Acting

Kenji Sonoda

Born 1927-03-16 · Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Acting credits

By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him poster
8.0

Immigrant gangs terrorize a Japanese town with their threats, loud jazz, and tasteless fashion sense, and only the tough but suave Dr. Amamiya (Ando) can stop them, as long as he gets rid of his silly peace-loving ideals.

By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him

1966

Blackmail Is My Life poster
6.6

Though he has come from a rough background on the streets, Muraki quickly rises through the ranks by means of his well-honed blackmailing instincts. Desperate to keep rolling with his freewheeling lifestyle, Muraki sees his luck begin to crumble when he sets his sights on the business partners of a powerful gang boss.

Blackmail Is My Life

1968

Black Lizard poster
6.9

A detective tries to outwit an art loving thief who has kidnapped the daughter of a jeweler to get to an exquisite diamond.

Black Lizard

1968

The X from Outer Space poster
5.2

The spaceship AAB-Gamma is dispatched from FAFC headquarters in Japan to make a landing on the planet Mars and investigate reports of UFOs in the area. As they near the red planet, they encounter a mysterious UFO that coats the ship's hull with unusual spores. Taking one of the specimens back to earth, it soon develops and grows into a giant chicken-lizard-alien monster that tramples Japan.

The X from Outer Space

1967

Samurai Spy poster
6.4

Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.

Samurai Spy

1965

The Last Samurai poster
7.7

The film follows the story of Sugi Toranosuke, a ronin, who returns to his home town of Edo many years after his attempted suicide as a sickly child. Rescued and adopted by a master swordsman, he has grown into a master swordsman and a very kind gentleman. The time is around 1868 the year that the nails were finally put into the coffin containing the feudal system that nurtured and sustained the samurai. Sugi is confused and unsure about what is happening but his teacher wants him out of the chaos of the multiple power struggles between the various clans.

The Last Samurai

1974

Tora-san's Grand Scheme poster
7.7

After winning big at the races, Torajiro Kuruma wants to take his aunt and uncle on a trip to Hawaii to partly pay the great filial debt he feels he owes them, but the plan hits a snag. Also, a pretty kindergarten teacher rents a room at Toraya.

Tora-san's Grand Scheme

1970

Miyamoto Musashi poster
7.3

In Part I we see the young would-be swordsman setting out to achieve greatness in war, achieving nothing because fighting on the losing side, & then beginning his long period of wandering & training, with the goal always in mind of his duel with Kojiro. Part II builds toward that great duel on Ganryu Island, with considerable focus on Musashi's planning & forethought as to how to gain an advantage.

Miyamoto Musashi

1973

Journey Into Solitude poster
6.9

Bored with her school life, a 16-year-old student leaves home to take a trip along the Pacific Ocean. After meeting with a theatre group she falls sick and is rescued by a fisherman.

Journey Into Solitude

1972

It's a Psychic, Everybody Gather!! poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

It's a Psychic, Everybody Gather!!

1974

Akuma no kao poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Akuma no kao

1957

Outlaw Cop poster
5.3

A bad cop is engaged in a violent chase to catch a yakuza boss. In his absence his wife runs away with another man, who turns out to be the very same man that her husband is hunting. Once he discovers this, he loses his nerve and turns in his badge. But the chase turns into a personal vendetta where the ex-cop plans to wipe out the entire gang.

Outlaw Cop

1976

The Beauty in the Bathroom poster
NR

A magician who targets the Yucun family, who obtain huge wealth through gemstones. Even the wise Kogoro was fooled by his meticulous criminal plan

The Beauty in the Bathroom

1978

Watch Out, Crimson Bat! poster
6.9

A young female samurai comes upon a dying messenger and agrees to deliver the scroll he was carrying to its destination. However, unbeknownst to her, the scroll is actually a formula for a new kind of gunpowder. An evil clan that is planning to overthrow the Emperor is also after the scroll, and they try to take it from her.

Watch Out, Crimson Bat!

1969

Gamblers' Luck poster
7.2

A group of ne'er-do-wells live happily in the slums of what is now Tokyo and have a number of adventures: they get drunk and go whoring, revenge themselves on cruel landlords, animate the corpse of a money-lender in order to frighten people. Then they assist at the marriage of a lovely girl and almost kill themselves gambling to provide her with a dowry.

Gamblers' Luck

1966

Human Target poster
4.0

At midnight, Yamabe, a killer, escapes from prison. Two years before, bribed by a narcotic smuggler, Yamabe killed a real estate broker. As he was being arrested by detective Negoro, the detective's bullet struck Sakuko, Yamabe's girl friend who attempted to protect him, and crippled her. When Yamabe was sent to prison, Negoro cared for her and they fell in love. Sakuko asked him to marry her, but Negoro was reluctant to take the killer's sweetheart from him. Learning of the relationship of his girl friend and the detective, Yamabe had pledged revenge.

Human Target

1971

Crimson Bat - Oichi: Wanted, Dead or Alive poster
7.4

Oichi the Blind helps a woman escape the clutches of a high government official to go off with the man she loves. The official puts a reward on her head of fifty gold pieces and soon a menagerie of bounty hunters are after her skin. Three of them band together to accomplish this, one an expert swordsman, another a huge judo master and the third is deadly with a chain. To escape, she heads for the fishing town of Itso but soon comes face to face with Sankuro, the swordsman...

Crimson Bat - Oichi: Wanted, Dead or Alive

1970

The Shy Deceiver poster
7.0

A young thug wanna-be yakuza falls in love with a country girl.

The Shy Deceiver

1968

Rebellion of Japan poster
8.0

Suzuko, a woman in her twenties who has a brother with political problems (due to communist reprisals), lives for over five years in a love affair with Tate who's a young lieutenant in the Army, ultimately becoming a right-wing fundamentalist revolutionary. She marries another man, one totally dedicated to the rigorous practices of Noh theatre, in an arranged marriage, but the bond that connects her with Tate is too strong.

Rebellion of Japan

1967

Beyond the Rainbow poster
NR

One day an innocent-looking girl in white clothes appears on board of a ramshackle boat The owner of the boat, Okin, decides to let Mari stay with him without asking her any questions. Turmoil ensues with the reaction of the crew when the runaway girl starts working alongside with them.

Beyond the Rainbow

1972

Love in the Deep poster
NR

Bank robbers hide their loot in an underwater cave in a small fishing village, but the Ama (female divers) of the village suspect something and dive to find it.

Love in the Deep

1958

Kyūjin ryokō poster
NR

1962 Japanese movie

Kyūjin ryokō

1962

Rainbow Over Paris poster
NR

A young composer falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a wealthy company president and flies to Paris when he learns she is studying music there. But, when he finally wins her after many difficulties, he somehow feels empty, because his spirit has always been aroused against barriers before him.

Rainbow Over Paris

1970

Namida no hanamichi poster
NR

Nakamura Yukinojō, Edo's most popular actor, discovered that his parent's enemy, Ohara Genba, had changed his name to Isshiki Kurōnosuke and become a hatamoto, a direct retainer of the shogun. Yukinojō's younger brother, Shingorō, traveling to Edo from their hometown, helped the town boy Kiyohē and his daughter Michi from troublemakers led by Kumosuke. This act led to a reunion with Yukinojō through the assistance of their associate, Daisaburō.

Namida no hanamichi

1956