. Part One focuses on the studio’s behind-the-scenes staff: set designers, prop masters, and lighting technicians. Part Two presents a digest-style overview of the process surrounding a young woman who auditions for the “New Faces” program, from the auditions to her debut as an actress.
Shochiku Festival: All-Star Lineup – Studio Express / The Birth of an Actress
1956
6.7The mistress of a crook real estate broker comes to terms with her soulless existence after an artist paints her portrait.
The Portrait
1948
5.8The wife of an elite government official left her husband, and a young journalist is sent to investigate the case. But his boss has a hidden agenda.
The Good Fairy
1951
NRThe Nakata family, father, mother, son Hideo, and daughters Taeko and Akiko live in the poorer section of modern Tokyo. Their troubles start when the father leaves with another woman, returns after he is rejected, and leaves again with the family's money.
Next Door to Happiness
1955
5.4A fishing union depends on two brothers to make up the losses caused by the dishonest captains they replaced.
Fireworks Over the Sea
1951
4.5After witnessing a murder, a married woman and a student agree not to meet and see each other out of fear of exposing their affair.
A Secret Rendezvous
1959
6.1A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.
Fountainhead
1956
5.0Based on the play ”Mabuta no haha” by famed author Shin Hasegawa, this is the first major starring role for Tomisaburo Wakayama. This heartfelt story concerns a wandering gambler from Banba by the name of Chutaro. Set during the Tenpo Period, Chutaro runs afoul of Boss Sukegoro of Iioka. Pursued by vengeance seeking swordsmen, Chutaro displays his phenomenal martial art skills. Abandoned as a child, he seeks to find his long lost mother, while at the same time fighting off numerous attacks by Iioka’s men.
Chutaro of Banba
1955
3.8A family is slowly falling apart: the father is absent from the start, the mother a kept woman thanks to her children, the son is being cheated on by his wife, one daughter is forced to marry an older man against her will, while the other has retreated into smug moral superiority.
The Seasons of Love
1958