Cinematography: Kazuo Yamada
The best movies, series, and documentaries with cinematography by Kazuo Yamada. Explore visually stunning titles that highlight an exceptional filmmaking.
Samurai Rebellion
1967 · Movie · 128 min. · Japan
Direction Masaki Kobayashi
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Yôko Tsukasa · Go Kato · Tatsuya Nakadai
Plot In 1725, during a peaceful period in Japan, Isaburo, a veteran samurai, lives placidly with his wife and his son. One day, his honor and moral principles will be at...
8.2
2K votes
8.2
2K votes
The Rickshaw Man
1958 · Movie · 103 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Hideko Takamine · Hiroshi Akutagawa · Choko Iida
Plot 1958: Venice Film Festiva: Golden Lion. Matsugoro is a poor rickshaw driver whose animated spirit and optimistic demeanor make him a favorite of the town. Matsu helps an injured boy,...
7.5
726 votes
7.5
726 votes
47 Ronin
1962 · Movie · 207 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Yûzô Kayama · Tatsuya Mihashi · Akira Takarada · Koshiro Matsumoto
Plot A young lord attempts to combat the official corruption endemic to the Shogunate, only to be placed in an impossible conflict of duties. He refuses to bribe a Chancelor who...
7.3
768 votes
7.3
768 votes
Samurai III: Duel on Ganryu Island
1956 · Movie · 105 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Koji Tsuruta · Kaoru Yachigusa · Mariko Okada
Plot A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to...
7.3
691 votes
7.3
691 votes
Samurai Banners
1969 · Movie · 165 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Yoshiko Sakuma · Kinnosuke Nakamura · Yujiro Ishihara
Plot Feudal Japan, 1543 to 1562. Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of...
6.8
65 votes
6.8
65 votes
Band of Assassins
1969 · Movie · 122 min. · Japan
Direction Tadashi Sawashima
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Keiju Kobayashi · Kinya Kitaoji · Rentarô Mikuni
Plot Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all...
6.6
30 votes
6.6
30 votes
Okuni and Gohei
1952 · Movie · 91 min. · Japan
Direction Mikio Naruse
Cast Michiyo Kogure · Tomoemon Otani · Sô Yamamura · Jun Tazaki
Plot Based on a kabuki play in which a woman (Okuni) and one of the retainers of her late husband (Gohei) seek revenge upon the man, Tomonojo, who killed her husband...
6.6
22 votes
6.6
22 votes
The Three Treasures
1959 · Movie · 177 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Yôko Tsukasa · Akihiko Hirata · Kyôko Kagawa
Plot The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor Keikoh's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers...
6.3
215 votes
6.3
215 votes
Rise Against the Sword
1966 · Movie · 101 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Nobuko Otowa · Makoto Satô · Ryo Tamura
Plot Farmer Abare Goemon is confronted by brigand-like samurai. He raises an army of farmers to fight them and does so brilliantly. When Lord Asakura sees the success Goemon has achieved,...
6.2
23 votes
6.2
23 votes
Admiral Yamamoto
1968 · Movie · 128 min. · Japan
Direction Seiji Maruyama
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Yûzô Kayama · Yôko Tsukasa · Toshio Kurosawa
Plot As Japan joins in a political pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is appointed supreme commander of the Japanese fleet. With Japan headed inexorably toward war,...
6.2
99 votes
6.2
99 votes
Incident at Blood Pass
1970 · Movie · 118 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Yujiro Ishihara · Ruriko Asaoka · Shintarô Katsu
Plot In the Edo period, a nameless ronin accepts an assignment to go to a mountain pass and wait. Near the pass he stops at an inn where a collection of...
6.2
58 votes
6.2
58 votes
Samurai Saga
1959 · Movie · 112 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Yôko Tsukasa · Akira Takarada · Keiko Awaji
Plot Edmund Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, transplanted to Japan. A poet-warrior with an oversized nose (matched only by his great heart) loves a lady. But she sees him only as...
6.1
24 votes
6.1
24 votes
Osaka Castle Story (Daredevil in the Castle)
1961 · Movie · 95 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Kyôko Kagawa · Yuriko Hoshi · Yoshiko Kuga
Plot Mohei is a wandering samurai, lost in grief and despair after his family is wiped out. He arrives in the city of Osaka, where the Toyotomi clan accepts him and...
5.8
33 votes
5.8
33 votes
Whirlwind
1964 · Movie · 108 min. · Japan
Direction Hiroshi Inagaki
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Shogoro Ichikawa · Ryu Kuze · Yosuke Natsuki
5.6
25 votes
5.6
25 votes
I Bombed Pearl Harbor
1960 · Movie · 98 min. · Japan
Direction Shuei Matsubayashi · Hugo Grimaldi
Cast Makoto Satô · Misa Uehara · Keiju Kobayashi · Toshirô Mifune
Plot Lt. Koji Kitami is a navigator-bombardier in Japan's Naval Air Force. He participates in the Japanese raid on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and is welcomed...
5.5
80 votes
5.5
80 votes
The Last Gunfight
1960 · Movie · 95 min. · Japan
Direction Kihachi Okamoto
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Koji Tsuruta · Yôko Tsukasa · Seizaburô Kawazu
Plot Japanese police detective Saburo Fujioka is suspected of corruption, demoted, and sent to the city of Kojin. Kojin is the scene of fierce fighting between rival gangs. Fujioka is assigned...
5.4
26 votes
5.4
26 votes
Attack Squadron
1963 · Movie · 100 min. · Japan
Direction Shuei Matsubayashi
Cast Toshirô Mifune · Takashi Shimura · Mie Hama · Susumu Fujita
Plot Lt. Col. Senda resists the idea of sending Japanese fighter pilots on suicide missions. He believes that what is really necessary for Japan to regain momentum in the war is...
5.0
30 votes
5.0
30 votes
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
1966 · Movie · 87 min. · Japan
Direction Jun Fukuda
Cast Akira Takarada · Kumi Mizuno · Chotaro Togin · Hideo Sunazuka
Plot A young man steals a boat to find his brother, but he and his shipmates become shipwrecked on a mysterious island inhabited by a giant sea monster and a slumbering...
4.8
131 votes
4.8
131 votes
What's Up, Tiger Lily?
1966 · Movie · 76 min. · United States
Direction Woody Allen · Senkichi Taniguchi
Cast Tatsuya Mihashi · Mie Hama · Akiko Wakabayashi · Tadao Nakamaru
Plot Woody Allen took a Japanese spy movie entitled Kagi no Kagi, replacing the original voice track with a completely different plot. This new version narrates the adventures of agent Phil...
4.8
2K votes
4.8
2K votes
Son of Godzilla
1967 · Movie · 85 min. · Japan
Direction Jun Fukuda
Cast Tadao Takashima · Akira Kubo · Bibari Maeda · Akihiko Hirata
Plot Scientists experimenting with changes in weather on a tropical island get more than they bargained for when Godzilla shows up to battle humongous insects and protect his newborn child.
4.4
258 votes
4.4
258 votes