Kumeko Urabe
Kumeko Urabe (Japanese: 浦辺粂子), born Kimura Kume ((木村 くめ)), (October 5, 1902 – October 26, 1989) was a Japanese movie actress, one of the first in the country. She worked on stage and in film and television. Urabe was born in a rural part of the Shizuoka Prefecture. She lived in several homes while growing up, as she relocated with her father, a Buddhist priest, among the temples to which he was assigned. Urabe completed her education in Numazu, and left school in 1919 to join a theatre company, touring under various stage names as an actor and dancer. In 1923, Urabe auditioned at the film studio Nikkatsu, and adopted the name Kumeko Urabe, by which she was known for the rest of her life. She appeared in her first film the following year, and continued to act until 1987. She worked with such directors as Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse, and performed in over 320 films, including Ikiru, Older Brother, Younger Sister, Portrait of Madame Yuki, She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum, and Street of Shame. She also starred in television dramas, including thirteen episodes of Toshiba Sunday Theatre between 1958 and 1980. In the following decade, she carved a niche as a Grandma idol, until her death in 1989.
Ikiru
as Tatsu WatanabeKanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position...
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Hachiko
as Tabacco shop ownerThe tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno,...
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Floating Weeds
as ShigeWhen a theater troupe's master visits his old flame, he unintentionally sets off a chain of...
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Tokyo Twilight
as Komatsu's MistressTwo sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot accept the...
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Street of Shame
as OtaneThe lives of five prostitutes employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation is debating the...
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Early Spring
as Shige KitagawaA young Tokyo salary man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless...
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Women of the Night
as Brothel KeeperIn early post-war Osaka, three women, war widow Fusako, her sister Natsuko, an expatriate from...
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Women of the Night
as Brothel-keeperIn early post-war Osaka, three women, war widow Fusako, her sister Natsuko, an expatriate from...
Movie pageTwo in the Shadow
as uncreditedA man is involved in a fatal car accident, and though he is blameless, his company transfers him...
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Yearning
as Bar MadamWar widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many...
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Twenty-Four Eyes
as Otoko Sensei no TsumaFrom 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese...
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Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
as uncreditedIn 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed...
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Stakeout
as Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-yaTwo detectives begin a stakeout based on the slim chance of catching a murderer whom they...
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Repast
as Taniguchi ShigeMichiyo lives in the small place Osaka and is not happy with her marriage; all she does is cook...
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Where Chimneys Are Seen
as Kayo NojimaWhere Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a...
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Lightning
as OseiThe story of Kiyoko, a young woman who has successfully managed to make a break with her...
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Miss Lonely
as Fuki InoueLonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously...
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Portrait of Madame Yuki
as SanA young woman takes up her new job as the servant of a noblewoman and soon discovers that...
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Snow Country
as uncreditedIt's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He...
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The Broken Commandment
as Owner of the hotelUshimatsu's father told him never to reveal his lower-caste heritage; years later, he now...
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Twice on a Certain Night
as uncreditedPoor social conditions badly affect the relationship between a married couple, when the husband,...
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Gateway to Glory
as uncreditedA young man leaves his widowed mother on her improverished farm and makes his career in the...
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Typhoon Over Nagasaki
as uncreditedPierre Marsac, a French engineer working for the Nagasaki shipbuilding yards, has fallen in love...
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Stray Dog
as uncreditedWhen his pistol is stolen, police detective Murakami is humiliated, especially when the gun is...
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Jakoman and Tetsu
as TakaIn a village subsisting on its herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the...
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Being Two Isn't Easy
as InoThe days leading up to a toddler's second birthday are seen alternately from the child's point...
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She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
as GrandmotherOn the way back to his childhood home, a septuagenarian man recalls his childhood and...
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Bridge of Japan
as uncreditedIchikawa's 1956 adaptation of Nihonbashi was the first to take the work of Kyoka Izumi— until...
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The Rainbow Man
as Kane NonomuraWhen a young woman is named as the prime suspect in a murder, her girlfriend and her...
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The Golden Demon
as ToseTokyo, 1890. Through avarice, a series of misunderstandings, and failures of courage, the...
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Brother and Sister
as Riki - the MotherThe eldest daughter of a rural family Mon returns home from Tokyo pregnant after an affair with...
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Destroyer Yukikaze
as uncreditedYutaro Kida, a worker at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, volunteers for the navy but finds himself a...
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Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky
as Shige, Ryoichi's stepmotherThis drama of middle-class life in postwar Japan tells the story lower-middle-class workers in...
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A Woman's Testament
as uncreditedThe first story concerns an attractive young woman who works in a Tokyo nightclub. Her plan for...
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Game of Chance
as SugiBungo becomes a single parent when his wife leaves him because of his drinking and gambling....
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The Passionate Spinster
as Tokiko TsurukawaShe'd watched them go one by one. Friend after friend. White dress after another. Yet again,...
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The Life of a Horse Trader
as OnobuThe tale of Katakana Yonetaro aka "The Shark," a rough-and-tumble horse trader in Japan's...
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The Straits of Love and Hate
as UmeA story of a servant girl whose life is upturned by her doomed love for a spineless young man.
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The Water Magician
as OginTaki no Shiraito is a very independent young woman with a famous water juggling act in a...
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Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
as uncredited1962 Japanese movie
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18 Roughs
as Gin IshiiExperienced shipyard worker Shimazaki gets an offer of free lodging from his employer in the...
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Moment of Terror
as Hisako KanematsuWhen an only child is struck by a car and dies, the child's mother seeks vengeance against the...
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Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
as uncreditedNishina Saburouta is powerful but corrupted priest. One night, an old samurai who couldn't bear...
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The Body
as uncreditedThe sexual experiences of the passionate Sakiko, from her fling with her boss in her first job...
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An Heir's Place
as uncreditedThis film stars Tanaka Kinuyo as the mother of the heir to the Hosho name, a famous lineage of...
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And Yet They Go On
as uncreditedDirected by Kenji Mizoguchi. Released in 2 parts. His only release of 1931. Considered a lost film.
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Children Seeking a Mother
as uncreditedWhile working in an education center for lonely children, a mother seeks her missing son.
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The Bad Guy Blues
as uncreditedA story about club hostesses in Osaka.
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When a Woman Loves
as OtomeStory of a romance between a middle-aged journalist and a young woman.
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The Song of the Cart
as uncreditedA lifetime story of a woman who stubbornly lives in a poor mountain village in post-war Japan.
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Before Spring
as ToyoOut of the blue, a bourgeois family on the Sea of Japan finds an unconscious woman on the beach...
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Tokyo Omnibus
as uncreditedThe story tells of Tsuchiya, a university professor and a widower who is in love with a widow...
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Tora-san's Pure Love
as uncreditedWhen Tora-san's infatuation with his nephew's school teacher causes family turmoil, he leaves on...
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The Wild Geese
as OtsuneA young woman, who must support her father as a middle-aged man's mistress, finds herself...
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Chained Bitch
as uncreditedJapanese prison exploitation movie. Part 1 of the 'Onna bangaichi' series
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The Story of Shunkin
as uncreditedBased on the novel by Junichiro Tanizaki. Story of the beautiful blind daughter of a wealthy...
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The Makioka Sisters
as uncredited1959 adaptation of Junichiro Tanizaki's novel.
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喜劇 右向けェ左！
as uncreditedMamoru Hirayama, the sales manager of Clover Shoji, a women's underwear manufacturer, was...
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The Cold-Hearted Sea
as uncreditedA film adaptation of the novel of the same title written by Hiroshi Hatayama (畑山博).
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Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
as uncreditedA hospital melodrama where the conflict between love and friendship rules the faith of the...
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The Feast of Gion
as uncreditedA sad love film where the action takes place in Kyoto, in a trading house. Considered a lost film.
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Fantasy of Youth
as uncreditedAdaptation of the novel by Bunroku Shishi.
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Sound in the Mist
as uncreditedIn the heart of the Japanese Alps, in Kamikochi, Nagano Prefecture, botany professor Kazuhiko...
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The Precipice
as uncreditedKosaka drops to death while ice climbing with his friend Uozu to see the sunrise on the New...
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Aru yo no seppun
as TakakoThe romantic struggles of three close friends who came back from the war.
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An Innocent Witch
as uncreditedAyako, a young woman from a rural fishing village, is sold by her family into a brothel when her...
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Elegy of the North
as GrandmaA sensitive young woman aged 22 fell in love with a middle aged man who was troubled by his...
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The Woman Who Touched Legs
as uncreditedDetective Katahachi meets a young and beautiful pickpocket and doesn’t arrest her because she...
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Flower Cards Chivalry
as uncreditedAn absolutely astonishing art house ninkyo yakuza film. Wandering gambler runs into a young...
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Adults Games
as uncreditedThe girl students of rival junior high schools stage duels and show a curious interest in sexual...
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Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
as uncreditedAn inspirational teacher is the focus of this Japanese drama. After his friend kills himself,...
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Training Ship of Yearning
as uncreditedA youthful film filled with youth and passion, set against the backdrop of the ocean and filled...
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The Man From Chungking
as 妻とよMysterious incident at a secret factory! Important documents lost! What is the true identity of...
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A face glowing at night
as uncreditedEx-war financier Kuraishi Kinnosuke is visited by a ghostly face in the middle of the night...
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Nippon no obaachan
as WakaTwo obaachans become fast friends listening to music in front of a record store. They both boast...
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Women Doing Time
as uncreditedPart 2 of the 'Onna bangaichi' series
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Shi no machi wo nogarete
as uncreditedGroup of women escape Chinese controlled area for Japanese occupied lands during Pacific War.
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A Man Among Men
as OkimiGangsters Ken and Maki are rivals in the ticket-scalping game. They make an uneasy truce, but...
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The 26 Martyrs of Japan
as Ohisa, Mother of AntonioJesuit priests in Japan during the 17th century are persecuted by the shogunate to for trying to...
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New Snow
as uncreditedMinowada, a young teacher at a National People's School, has his own theory of education and the...
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Sarari man donto bushi - Kiraku na kagyô to kita monda
as uncreditedThe salaryman is the object of admiration in the world. Because there is no more carefree job...
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The Song Lantern
as uncreditedThe title of the film reflects the custom of writing poems and lyrics on paper lanterns. The...
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The Tiger of Malaya
as TomiA band of guerrillas fight against occupying British forces in Malaya.
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Onna Ikitemasu: Sakariba Wataridori
as TsueAkane Kawasaki, known for her aversion to physical contact with men, possesses some unfavorable...
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Nippon Irresponsible Guy
as uncreditedSequel to "Irresponsible Age of Japan".
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A Grain of Wheat
as uncreditedThe film depicts a group of boys and girls who graduate from a local junior high school and head...
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A Ripple in a Morning
as uncreditedAtsuko is an office secretary who is also her family's primary source of income and caretaker in...
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Yanagase Blues
as Kane SasagawaJiro, a smooth-talking, womanizing bartender, flees from a Yakuza boss to Yanagase.
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(Street of Wandering Pigeons) When Will the Birds Come Home
as MasaYoshida Denkichi does loses sight of his wife Chiyoko and daughter Toyoko during the war, and is...
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Scarred Yosaburo
as uncreditedThe film depicts the scarring of Yosaburo at the hands of yakuza thugs who catch him with...
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Yaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue
as OtokuYaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue is a 1927 black and white Japanese silent film directed by...
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Victory and Defeat
as SatoAfter the boxing champion retires, the head of a powerful gym, Minegishi (So Yamamura),...
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Ginza Cancan Girls
as uncreditedShizuko Kasagi and Hideko Takamine star as young women who try to raise money for a needy old...
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Itohan Monogatari
as OkôBased on the original work by Shuji Hojo, Itohan Monogatari depicts the fate of a clumsy and...
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Four and A Half Mats
as RikuFukazawa Shino is a prostitute in the late Meiji period. Shino was deceived by Tatsukichi and...
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Hibari no komoriuta
as uncreditedHibari no komoriuta (ひばりの子守唄, literally "Hibari's Lullaby") is a 1951 black-and-white Japanese...
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Young Lovers
as uncreditedThe story of a young couple deeply in love with each other but, because of complications and...
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Confronting Fear
as uncreditedFormer boxer Goro Kawasaki was attacked by the organizer of the fights for knocking out his...
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Kanpai! Tokyo Musume
as uncreditedRomantic comedy about a love triangle between two girls who fall in love with a reliable young...
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Kininaru Yomesan
as uncreditedA bride arrives at the Shimizu household, where the seven members of the family live as they...
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White Runway
as uncreditedSugiyama was undergoing training in Moses Lake, USA, for the Boeing 747 model transition...
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