Shochiku Kinema (Kamata)

This 1932 adaptation is the earliest sound version of the ever-popular and much-filmed Chushingura story of the loyal 47 retainers who avenged their feudal lord after he was obliged to commit hara-kiri due to the machinations of a villainous courtier. As the first sound version of the classic narrative, the film was something of an event, and employed a stellar cast, who give a roster of memorable performances. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa was primarily a specialist in jidai-geki (period films), such as the internationally celebrated Gate of Hell (Jigokumon, 1953), and although he is now most famous as the maker of the avant-garde silent films A Page of Madness (Kurutta ichipeji, 1926) and Crossroads (Jujiro, 1928), Chushingura is in fact more typical of his output than those experimental works. The film ranked third in that year’s Kinema Junpo critics’ poll, and Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie noted that 'not only the sound but the quick cutting was admired by many critics.

In medieval Japan, a brutal and corrupt magistrate is planning to kill the child who is about to become the heir to the estate and position of the local lord and substitute his own "heir", an orphan, in order to get control of the late lord's estate and rule as the impostor's "regent". However, a mysterious stranger appears and sets out to thwart the magistrate's plans and free the people from his oppressive rule.

Kenji and Chuko travel to Hokkaido as migrant workers and enlist as miners under the strict leadership of Guzuyasu. On the boat journey to Hokkaido, Kenji attracts Ohama, who is travelling to Hokkaido to open a bar. When Kenji visits the bar, he chases away a sailor who was hassling a shy girl, Ofuji, which makes Ohama jealous.

After losing their parents, Eiichi and his sister Kikue are taken in by their aunt and uncle. Kikue is sent to Tokyo to work as a servant. Left alone, Eiichi wants a model airplane that a friend at school has, but finds found solace in reading the model-making instructions in a magazine that his sister sent him. One day, Eiichi gets into a fight and falls into a river, contracting pneumonia. Presumed to be a lost film.

Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.

Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.

Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.

The story of a sailor who begins a love affair with a woman he saves from suicide.

The Siege of Osaka

Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.

A modern girl suddenly intrudes into a widower's family home.

Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.