
A village girl goes to Tokyo and becomes a hooker to support her ailing mother. Read More »
Tag Archives: Shirô Toyoda
Spring on Leper’s Island / Kojima no haru (1940) Shirô Toyoda, Shizue Natsukawa, Ichirô Sugai, Haruko Sugimura

Based on actual events, taken from a woman doctor’s story of life in a remote leper colony. Read More »
Snow Country AKA Yukiguni (1957) Shirô Toyoda, Ryô Ikebe, Keiko Kishi, Kaoru Yachigusa

It’s a man’s world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. Read More »
Madame White Snake / Byaku fujin no yoren (1956) Shirô Toyoda, Ryô Ikebe, Shirley Yamaguchi, Kaoru Yachigusa

Lavish Japanese-Chinese coproduction based on an ancient Chinese legend about a man who falls in love with a snake goddess in human form. Read More »
Illusion of Blood AKA Yotsuya kaidan (1965) Shirô Toyoda, Tatsuya Nakadai, Mariko Okada, Junko Ikeuchi

Illusion of Blood takes place in the mid-19th century and concerns a masterless samurai named Iuemon Tamiya (Tatsuya Nakadai) Read More »
Jigokuhen / Portrait of Hell (1969) Shirô Toyoda, Hideyo Amamoto, Yôko Naitô, Tatsuya Nakadai, Drama

A rebellious Korean artist tests the limits of his sadistic patron, an omnipotent feudal Japanese lord. Read More »
Neko to shozo to futari no onna / Shozo, a Cat and Two Women (1956) Shirô Toyoda, Hisaya Morishige, Isuzu Yamada, Kyôko Kagawa, Comedy, Drama, Family

A timid man who has spent much of his life attempting without success to get out from under the domination of his mother, finds that marriage is no answer. Read More »
Meoto zenzai / Marital Relations (1955) Shirô Toyoda, Hisaya Morishige, Chikage Awashima, Yôko Tsukasa, Drama

Ryukichi, the young master of a cosmetic wholesale dealer, leaves his wife and child to live with Choko, a popular geisha, with whom he has fallen in love. Read More »
Gan / Wild Geese / The Mistress (1953) Shirô Toyoda, Hideko Takamine, Hiroshi Akutagawa, Jûkichi Uno, Drama, Romance

A young woman is forced to become a mistress to a married, middle-aged man in order to support her father, in this meiji period drama directed by Shiro Toyoda. Read More »