Films with: Mifune, Toshirō

1941

This zany comedy spectacular from Steven Spielberg is set in Los Angeles just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor when the fear of a Japanese invasion threw the city into a state of pandemonium.

DVD 48

Akahige Red Beard /

A vain young doctor learns a valuable lesson from the dedicated director of a clinic for destitute patients.

DVD 1564

Bas-fonds The lower depths /

Les bas-fonds (93 min.): A Baron, forced by circumstances, gives up his life of luxury and to takes up residence in the slums of Paris. The Baron observes the frustrated romance between Wasska Pepel and Natacha, the thwarted dreams of an actor, and the oppressive cruelties of landlord Kostileff. Donzoko (125 min.): Sutekichi, a vulgar, comical thief takes up residence in a slum flophouse inhabited by many eccentric, destitute people. Osugi, the cruel landlady, and her sister, Okayo, both desire him, and fight each other over him. Set in Edo-period Japan.

DVD 3354

Chūshingura

Their lord having been tricked into commiting suicide by a corrupt elder court official, a group of 47 samurai who have been forced to become ronin nurse their anger and outrage, each becoming the personification of the samurai spirit, until the time is right to avenge their dead lord's honor.

DVD 1138

Daibosatsutōge The sword of doom /

This is the thrilling tale of a man who chooses to devote his life to evil. A gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, Ryunosuke (Nakadai) kills without remorse, without mercy. It is a way of life that ultimately leads to madness.

DVD 3411

Hakuchi Idiot /

Based on Dostoyevsky's fable of a holy fool, this story which takes place in Hokkaido in the winter is about a man who returns home after a stay in an asylum. He is being drawn toward Christianity, his antagonist is an anarchist.

DVD 6386

Hell in the Pacific

During WWII two pilots, one American and one Japanese, crash on a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. There, they must let go of their hostility and cooperate in order to survive, but will they?

DVD 2994

Ikimono no kiroku I live in fear /

An elderly and wealthy industrialist is driven to madness over fears of a nuclear attack. In a futile attempt to save his family he pressures them to leave Japan and move to the rain forest in Brazil where he believes they will be safe. His family, complacent and cynical, is outraged and move to have him declared insane.

DVD 6375

James Clavell's Shōgun

John Blackthorne is a ship-wrecked English navigator who becomes both an observer and a participant in historic changes in Japan during the Tokugawa, or, Edo period. Toranaga is a feuding warlord vying to become the supreme military dictator, or shōgun. Blackthorne is drawn into the turmoil and becomes determined to be the first foreigner to become a samurai warrior.

DVD 2945

Jōiuchi Samurai rebellion /

A clan lord orders an aging swordsman to have his son marry the lord's mistress, but reverses his decision after the young couple falls in love.

DVD 4691

Kakushi toride no san akunin Hidden fortress /

A princess must escape across enemy lines with the royal treasure, guarded only by a loyal general and two greedy peasants.

DVD 1562

Kumonosu-jō Throne of blood /

Adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in feudal Japan. Tells the story of a Samurai lord who kills his master and usurps his power in fulfillment of a witch's prophecy.

DVD 2210

Miyamoto Musashi Samurai I.

Musashi is a brash and ambitious peasant who desires frame and power as a swordsman. His dreams of glory in war sour when his army is routed and he becomes hunted by the authorities. With the help of a severe monk, he develops from a hot-tempered into a thoughtful swordsman.

DVD 4825

Nora inu Stray dog /

A bad day gets worse for rookie detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo's sweltering streets for the thief, whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, the cop and the criminal's lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami's own dark side.

DVD 3410

Rashōmon

Set in the Middle Ages, the nature of truth and subjective reality are probed in a series of flashbacks from four viewpoints to present the case history of a man's murder and the rape of his wife by a bandit.

DVD 1684

Seven samurai

Tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire seven out-of-work warriors to protect them from invading bandits.

DVD 6

Shizukanaru kettō Quiet duel /

"During a life-saving operation, army surgeon Fujisaki (Mifune) contaminates himself with syphilis, a disease virtually incurable in 1940s Japan. After the war, he returns to work at the hospital maintained by his obstetrician father (Shimura), but agonizes over the disease that threatens to destroy his impending marriage, while simultaneously trying to save other patients' lives -- including the man from whom he contracted the disease"--Container.

DVD 2527

Shūbun Sukyandaru /

Portrayal of a sensitive young artist who is dragged through the mud by a tabloid entertainment magazine after an innocent encounter with a pop singer and decides to sue.

DVD 6388

Tsubaki Sanjūrō Sanjuro /

A skilled but slovenly ronin comes to the aid of a group of naive young warriors fighting their corrupt clan leaders and manages to keep them out of trouble and alive in spite of their high ideals.

DVD 701

Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru The Bad sleep well /

A young executive hunts down his father's killer. A tale about corruption in the boardrooms of postwar corporate Japan as seen through the rising executive eyes.

DVD 4704

Yoidore tenshi Drunken angel /

Dr. Sanada is an alcoholic, in part due to the despair that constantly assails him as he tries to keep the inhabitants of a post-World War II Tokyo slum as healthy as possible. Food and medical supplies are scarce, the neighborhood is around an open sewer, and the only place to buy medicines is the black market-- controlled by the Yakuza. Matsunaga, a young yakuza with a violent temper, seeks Sanada's help to remove a bullet from his hand, but Matsunaga's cough catches the doctor's attention. What follows is a wrestling match for Matsunaga's life. Will he follow Sanada's instructions and make the smart, healthy decision, or will he let the fabled yakuza code of honor destroy him?

DVD 10286

Yojimbo The bodyguard /

In the year 1860, a wandering samurai-for-hire turns the war between two clans fighting for control of a small town to his own advantage. A satire on greed, violence, paranoia and human weakness. Includes theatrical trailer.

DVD 654