Heihachirō Ōkawa

Acting

Heihachirō Ōkawa

Born — Died

1905-09-09 — 1971-05-27

Place of birth

Soka, Saitama, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

56 titles

Heihachiro Okawa (Japanese: 大川 平八郎 Hepburn: Ōkawa Heihachirō, 9 September 1905 – 27 May 1971), also sometimes credited as Henry Okawa (ヘンリー大川), was a Japanese film actor active from the 1930s to 1971. With hopes of starting a business, he traveled to the United States in 1923 and studied at Columbia University. He also studied at the Paramount Studios acting school and eventually began working in Hollywood, appearing in films by Howard Hawks and William Wellman. He returned to Japan in 1933 and co-starred in the Photo Chemical Laboratories (PCL) film Horoyoi jinsei. He later appeared in foreign films under the name Henry Okawa. He is best known for Moyuru ōzora (1940), Dawn of Freedom (1944…

Known for

Film credits

1960s · 8 titles

1950s · 16 titles

The Bridge on the River Kwai poster
7.8

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

1957

Floating Clouds poster
7.7

A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.

Floating Clouds

1955

Ghost Man poster
6.7

A ghost man with his face hidden entirely by bandages is killing beautiful nude models. Detective Kindaichi investigates.

Ghost Man

1954

The Wind Cannot Read poster
6.4

A British officer falls in love with his Japanese instructor at a military language school. They start a romance, but she is regarded as the enemy and is not accepted by his countrymen.

The Wind Cannot Read

1958

The Mysterians poster
6.3

In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.

The Mysterians

1957

Tokyo File 212 poster
5.1

A Communist spy ring in Japan is hard at work trying to sabotage the American war effort during the Korean War, using kidnapping, murder and a disturbed former kamikaze pilot. A U.S. secret agent, posing as a reporter, is dispatched to Tokyo to put a stop to these nefarious activities.

Tokyo File 212

1951

The Eagle of the Pacific poster
7.8

Admiral 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

All of Myself poster
NR

The daughter of a former Miss Universe winner finds success as a fashion model in Tokyo following the death of her fiancé.

All of Myself

1954

The History of Love poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The History of Love

1955

Three Stripes in the Sun poster
7.0

A racist sergeant stationed in post-war Japan finds himself softening towards the children and falling for a local woman.

Three Stripes in the Sun

1955

A Ripple in a Morning poster
7.0

Atsuko is an office secretary who is also her family's primary source of income and caretaker in postwar Japan.

A Ripple in a Morning

1952

Husband Comes Home Every Suturday poster
10.0

The story follows a dysfunctional family whose daily life is thrown into chaos when an English tutor from abroad moves into their home. Her presence awakens hidden desires, jealousy, and emotional conflicts among the father, mother, and children, gradually transforming the entire household. At its heart, the film explores love, rivalry, and the longing for a new beginning.

Husband Comes Home Every Suturday

1954

Dancing Girl poster
6.4

The troubled relationship between a writer and his ballet teacher wife, who has for years loved another man, finally leads to the breakup of the family.

Dancing Girl

1951

Lil's Return from Shanghai poster
7.5

In pre-war Shanghai, a man falls in love with a mysterious woman, but she eventually disappears. Back in Japan, he is obsessed by her memory and tries to recreate the world he knew then.

Lil's Return from Shanghai

1952

Geisha Girl poster
6.5

Two American G.I.s visiting Tokyo find themselves mixed up with espionage, a pretty flight attendant, a mad scientist, geisha girls, and a goofy magician-hypnotist and his white rabbits.

Geisha Girl

1952

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Love Express

1954

1940s · 11 titles

Sky of Hope poster
8.0

What is marriage? Young couple in match-making wanted to know before they decide. They visited married couples of sisters and brothers. Love comedy in 1942.

Sky of Hope

1942

Wedding Day poster
NR

Twenty-year-old Yoshiko (Setsuko Hara) and her younger sister Asako (Yōko Yaguchi) struggle to accept changes in their home during the preparations of their widowed father's wedding to his chosen bride, Maki Tsuneko (Sadako Sawamura), who's anxious about her conduct as the bride.

Wedding Day

1940

Wings of Victory poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

Wings of Victory

1942

The Dawn of Freedom poster
NR

This film was made by the Japanese occupation authorities in the Philippines as a propaganda film to show the Philippine people the "benefits" of the Japanese invasion and takeover of their country.

The Dawn of Freedom

1944

Shanghai Moon poster
8.0

In 1937 fighting erupted between Japanese and Chinese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge. A team of Japanese spies broadcasting radio programs to promote pro-Japanese sentiment were searching for a Chinese speaking announcer. Only 53 minutes of the film survives.

Shanghai Moon

1941

Keshô yuki poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Keshô yuki

1940

Bouquet of the South Seas poster
6.2

No synopsis available yet.

Bouquet of the South Seas

1942

The Man Who Waited poster
8.0

A bizarre murder at a hot springs resort threatens to disrupt an Edo detective's (Hasegawa) vacation. When his hot-blooded wife (Yamada) starts snooping around, however, he finds himself reluctantly drawn in to the case.

The Man Who Waited

1942

Hikari to kage (Zenpen) poster
NR

Part one of two.

Hikari to kage (Zenpen)

1940

The Sisters' Agreement poster
NR

A family comprised of a father, mother and three sisters lives in a posh area. The father is a doctor who has to join the army and work at war. The four remaining women have to take care of themselves. The eldest sister is calm and lady-like. The middle sister (played by Hara Setsuko), in contrast, is active and contemporary. She aspires to be a physician too. The story is based on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

The Sisters' Agreement

1940

Mother of the Red Hands poster
NR

The title might sound shocking, but the red hands mean, the hands which drag fishnets. Ohama, 15 or 16 years old girl lost her family and lived alone in a fishermen's village. She is a strong-minded girl and very popular among young children. I guess that this story is one of the origins of girl's manga in the 1950s in which I belonged to the first generation of Japanese story manga.

Mother of the Red Hands

1941

1930s · 20 titles

Learn from Experience, Part Two poster
6.3

Toyomi is pregnant -- and while Shintaro and Yurie are on their extended honeymoon, she bears his child, a girl named Kiyoko. She is supported in adversity by close friend Michiko and her mother but also, surprisingly, Shintaro's mother and siblings. Even moreso, Toyomi and Yurie become friends. Part two of a two-part romance based on a story by noted author Kikuchi Kan.

Learn from Experience, Part Two

1937

Morning's Tree-Lined Street poster
6.7

After some fruitless career hunting in downtown Tokyo, Chiyo accepts a job as a bar hostess in Shiba ward. Well away from glamorous Asakusa and Ginza, this is a neighbourhood tavern where the women are dirt poor, each having only one kimono to their name...

Morning's Tree-Lined Street

1936

Tipsy Life poster
10.0

In 1930s Japan, a beer seller and a struggling music student fall in love while chasing their dreams.

Tipsy Life

1933

The Responsibility of Kissing poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Responsibility of Kissing

1936

Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts poster
6.6

Three sisters earn money for their bossy mother by being samisen street musicians. This means mainly playing a banjo type instrument for tips in bars...

Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts

1935

Drifting poster
NR

Adaptation of Fumiko Hayashi's novel.

Drifting

1935

Learn from Experience, Part One poster
6.7

Wealthy young Toyomi and Shintaro are in love. However, Shintaro’s father is arranging for him to marry Yurie, the scion of an even wealthier family. The two lovers flee to Tokyo, but when Shintaro returns to proclaim his intent to marry Toyomi, his father browbeats him into attending the marriage meeting with Yurie. Part one of a two-part romance based on a story by noted author Kikuchi Kan.

Learn from Experience, Part One

1937

Wife! Be Like a Rose! poster
7.2

Kimiko, a Tokyo white-collar working girl, lives with her serious, intellectual, haiku-writing mother. Kimiko seeks to marry her boyfriend but needs her absent father to act as the go-between and negotiate the marriage. Kimiko travels and finds her father living with a second family.

Wife! Be Like a Rose!

1935

A Woman's Sorrows poster
6.7

Young Hiroko’s conservative principles place her at odds with most modern women, as she has already submitted to her mother’s choice of man for any marriage prospect. Wed into an affluent family that practically treats her as a housemaid, locked away like a 'doll' by her estimation, Hiroko’s own submission to traditional thinking brings contradictions to light.

A Woman's Sorrows

1937

Romantic and Crazy poster
NR

In 1930s Tokyo, the energetic Enoken and his ragtag group of friends navigate a series of chaotic misadventures involving romance and poverty.

Romantic and Crazy

1934

Five Men in a Circus poster
6.0

A five member circus runs into problems while touring rural Japan.

Five Men in a Circus

1935

Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro poster
6.6

Mr. Tsurujiro is a Japanese folk singer assisted by Ms. Tsuruhachi on the shamisen. The pair is popular, but he often nitpicks her music and so they split. She marries a benefactor, but after a joint show, feels music is above marriage.

Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro

1938

Easy Alley poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Easy Alley

1939

Brother and Sister poster
6.3

Ino tries to control Mon’s every move, but she becomes a fallen woman, having an affair with a student, Obata whereas her sister San remains a “good girl.” The mother is very supportive of her daughters, but, the father, Akaza, who is the stonecutter foreman on the damn, lacks control of his family.

Brother and Sister

1936

The Girl in the Rumor poster
6.2

A story of two sisters, the older being more traditional, the younger a "moga" ("modern girl"). Their widowed father runs the family sake shop, but is running into financial trouble, causing him to tamper with his stock; Meanwhile, his long-time mistress yearns for something more serious. Amidst this, the older sister is introduced to a well-off suitor: A university boy, much more intrigued by the less traditional little sister. A doddering grandfather, an officious uncle and busybody neighbors also don't make the lives of the hardworking members of the family any easier.

The Girl in the Rumor

1935

Blizzard Ronin poster
NR

The film tells about the life of the former vassal of the Ako clan - Fuwa Katsuemon Masatane.

Blizzard Ronin

1939

The Road I Travel with You poster
6.7

Otherwise promising young man Asaji and his younger brother Yuji face blighted lives due of society's disapproval of their illegitmacy and déclassé family.

The Road I Travel with You

1936

No artwork available
8.0

Japanese film based on the life of writer Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896).

Ichiyo Higuchi

1939

No artwork available
NR

Musical film

Odoriko nikki

1934

Numazu Officer School poster
7.0

Japanese war movie

Numazu Officer School

1939