Sanjuro / Tsubaki Sanjûrô (1962)
Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi, Yûzô Kayama, Reiko Dan, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari Fujiwara
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon / Frankenstein Conquers the World / Frankenstein vs. the Giant Devil Fish / Frankenstein Meets the Giant Devil Fish (1965)
Horror | Sci-Fi
During WWII, a human heart taken from a certain lab in Europe (Dr. Frankenstein's) is kept in a Japanese lab, when it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart grows in size, mutates and sprouts appendages, and eventually grows into a complete body and escapes. Later, a feral boy with a certain physical deformity (a large head with a flat top) is captured by scientists who refer to the boy as Frankenstein. The creature grows to the height of 20 feet, escapes again, fights police and army, and is practically indestructible. Later, a reptilian monster goes on a rampage. Eventually the Frankenstein creature and the reptile face off in a terrible battle.
Starring: Tadao Takashima, Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kôji Furuhata, Jun Tazaki, Susumu Fujita, Takashi Shimura
Director: Ishirô Honda
Kaidan / Kwaidan / Ghost Stories / Hoichi the Earless / Weird Tales (1964)
Fantasy | Horror
This film contains four stories. "Black Hair": A poor samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money, but finds the marriage disastrous and returns to his old wife, only to discover something eerie about her. "The Woman in the Snow": A woodcutter meets an icy spirit in the form of a woman spares his life on the condition that he never tell anyone about her. A decade later he forgets his promise. "Hoichi the Earless": Hoichi is a blind musician, living in a monastery who sings so well that a ghostly imperial court commands him to perform the epic ballad of their death battle for them. But the ghosts are draining away his life. "In a Cup of Tea": a writer tells the story of a man who keep seeing a mysterious face reflected in his cup of tea…
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Takashi Shimura, Michiyo Aratama, Rentarô Mikuni, Kenjirô Ishiyama, Ranko Akagi
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Rashomon / Rashômon / Rashou-mon (1950)
Crime | Drama
A tale of rape and murder in 12th-century Kyoto.
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Godzilla / Gojira (1954)
Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi
A monster is awakened by an undersea explosion and wreaks havoc on the citizens of Tokyo.
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Fuyuki Murakami, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi
Director: Ishirô Honda
Ikiru / Living (1952)
Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find a meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Minoru Chiaki, Miki Odagiri
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Sanshiro Sugata / Sugata Sanshirô (1943)
Action | Adventure | Drama
Sugata, a young man, struggles to learn the nuance and meaning of judo, and in doing so comes to learn something of the meaning of life.
Starring: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Susumu Fujita, Yukiko Todoroki, Ryûnosuke Tsukigata, Takashi Shimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
IMDb Info
The Hidden Fortress / Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958)
Action | Adventure
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines. However, they do not realize that their companions are actually a princess and her general.
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Susumu Fujita, Takashi Shimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Stray Dog / Nora inu (1949)
Crime | Drama | Film-Noir
During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji, Eiko Miyoshi, Noriko Sengoku
Director: Akira Kurosawa
IMDb Info
I Live in Fear / Ikimono no kiroku (1955)
Drama
An aging, industrialist Japanese man becomes so fearful of nuclear war that it begins to take a toll on his life and family.
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Eiko Miyoshi, Kyôko Aoyama
Director: Akira Kurosawa
The Silent Duel / Shizukanaru kettô (1949)
Drama
A surgeon gets syphilis from a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. The doctor's life is destroyed, but unlike the patient, he doesn't destroy others along with him.
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Miki Sanjô, Kenjiro Uemura, Chieko Nakakita
Director: Akira Kurosawa
The Bad Sleep Well / Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (1960)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
A vengeful young man marries the daughter of a corrupt industrialist in order to seek justice for his father's suicide.
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyôko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Takashi Shimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Drunken Angel / Yoidore tenshi (1948)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Reisaburô Yamamoto, Michiyo Kogure, Chieko Nakakita
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Seven Samurai / Shichinin no samurai (1954)
Action | Adventure | Drama
A Japanese farming village, constantly besieged and pillaged by an army of bandits, recruits seven independent samurai to defend it.
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki
Director: Akira Kurosawa
