
Directing
Nobuo Nakagawa
Born — Died
1905-04-18 — 1984-06-17
Place of birth
Kyōto, Kyōto Prefecture, Japan
Known for
Directing
Credits
40 titles
Nobuo Nakagawa (中川 信夫, Nakagawa Nobuo, April 18, 1905 – June 17, 1984) was a Japanese film director, most famous for the stylized, folk tale-influenced horror films he made in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Kyoto, Nakagawa was early on influenced by proletarian literature and wrote amateur film reviews for the Kinema Junpō film magazine. He joined Makino Film Productions in 1929 as an assistant director and worked under Masahiro Makino. When that studio went bankrupt in 1932, he switched to Utaemon Ichikawa's production company and made his debut as a director in 1934 with Yumiya Hachiman Ken. He later moved to Toho, where he made comedies starring Enoken and even documentaries during the war…
Known for
6.3A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
Jigoku
1960
6.5This horror tale adapts the Japanese legend about a man who faces the consequences of betraying his wife in order to acquire wealth and power.
Ghost Story of Yotsuya
1959
6.0An old man dies of heartbreak when a cruel landlord is about to repossess his land. The old man haunts the landlord from the grave. Since the man died in debt, his wife and daughter are indentured servants and are forced to work in the landlord's factory.
Snake Woman's Curse
1968
NRJidai-geki starring Kanjuro Arashi
Sunset Over Mount Fuji
1952
6.2This film focuses on Okatsu; the adopted daughter of a master swordsman. She is a master with a sword herself and her talents far overshadow that of her brother, and real child of the man who adopted her. Her brother unfortunately has a gambling habit, and it plunges the family into trouble when he loses a lot of money in a crooked dice game. After releasing he is unable to pay the debt he owes; the blame is shouldered by the father, who is killed, leading Okatsu on a path of revenge.
Quick-draw Okatsu
1969
7.3A blind masseur visits a samurai to request the return of a loan. The samurai kills him in anger, then has his servant dump the body in the Kasane swamp. However, the ghost of the masseur returns to haunt the samurai, who kills his wife by mistake and then goes to the swamp and drowns himself. 20 years later, the masseur's daughter unknowingly falls in love with the samurai's son who has been brought up to be a servant. After she is horribly disfigured in an accident, he plots to run away with another woman, but the path of their escape lies by the Kasane swamp...
The Ghost of Kasane
1957
Behind the camera
6.3A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
Jigoku
1960
6.3A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
Jigoku
1960
6.5This horror tale adapts the Japanese legend about a man who faces the consequences of betraying his wife in order to acquire wealth and power.
Ghost Story of Yotsuya
1959
6.0An old man dies of heartbreak when a cruel landlord is about to repossess his land. The old man haunts the landlord from the grave. Since the man died in debt, his wife and daughter are indentured servants and are forced to work in the landlord's factory.
Snake Woman's Curse
1968
6.0An old man dies of heartbreak when a cruel landlord is about to repossess his land. The old man haunts the landlord from the grave. Since the man died in debt, his wife and daughter are indentured servants and are forced to work in the landlord's factory.
Snake Woman's Curse
1968
NRJidai-geki starring Kanjuro Arashi
Sunset Over Mount Fuji
1952
6.2This film focuses on Okatsu; the adopted daughter of a master swordsman. She is a master with a sword herself and her talents far overshadow that of her brother, and real child of the man who adopted her. Her brother unfortunately has a gambling habit, and it plunges the family into trouble when he loses a lot of money in a crooked dice game. After releasing he is unable to pay the debt he owes; the blame is shouldered by the father, who is killed, leading Okatsu on a path of revenge.
Quick-draw Okatsu
1969
7.3A blind masseur visits a samurai to request the return of a loan. The samurai kills him in anger, then has his servant dump the body in the Kasane swamp. However, the ghost of the masseur returns to haunt the samurai, who kills his wife by mistake and then goes to the swamp and drowns himself. 20 years later, the masseur's daughter unknowingly falls in love with the samurai's son who has been brought up to be a servant. After she is horribly disfigured in an accident, he plots to run away with another woman, but the path of their escape lies by the Kasane swamp...
The Ghost of Kasane
1957
4.7After a successful fashion designer receives a disturbing package, a series of bizarre murders begins to claim the models around her. As rumours of a grotesque, fanged killer spread, detective Kōsuke Kindaichi investigates the secrets connecting the victims, their employer and a mysterious figure from the past.
Vampire Moth
1956
6.4Okatsu the Fugitive is the third film in the "Ohyaku/Okatsu" series. Okatsu; a "tomboy" who is good with a sword. Her father has found her a man to marry and actually she doesn't seem too upset about the situation. At the same time, a bunch of farmers are being slaughtered by a corrupt group running a tobacco smuggling ring. They're being investigated by a man who is documenting their crimes and when they find out about it, they torture him for information but get none. It's not long before he and Okatsu's mother wind up dead and she sets out for revenge.
Okatsu the Fugitive
1969
NRPeriod film about a feudal era judge living in Edo
An Edoite Judge
1953
5.4Tamio takes Itsuko to an art gallery and the two find one painting is a nude portrait of Itsuko's mother, who disappeared twenty years ago when she was just a baby. No one knows the first thing about the artist who painted it, but he goes by the name Shiro Sofue, and he's always wearing shades in the daytime...
The Lady Vampire
1959
10.0A story about a spear master’s spiritual and martial discipline.
Showdown at Lightning Pass
1962
10.0A story about a spear master’s spiritual and martial discipline.
Showdown at Lightning Pass
1962
NRJidai-geki by Nobuo Nakagawa. Most likely a star vehicle for Kanjuro Arashi
Conduct Report on Matashiro: The Devil Princess and Winter Rain
1951
NRJidai-geki by Nobuo Nakagawa. Most likely a star vehicle for Kanjuro Arashi
Conduct Report on Matashiro: The Devil Princess and Winter Rain
1951
6.5The descendant of the servant of a cruel and vicious samurai returns to the town where she was born, only to find that a cat who is possessed by the spirits of those murdered by the samurai is trying to kill her.
Black Cat Mansion
1958
9.0Office worker comedy by Nobuo Nakagawa
Today is Payday
1952
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Umon's Detective Stories: The One-Eyed Wolf
1951
6.2Ryutaro is a spy employed by the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, who is the target of assassination attempts that aim to hand power over to his younger brother Tadanaga.
The Ceiling at Utsunomiya
1956
1941 Toho adaptation of Natsume's novel.
The Poppy
1941
1955 Toho adaptation of Natsume's novel.
Stray Sheep
1955
NRBored Hatamoto movie #29
Bored Hatamoto: The Mysterious Coral Mansion
1962
10.0For the poor, Edo is Hell on Earth, starving under the rule of Tanuma Okitsugi, corrupt councilor to the shogun. But the courageous vagabond called “Kageboshi” (Shadow Avenger), will fight for the common folk, robbing the rich so the people will have rice. Tanuma’s henchmen will hire an evil swordsman to pose as Kageboshi, starting a wave of murder, kidnapping and robbery, searching for two antique sword-guards that will reveal the hiding place of a fortune in buried gold. But who will claim the gold? The poor of Edo, or the conniving Tanuma? Only Kageboshi’s flashing sword, tearing through Tanuma’s bloodthirsty minions, can forestall his wicked schemes.
Kagebôshi: The Shadow Avenger
1959
7.7In 1870's Tokyo, Den steals to support the daughter of her first marriage and her consumptive second husband. She falls in love with a young policeman, but is coerced into becoming the mistress of and procurer for a vice boss.
A Wicked Woman
1958
6.0An injured Edo official is rescued by a vassal whose appearance is exactly like himself, and swears to sweep out the criminals from the town on his behalf.
The Phantom Goblin
1962
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
NRNobuo Nakagawa’s two-part adaptation of San’yūtei Enchō’s classic ghost tale follows the doomed romance between Shinzaburō and Otsuyu, whose death does not end their relationship. As Otsuyu’s spirit returns night after night, the greed of their neighbour Banzō sets in motion a widening chain of betrayal, murder and supernatural revenge. In 2007, the two parts were screened together theatrically as a single 95-minute work during a repertory run at Cinema Vera Shibuya in Tokyo.
Nihon Kaidan Gekijō: The Peony Lantern — Onibi no Maki / Hotarubi no Maki
1970
8.0Desiring another officer’s new wife, a military police lieutenant fabricates evidence of treason that consigns the innocent man to torture and a firing squad. The lieutenant rapes the wife, but is haunted by bad dreams which after he is assigned to a battalion with the victim’s brother.
Ghost in the Regiment
1958
Japanese movie
Itahachi shima
1938
Japanese movie
Itahachi shima
1938
NRNobuo Nakagawa's Shintoho period drama adapted by Kikuo Kitagawa from the original story by Kazutora Fujishima, which borrowed the structure of Dumas's "The Three Musketeers".
The Three Swordsmen of Ashura
1956
Kotaro Shimoyama, once a government official, loses his job and separates from his wife, Sachie. He now resides with his daughter, Haruko. By chance, he apprehends a criminal and reconnects with his former colleague, Sakamoto, leading him to become a security guard at a film studio. Haruko, secretly a singer, rises to stardom within the same studio. Unbeknownst to each other, they both work there. As the studio faces turmoil, their hidden identities are unveiled...
Amakara chindōchū
1950
NRA story of an orphan boy who wanted the love of parents so badly, another orphan sincerely pitied him to the point he gives his secret birthright as an illegitimate son to a Shogun as a "gift of hope" to the sad boy. As the orphan boy grew up, his loving heart became bitter and he saw the opportunity to take advantage of this birthright with the help of a man who wanted to use this orphan's desire to be loved, for seizing power in the shogunate by using the imposter. Many obstacles to hurdle along the way of deception, however, will they succeed or will he be exposed?
The Man Who Challenged 8,000,000-Koku
1961
NRThis is a story of a young heir to a powerful house, sent away to be raised by his nanny, so the young lord Genrokuro grew up bitter about his parents, hating his legacy and embracing everyone else from simple background. Only love can help him mature, hopefully in time to be a great lord for the people. A story of young Yoshimune, the future Shogun.
The Warrior from Kishu
1962
NRThis is a story of a young heir to a powerful house, sent away to be raised by his nanny, so the young lord Genrokuro grew up bitter about his parents, hating his legacy and embracing everyone else from simple background. Only love can help him mature, hopefully in time to be a great lord for the people. A story of young Yoshimune, the future Shogun.
The Warrior from Kishu
1962
10.01953 jidaigeki directed by Nobuo Nakagawa of Jigoku and Ghost of Yotsuya fame.
Kisan Detective Story: The Mysterious Doll-Maker
1953
6.0Arrested for the murder of her wealthy businessman father, convicted on false evidence and sentenced to death, Kyoko is determined to prove her innocence.
Death Row Woman
1960
NREnoken no wanwan taishô AKA Wanwan Taisho AKA Bowwow General directed by Nobuo Nakagawa
Enoken's Bow-Wow General
1940
NRJapanese noir.
Rinchi
1949
