
Acting
Ichirō Sugai
Born — Died
1907-07-24 — 1973-08-11
Place of birth
Kyōto, Kyōto Prefecture, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
64 titles
Known for
NRThe 8th NHK Asadora. Starring Yumiko Fujita in a family drama. The first Asadora filmed in color.
Ashita Koso
1968
8.0Monjiro was born into a poor farm family in Mikazuki Village, Nitta County, Ueshu, and abandoned his hometown when he was 10 years old. He has been traveling aimlessly with a long toothpick in his mouth. Monjiro avoided getting involved in anything, but wherever he went, he ended up getting involved in incidents
Kogarashi Monjiro
1972
8.1In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.
Sansho the Bailiff
1954
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
7.2Two broke sweethearts wander war-scarred Tokyo on a single Sunday, stretching 35 yen as they chase housing, small pleasures, and a little hope.
One Wonderful Sunday
1947
5.6Young women at a precision optics factory in wartime Japan push to exceed production quotas, enduring illness, injury, and personal hardship to “serve the country.” Led by Tsuru Watanabe, they fight fatigue and setbacks to keep their line moving—even when duty collides with grief.
The Most Beautiful
1944
Film credits
1960s · 15 titles
6.4Gamera escapes from his rocket enclosure and makes his way back to Earth as a giant opal from New Guinea is brought back to Japan. The opal is discovered to have been an egg that births a new monster called Barugon. The creature attacks the city of Osaka by emitting a destructive rainbow ray from his back, along with a freezing spray capable of incapacitating Gamera.
Gamera vs. Barugon
1966
7.3A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real trouble starts when Haru discovers him lusting after her daughter.
The Pornographers
1966
6.1A story of yakuza lynching during the Edo, Meiji, and Showa periods.
Yakuza Law
1969
9.5The shogun's vassal Harima Aoyama and a chamber maid are in love with each other, but they cannot be together due to a difference of their status. Soon, an offer of marriage is brought to Harima. Trying to test his love, Okiku breaks one of the plates of the family treasure of the Aoyama family, but Harima doesn't notice. However, someone surrounding her witnesses the moment Okiku breaks the plate on purpose.
A Samurai Never Tells a Lie
1963
NRAkio Tsukaro, dreaming of working for a beauty school's flag shop one day, stayed at Bunta Tadokoro without being involved in salon art, even though he graduated from beauty school. One day, Akio saw Michiko, a beautiful girl raining in Ginza. Since then, Akio has become unforgettable with the mascot that Michiko has taken away...
Tokyo In Love
1965
7.0On a small island, inhabited by only fourteen hundred people, a young fisherman's son, Shinji falls in love with Hatsue, the daughter of the richest and most difficult man on the island. Despite their differences in class, they begin to meet and rumors spread of them having an illicit affair. Soon after, Shinji jumps into a stormy sea to help a ship in distress. The vessel turns out to be owned by Hatsue's arrogant father, who now becomes an understanding and sympathetic parent and allows the two lovers to marry.
The Sound of Waves
1964
NRA song drama based on the autobiographical song "The sun is laughing" by composer Endo Minoru. It tells the story of a young man who moves to Tokyo with a big dream of becoming a composer, and despite the unfamiliar city life, sticks to his original intentions with the gentle encouragement of his young wife, and takes the music world by storm.
Dash to the Sun
1966
NRA young lawyer looking for a true culprit to save his innocent friend. But behind the case is the father of a woman he loves.
Night of Sorrow
1966
7.1Two car manufacturers spy on each other to try to find out details and prices of a new sports car each is about to launch.
Black Test Car
1962
9.0On January 26, 1948, a robbery of the Teigin bank took place in Tokyo - the criminal poisoned the bank employees and fled the scene with a large amount of money. In parallel with the investigation conducted by the Japanese police, journalists are also trying to find the culprit. Based on a true incident.
The Long Death
1964
NRThe university professor Ozeki Hitoshi (Ryu Chishu) is regarded as an eccentric by people in his surroundings. When his daughter Tokiko is asked to marry a colleague, she and her mother are overjoyed, but Hitoshi is not satisfied with the situation.
A Good Man, A Good Day
1961
5.6Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly pursues women, feeding his fascination and experience. As Yonosuke's salacious behavior brings much cause for shame to the family, his father eventually breaks relations with him. Expelled from the family, 19-year-old Yonosuke embarks on a pilgrimage of lust, traveling far and wide to acquaint himself with women of all walks.
A Lustful Man
1961
NR1963 Toei film
Violent Street
1963
6.4Mourning the death of her boyfriend, Yukiko wanders aimlessly from one city to another. During her mourning, she becomes addicted to gambling. One day, a man that resembles her deceased lover asks for help. He's being pursued by a dangerous gang of yakuza.
Woman Gambler
1965
NRHideo Ishizaki, who was painting on the shore of the lake, saves a woman named Keiko.
Acacia no Ame ga Yamu Toki
1963
1950s · 33 titles
8.1In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.
Sansho the Bailiff
1954
7.8During the Edo Period, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.
The Life of Oharu
1952
7.9In postwar Tokyo, Noriko lives with her extended family. Although she enjoys her career and her social life, her more traditional family worries about her single marital status at the advanced age of 28. 40-year-old business associate Takako proposes, Noriko's family press her into accepting, but when her widowed childhood friend Kenkichi returns to the neighborhood, she finds her heart leading in another direction.
Early Summer
1951
NRIttōsai, who trained in the Itto-ryu style deep in the mountains of Nara, joins a professional baseball team.
Ittōsai wa sebangō 6
1959
7.8When the wife of a 17th-century Kyoto scrollmaker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find themselves truly falling for one another.
Chikamatsu Monogatari
1954
6.2A middle-aged husband of a younger woman finds her youth intimidating to the point that he cannot become aroused. His solution involves the introduction of his daughter's lover to his wife.
Odd Obsession
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
A Girl Who Delivers Happiness
1955
NRTwo men clash over the beautiful star of a motorcycle show.
Driving Like Mad
1955
5.9Following a yearlong attendance upon his shogun in Edo, samurai Hikokuro makes a long-awaited return to his home and doting wife, Dane. Initially greeted by the effusive welcome of his family, spiteful whispers also reach his ear about an adulterous affair carried on, in his long absence, between his wife and a famous drummer. With Hikokuro’s honor imperiled by rumor, his family insists on a formal investigation into the veracity of the gossip. Through the combined testimony of many witnesses, a tale unwinds around the visits of a traveling musician hired to tutor the family heir, the spurned attentions of the man who started the rumor, and the ultimate truth behind the accusations. The conclusion of events prove as much an indictment of bushidō as it is of the reluctant parties involved. Adapted from a 1706 play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon and based on a true case.
Night Drum
1958
NRAn emotionally charged tale of love and passion set on a remote island lighthouse, where a mysterious woman arrives out of nowhere to cast a shadow over a wedding.
Hana aru dotō
1951
6.8Japan, 1137. The Taira family, a samurai clan, becomes involved in the disputes between Emperor Toba and the monks of Mount Hiei.
Taira Clan Saga
1955
9.0Among Yoshimura’s complex and political works, this episodic film, set in the early 1930s, follows the life of a young left-wing student activist disenchanted by the increasingly hawkish state of Japanese society.
Cape Ashizuri
1954
6.9Police beat a murder confession out of four innocent men who are then sentenced to death. Based on a true story.
Darkness at Noon
1956
6.8Set in post-war Japan, a group of five, four men and one woman, gathers in the basement of a butcher shop to dig up a cache of morphine buried during the war. A grimly humorous tale of twisted relationships as one by one each of the group is eliminated.
Endless Desire
1958
7.6Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.
A Geisha
1953
NRAmerican Sergeant falls in love with a Japanese woman.
Forever My Love
1952
6.7University 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
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Hana no kenkajō
1953
NRA thriller of deduction and duels, in which a newspaper reporter bravely takes on a gang in the city’s skyscraper district over a mysterious recording by a diva.
I Am Being Targeted
1950
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Asakusa no hada
1950
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Boshisen
1951
6.0Genji, the illegitimate offspring of a Japanese potentate, goes by the philosophy of "love 'em and leave 'em" as a matter of course. Only when his heart is broken by Awaji does Genji realizes how much pain he himself has caused.
The Tale of Genji
1951
7.8Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability.
The Eagle of the Pacific
1953
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Saijoke no kyoen
1951
6.5A math teacher loses his job while falling in love with a local girl.
Mr. Pu
1953
No synopsis available yet.
Coming Up of Kodokan
1953
NRKamezo, a manzai comedian, had been taking a break from performing while his partner Tsuruko was giving birth, but Tsuruko announced that she was retiring from the stage. That child was, in fact, the son of Takashi Yashiro, a politician with a promising future. Believing that a relationship between a politician and a female manzai comedian would bring unhappiness to Yashiro and his wife, Tsuruko changed her address and was even preparing to leave the stage. Tsuruko’s alcoholic father, having caught wind of this, snatched the child, Yoko, and squandered the small sum of money he had received from Yashiro on drinking.
Haha tsubaki
1950
NRA film filled with eroticism and humor, set in the Northern Alps where a naked woman has appeared, as depicted in the article “Naked Woman Appears in the Jungle,” and featuring a showman and a newspaper reporter.
Mitsurin no mehyō
1950
7.0The story of two sisters in post-war Japan. One is a geisha and the other works for the tourist board.
Clothes of Deception
1951
6.8The tale of Katakana Yonetaro aka "The Shark," a rough-and-tumble horse trader in Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, despite being a father and a husband he is frequently drawn to taverns.
The Life of a Horse Trader
1951
NRA villager's family is ostracized after he makes an accusation of rigged elections
Murahachibu
1953
10.0Film about a car dealer who gets into financial trouble.
Who's the Real Killer
1957
1950 daiei movie.
Shimai hoshi
1950
1940s · 12 titles
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
7.2Two broke sweethearts wander war-scarred Tokyo on a single Sunday, stretching 35 yen as they chase housing, small pleasures, and a little hope.
One Wonderful Sunday
1947
5.6Young women at a precision optics factory in wartime Japan push to exceed production quotas, enduring illness, injury, and personal hardship to “serve the country.” Led by Tsuru Watanabe, they fight fatigue and setbacks to keep their line moving—even when duty collides with grief.
The Most Beautiful
1944
6.0A few years after his breakthrough, Sanshiro resumes his path to judo mastery—testing his discipline against an American prizefighter and later facing vengeful karate brothers. As rival schools and public spectacle push him toward violence, he must reconcile strength with restraint and the true spirit of his art.
Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two
1945
No synopsis available yet.
Sabakareru aijō
1947
6.5A hotheaded youth in 1880s Meiji Japan apprentices to judo master Shōgorō Yano, trading brute jujutsu bravado for discipline and humility. As Sanshirō matures, he proves judo’s spirit against old-guard challengers—including a deadly duel—while falling for his vanquished opponent’s daughter. Based on the novel by Tsuneo Tomita, son of Tomita Tsunejirō, the earliest disciple of judo.
Sanshiro Sugata
1943
9.0Adaptation of Junichiro Tanizaki's novel whit the same name. It is perversely erotic relationship between a young salaryman and his teenage wife whom he 'adopted' at first as to 'train' her to be his idealistic modern woman.
A Fool's Love
1949
NRTomoraka Tasaka's first postwar work.
Doburoku no Tatsu
1949
6.0In the Meiji period, a schoolteacher tries to hide his lower-class upbringing as he supports a visiting liberal intellectual.
Apostasy
1948
6.8Stalwart soldiers of the Japanese Empire – Japanese and Korean alike – stand in defense of a military outpost threatened by "bandits."
Suicide Troops of the Watchtower
1943
8.0In 1887, two businessmen, Echigo-ya and Kitahara, compete for railroad construction authorization from the government. The minister states that a local noble must not object, and his missing younger brother is the only one who could sway him. Meanwhile, Omitsu, a hotel employee tired of Echigo-ya’s wife’s arrogance, teams up with Kitahara to stage a scheme where a vagrant young man pretends to be the noble’s lost brother, aiming to trick and embarrass the wealthy woman.
Lord for a Night
1946
NRIt was a sanatorium in the highlands. Patients such as Totsuka, Hirota, and Hashida were battling their illnesses under the devoted care of Michiko, a nurse so beautiful and noble that she was nicknamed “The Messenger from the Moon.” When Totsuka learned that Hirota, who was about to be discharged, secretly loved Michiko, he devised a plan and arranged for them to spend some time alone in a birch grove. Hirota and Michiko made a firm vow for their future, but around that time, an unexpected visitor arrived at Hirota’s hospital room.
Messenger from the Moon
1949
Series credits
NRThe 8th NHK Asadora. Starring Yumiko Fujita in a family drama. The first Asadora filmed in color.
Ashita Koso
1968
8.0Monjiro was born into a poor farm family in Mikazuki Village, Nitta County, Ueshu, and abandoned his hometown when he was 10 years old. He has been traveling aimlessly with a long toothpick in his mouth. Monjiro avoided getting involved in anything, but wherever he went, he ended up getting involved in incidents
Kogarashi Monjiro
1972
Behind the camera
9.0Shigeki 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
NRDr. Kinoshita, whose rocket experiments had been a series of failures, discovers a strange flying saucer zooming through the night sky at super speed. He contacts the newspaper about it, but the editor dismisses him, saying he's gone mad and doesn't take him seriously at all. This is the imaginative sci-fi comedy "Frankie 14," featuring a groundbreaking and innovative story with flying saucers of unparalleled rarity and the appearance of artificial satellite people produced from single cells.
Frankie's Aliens
1957
