Haruo Tanaka

Acting

Haruo Tanaka

Born 1912-03-25 · Kyoto, Japan

Haruo Tanaka ( March 25 , 1912 – February 21, 1992 ) was a Japanese film actor noted for his supporting roles in a career that spanned seven decades. After the war, he appeared in films for Toho and Shintoho , but gradually he began to demonstrate his unique personality and became active as a character actor, appearing in works by many of the great directors who have shaped the history of Japanese cinema, including Akira Kurosawa , Yasujiro Ozu , Kenji Mizoguchi , and Shiro Toyoda. He died of lung cancer on February 21 , 1992 , at the age of 79.

Acting credits

Ikiru poster
8.3

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Ikiru

1952

Yakuza of Ina poster
7.0

Tossing his hat in the air to pick a direction, Yataro the wanderer sets out on a journey of adventure, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. The son of a Hatamoto, he has left the samurai life and become a yakuza, gambling on life's fortune and ready to risk his life at a moment's notice. Featuring an all-star cast that includes the debonair Azuma Chiyonosuke, this is a tale of excitement and action that brings the best of black and white to the silver screen. An adventure like no other, this is one of Kinnosuke's lost gems. A series of mishaps leads Yataro to watching over the beloved daughter of his close friend.

Yakuza of Ina

1960

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

Farewell to Spring poster
NR

Bittersweet shomin-geki drama by Keigo Kimura

Farewell to Spring

1952

Good Morning poster
7.7

Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.

Good Morning

1959

Once More poster
6.8

A romance with political overtones about the relationship of a sheltered bourgeois woman and a doctor who devotes himself to caring for the poor. Over a ten-year period - from 1936 through the war - they find each other and are separated again by the events of those tumultuous days.

Once More

1947

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island poster
7.2

A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island

1956

365 Nights poster
6.7

A young man rents an apartment in Tokyo and discover it was built by his father. He falls in love with the daughter of the mistress of the house and decides to marry her. Only to discover that his father is is in debt and wants him to marry Ranko so that she may help his company by granting 1.5 million yen. Teruko decides to borrow money from a greedy bar owner who lends her money on certain conditions and photographs her without her consent. A love traingle forms between Koroku, Ranko, and Teruko. Things complicate when Koroku marries Teruko and Tsugawa threatens them for the money causing many twists and turns.

365 Nights

1948

Chikamatsu Monogatari poster
7.8

When 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

The Lower Depths poster
7.1

Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.

The Lower Depths

1957

Floating Weeds poster
7.5

A theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.

Floating Weeds

1959

Early Spring poster
7.5

A young salaryman and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he embarks on an extramarital affair.

Early Spring

1956

A Young Warrior on Mount Fuji poster
5.3

The epic battles between the Heike and Genji (Taira and Minamoto clans) take centerstage as the defeated leader of the Genji, Minamoto Yoritomo resolves to end his clan's exile and avenge the brutal loss in December, 1159 as they had fought under the white banner of the Emperor, while the Taira fought under their red flags in a battle to the death. The fight only took one day, with the Genji suffering utter defeat which led to their exile. His father, Yoshitomo, took responsibility for the loss and rather than live in humiliation, he decides to commit suicide with all his sons following him. However, the bravest warrior among them, Yoritomo stands tall and declares that he will not kill himself, but rather will fight to restore the clan.

A Young Warrior on Mount Fuji

1961

Tokyo Twilight poster
7.7

Two sisters learn about the existence of their long-lost biological mother, but the younger is unable to accept the fact that she was abandoned as a child.

Tokyo Twilight

1957

While the Demon Steps Out poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

While the Demon Steps Out

1956

The Rickshaw Man poster
7.2

A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly.

The Rickshaw Man

1958

No Regrets for Our Youth poster
6.8

After her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own path in pre- and post-WWII Japan.

No Regrets for Our Youth

1946

Street of Shame poster
7.7

Follows five sex workers employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passage of an anti-prostitution law.

Street of Shame

1956

The Life of a Uniquely Interesting Man: Katsura Harudanji poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Life of a Uniquely Interesting Man: Katsura Harudanji

1956

No artwork available
10.0

1945 Japanese movie

Kanchō umi no bara

1945

Shojohou poster
NR

A beautiful but sad romantic melodrama about three sisters who are uninhibited, pure and lovely, and who stand tall like the peaks of a place that has endured the winds and snow of love! Eisuke Taniguchi (Shimizu), president of Towa Electric Works, has three beautiful daughters. The eldest, Kozue (Todoroki), is an intelligent and dynamic modern girl, the second, Yoko (Otowa), is a modest girl with Japanese tastes, and the third, Hanayo (Wakayama), is a mischievous girl who has not yet lost her schoolgirl temperament. All three have feelings for Kiichiro Matsuzaki (Uehara), the president of a magazine company. He was married to Kozue, the eldest daughter, by agreement between their parents, but it was Yoko whom he loved, so he asked her to end her engagement to him.

Shojohou

1950

Escape at Dawn poster
6.0

Mikami, a Japanese soldier, is captured by Chinese forces. Although able to escape, he is treated with contempt by his peers. After falling in love with a prostitute named Harumi, she convinces him to desert the army and live with her.

Escape at Dawn

1950

Ara kure kōya poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Ara kure kōya

1963

Utsukushiki taka poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Utsukushiki taka

1954