Kazuo Mori
Kazuo Mori, also known as Issei Mori, got his start as a jidai-geki director in silent films of the 1930s. In postwar years he became a leading director at Daiei, working regularly with the studio's familiar stars like Shintaro Katsu and Raizo Ichikawa. In the 1960s and '70s,... Read full bio →
Zatôichi goyô-tabi
Blind masseur and master swordsman Zatoichi finds a robbed and fatally wounded pregnant woman, whose baby he delivers before she dies. He takes the baby in search of its father and finds the child's aunt, who is about to be forced into prostitution for want of a payment the dead mother was bringing.
Shinobi no shu
A band of shinobi are tasked with infiltrating the Iron Castle to kidnap the Lady within, without injuring her.
Yotsuya kaidan - Oiwa no borei
About 1786 the doings of a demented lord results in many masterless samurai, including Iyemon (Kei Sato) who is used to luxury and cannot adjust to the hand-to-mouth conditions & piecework of umbrella making. Having hired ruffians to make him look like a superior swordsman, he arranges for himself the opportunity of a profitable marriage.
Nemuri Kyôshirô engetsu sappo
Inspector General Kanjuro Sano conspires with the future shogun twin brother. They replace Ieyoshi Tokugawa with his twin, but it becomes a problem when suspicion arises and Nemuri Kyoshiro gets involved.
Kanto onna akumyo
Aru koroshiya no kagi
Raizô Ichikawa reprises his role as the restaurant-cook-turned-contract-killer in this sequel to Kazuo Mori's stylish 1967 thriller A Certain Killer.
Aru koroshi ya
A former soldier, reduced to working at a restaurant post-war, becomes a contract killer for the yakuza gangs he's in contact with.
Shinobi no mono: Shin kirigakure Saizô
The dream of Tokugawa Ieyasu has come true: together with his son Hidetada he rules all over Japan.
Heitai yakuza datsugoku
Private Omiya and Private First Class Arita, who are about to be executed for desertion, are sent to the Soviet border instead.
Daimajin gyakushû
In a mountainous region of Japan, Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. A band of young boys decide to rescue their enslaved fathers on their own.
Zatôichi sakate-giri
Blind swordsman Zatoichi, jailed briefly, is implored by another prisoner to aid him in proving his innocence of a crime for which he is sentenced to death. Zatoichi is reluctant to get involved, because he knows how often such involvement has led to trouble in the past.
Shinobi no mono: Iga-yashiki
[Period covered: 1637-1651] This is one of the most complicated plots of any of the Shinobi no Mono films! This film tells the story of Saizo’s son, Kirigakure Saisuke, who after seeing his father die at the Battle Of Shimabara, grows up to be an expert ninja.
Shin shinobi no mono
[Period covered: 1595-1600] We last saw ninja Ishikawa Goemon, as he was about to be boiled alive. But a good ninja is both hard to find, and even harder to kill. With the help of the enigmatic Hattori Hanzo, Goemon lives to skulk another day, and sets his sights on bringing down the warlord who tried to turn him into soup – Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Zoku Zatôichi monogatari
Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love: his own brother. He must face in combat not only the pursuing retainers but his own flesh-and-blood.
Daibosatsu tôge: Kanketsu-hen
Disguised as a beggar monk, Ryunosuke is harassed along the road by the rowdy members of a country dojo or fencing school malingering outside their fencing hall. The third film in the Satan's Sword trilogy.
Shiranui kengyô
This is the story of a blind masseur who tricks people, steals, and kills; he is the anti-Zatoichi.
Hakuôki
Two amiable samurai wind up on opposite sides of the vendetta between Lord Asano's retainers and the family of Lord Kira that led to the famous revenge of the 47 Ronin.