JFDB Classics

Selection of Japanese film classics produced from the 1930s to the 2000s with production data and contact information for approximately 700 works, including first-rate program pictures and masterpieces from independent production companies. Also features profiles of film directors who have made their mark in the history of Japanese cinema.

JFDB Classics

Office Girl Exposé

Office Girl Exposé (1965)

Director
IDA Motomu
Cast
KAWACHI Tamio, WADA Koji, KASHIWAGI Yuko

A young journalist is writing an article on what happens to girls who are raped. He uncovers the story of a young girl who committed suicide when recognized by her former fiancee after she had become a prostitute. Other stories are interwoven, and th...

Release Date
Jun, 20th, 1965
Daddy Long Fingers

Daddy Long Fingers (1962)

Director
KIMURA Keigo
Cast
WAKAO Ayako, YAMAMURA So, KAWASAKI Keizo

Tokusuke, a semi-invalid is crippled with neuralgia. With time heavy on his hands, he is forced to live with memories of the days when he was still a vigorous man, and the nearness of Satsuko, his beautiful daughter-in-law, only adds fuel to the fire...

Release Date
Oct, 20th, 1962
”Outlow" Gangster VIP

”Outlow" Gangster VIP (1968)

Director
MASUDA Toshio
Cast
WATARI Tetsuya, MATSUBARA Chieko, KAWACHI Tamio

Goro, child ofthe slums, no father, mother a prostitute, unable to enter school, forced to watch his sister die ofmalnutrition, has no choice but to become a criminal. It is therefore only a matter oftime before he is sent to prison where he learns t...

Release Date
Jan, 13th, 1968
The Treasure of Death Castle

The Treasure of Death Castle (1964)

Director
KIKUCHI Yasushi, TANBA Tetsuro
Cast
TANBA Tetsuro, WANIBUCHI Haruko, MISHIMA Masao

Just as the Tatsunokuchi family has come into the possession of a large amount of gold, a cholera epidemic turns the castle city into a ghost town and the whereabouts of the gold is unknown. Among those who search for it is the masterless samurai, S...

Release Date
Oct, 15th, 1964
The Echo of Love

The Echo of Love (1959)

Director
USHIHARA Yoichi
Cast
ISHIHARA Yujiro, KITAHARA Mie, KANEKO Nobuo

This is the first melodrama for popular action star Yujiro Ishihara. Mountain photographer Jiro Makito narrowly escapes death in an avalanche. When Tsuzuko with whom Jiro's brother lchiro is in love visits him in hospital she asks him whether she sh...

Release Date
May, 31st, 1959
The Killer

The Killer (1971)

Director
EZAKI Mio
Cast
KOBAYASHI Akira, YAMAMOTO Rinichi, GO Eiji

Three professional killers, all interested in the sudden disappearance of gangster Kawashima, go to the newly rising city of Nankai to solve the mystery. Morita (Akira Kobayashi) in a loan outlaw and former leader of a gang, strong-armed Nagai has a ...

Release Date
May, 5th, 1971
Atragon

Atragon (1963)

Director
HONDA Ishiro
Cast
TAKASHIMA Tadao, FUJIYAMA Yoko, FUJIKI Yu

Release Date
Dec, 22nd, 1963
Street in the Sun

Street in the Sun (1958)

Director
TASAKA Tomotaka
Cast
ISHIHARA Yujiro, KITAHARA Mie, ASHIKAWA Izumi

Takako Kuramoto, a college student, is employed as companion and tutor to Kumiko Tashiro and through her likeable character has come to be regarded as one of the family. Kumiko, an extremely bright girl, is somewhat handicapped through an injury rec...

Release Date
Apr, 15th, 1958
Cash Calls Hell

Cash Calls Hell (1966)

Director
GOSHA Hideo
Cast
NAKADAI Tatsuya, KUWANO Miyuki, HIRA Mikijiro

A young man just out of jail - played by Nakadai Tatsuya, hero of Harakiri and Kwaidan -becomes involved in a mysterious scheme to kill three men. All three are eventually murdered, but not by him. For it seems that another plot is unfolding and at t...

Release Date
Jan, 15th, 1966
Lill, My Darling Witch

Lill, My Darling Witch (1971)

Director
INOUE Umetsugu
Cast
FAN Wen-Chiao, MORITSUGU Koji, TAKIDA Yusuke

Lill is the nickname for a young and charming camera-woman (Fan Wen-Chiao) working for a magazine. One night, she is called to a bar by the president of her company (Yusuke Takida) who tells her that his wife (Etsuko Ikuta) is having an affair with h...

Release Date
Sep, 15th, 1971
Chin P’ing Mei

Chin P’ing Mei (1968)

Director
WAKAMATSU Koji
Cast
ITAMI Juzo, MAYAMA Tomoko, SAKURAI Keiko

Based on the famous sixteenth-century Chinese classic, this film is about the debauched Hsi-Men Ching (Juzo Itami), and the brave Wu-Sung (Fumiaki Takashima). The former decides that he must have the lovely Chin-Lien (Tomoko Mayama), Wu-Sung's sister...

Release Date
Sep, 27th, 1968
Mid-Summer Affair — “Underwater" Series, Part 4

Mid-Summer Affair — “Underwater" Series, Part 4 (1960)

Director
IWAMA Tsuruo
Cast
IZUMI Kyoko, OKI Minoru, KOYAMA Akiko

One summer day, a team of performing swimmers discovers Fumiko, a young woman, adrift on the sea whose husband has been drowned while attempting to save her. Next morning, on seeing Fumiko's picture in a swimming suit, Ryuko, a member of the team an...

Release Date
Jul, 19th, 1960
HIGH AND LOW

HIGH AND LOW (1963)

Director
KUROSAWA Akira
Cast
MIFUNE Toshiro, NAKADAI Tatsuya, KAGAWA Kyoko

Release Date
Mar, 1st, 1963
The Lowest Man

The Lowest Man (1958)

Director
MASUMURA Yasuzo
Cast
KAWAGUCHI Hiroshi, NOZOE Hitomi, NAGAI Tomoo

"Homeless. Convicted several times. Age, 22." This is Saburo's personal record, when he is arrested for abduction. Having deceived Hideko, a country girl, he is arrested by Detective lgawa and is sent to prison. Saburo's mother died while he was a c...

Release Date
Sep, 7th, 1958
Way Out, Way In

Way Out, Way In (1970)

Director
OBIMORI Michihiko
Cast
NAMIKAWA Yoko, YANAMI Eiko, NARUSE Akiko

Miho Sakai (Yoko Namikawa) is a daytime student who wonders who occupies her desk during night school hours, and decides to send the student a letter of encouragement. Kenta Namiki (Kozaburo Onogawa), who works at an auto repair shop, finds Miho's l...

Release Date
May, 2nd, 1970
Chushingura Haru no maki Yuki no maki

Chushingura Haru no maki Yuki no maki (1962)

Director
INAGAKI Hiroshi
Cast
MATSUMOTO Koshiro, KAYAMA Yuzo, MIHASHI Tatsuya

Release Date
Nov, 3rd, 1962

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