Acting

Ken Mitsuda

Born 1902-04-29 · Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan

Acting credits

Red Beard poster
8.2

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

Red Beard

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

Sansho the Bailiff poster
8.1

In 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

The Black Cat poster
9.0

Helping her mother manage a nightclub, young Emiko quickly realizes how difficult life is.

The Black Cat

1965

The Bad Sleep Well poster
7.7

In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.

The Bad Sleep Well

1960

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

Zesshou poster
NR

The story of the tender love between Junki, the son of a wealthy landowner, and Kayuki, the daughter of a forester, who decided to unite their destinies against their parents' wishes. Neither war nor years of separation could kill this love. It was only cut short by Kayuki's tragic death.

Zesshou

1958

Battle of the Japan Sea poster
6.4

Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront the Russians, with results which stun both nations. Meanwhile, Major Genjiro Akashi makes secret negotiations with the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, negotiations that have repercussions far beyond the conflict at hand.

Battle of the Japan Sea

1969

While the Demon Steps Out poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

While the Demon Steps Out

1956

An Inlet of Muddy Water poster
6.3

A Japanese woman writes down three stories she has witnessed or heard of in her diary, each about the difficult situation a young woman finds herself in.

An Inlet of Muddy Water

1953

Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Kiniro no ōkami poster
NR

A series of murders surrounds the 70,000 ryō in buried treasure hidden by the Kanayama Magistrate.

Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Kiniro no ōkami

1953

The Ballad of Narayama poster
7.5

In a remote village where food is scarce, elders who reach the age of 70 are carried by their children to the top of a nearby mountain to die in solitude. Orin, a vibrant 69-year-old grandmother, has accepted her fate — but struggles to prepare the rest of her family for the ritual.

The Ballad of Narayama

1958

Revenge poster
7.6

An innocuous comment during a weapon inspection wounds the pride of low-ranking samurai Shinpachi, leading to an argument with his superior. The situation snowballs out of control, leading to a deadly duel and political fallout which threatens the entire clan. Declared mentally unstable by the corrupt authority, Shinpachi begins his descent into true insanity…

Revenge

1964

The Wind Blows Twice poster
NR

Kanae, who broke up with her husband and moved to her uncle's house, met two men when her father, a university professor, collapsed. Michihara, a wealthy man and Miyashita, a youth scholar. Kanae is attracted to Miyashita, but ...

The Wind Blows Twice

1952

Only Child poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Only Child

1969

Yonjū-hassai no teikō poster
NR

A literary masterpiece that sharply critiques the ethics of modern romance, featuring a 48-year-old father who burns through the last of his youth with a teenage girl, and a daughter in her twenties who falls in love with a younger man and champions sexual liberation.

Yonjū-hassai no teikō

1956

Gendai no yokubô poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Gendai no yokubô

1956

The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers poster
5.4

Five swindle stories, taking place in five international cities: Tokyo, Japan ("Fumiko's Five Benefactors" by Hiromichi Horikawa); Amsterdam, The Netherlands ("A River of Diamonds" by Roman Polanski); Naples, Italy ("The Road Map" by Ugo Gregoretti); Paris, France ("The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower" by Claude Chabrol); and Marrakesh, Morocco ("The Confidence Man" by Jean-Luc Godard). Godard's segment was not included in the original French cinema release, and Polanski's segment was not included on the 2016 home disc release.

The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers

1964

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

Manji poster
6.5

The four principals in a love affair collide when jealousy, blackmail and suicide enter the picture.

Manji

1964

The Lost Alibi poster
5.0

Suspense drama about a married salaryman whose affair with one of his co-workers is compromised when, returning from a clandestine meeting with his lover, he runs into a neighbor who is later accused of murder. Questioned by police about the neighbor, and blackmailed by his lover's neighbor, the salaryman's lies lead him on a path to destruction.

The Lost Alibi

1960

The House of the Sleeping Virgins poster
8.0

About an establishment where old men pay to sleep besides young girls that had been narcotized and happen to be naked, the sleeping beauties. The old men are expected to take sleeping pills and share the bed for a whole night with a girl without attempting anything of bad taste like putting a finger inside their mouths.

The House of the Sleeping Virgins

1968

The Invisible Wall poster
NR

Based on the novel of the same name by Seichô Matsumoto.

The Invisible Wall

1958

Army poster
6.8

Though plagued by ill health all his life, a young Japanese man is obligated to fulfill his family's longstanding military tradition.

Army

1944