Curated List
The Golden Age of Japanese Cinema
Six films from Japan, 1950 to 1954
Six Japanese films made between 1950 and 1954, by Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi. Japanese cinema began taking prizes at European festivals in these years: Rashomon won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1951, and Ugetsu and Sansho the Bailiff took Silver Lions there in 1953 and 1954.
- 01
Rashomon
羅生門 · 1950
Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa's 1950 film, adapted from two stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. It won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1951 and an honorary Academy Award the following year.
- 02
Tokyo Story
東京物語 · 1953
Yasujirō Ozu
Ozu's 1953 film, written with Kōgo Noda. It and Ikiru are the only two of these six set in the present day.
- 03
Ugetsu
雨月物語 · 1953
Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi's 1953 film, adapted from Ueda Akinari's collection of the same name and photographed by Kazuo Miyagawa. It took a Silver Lion at Venice that year.
- 04
Sansho the Bailiff
山椒大夫 · 1954
Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi's 1954 film, taken from Mori Ōgai's story of the same title. With The Life of Oharu and Ugetsu in the two preceding years, it gave him prizes at Venice three years running.
- 05
Seven Samurai
七人の侍 · 1954
Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa's 1954 film for Toho, running about two hundred and seven minutes. It was honoured at the same Venice festival as Sansho the Bailiff.
- 06
Ikiru
生きる · 1952
Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa's 1952 film, with Takashi Shimura in the lead. It received a special prize at the Berlin festival in 1954.