Keiji Sakakida
Actor · b. 1900 · Japan
Sakakida debuted in film in 1921, and appeared in a number pre-war films with various studios, including Nikkatsu, Takamatsu-Azuma, Empire Kinema, and Makino Talkie, before finally landing at PCL in 1937, which would later become Toho. After the war, Sakakida appeared in numerous supporting roles for Toho, predominantly sci-fi, beginning with the original Godzilla in 1954. He played the mayor of the island town attacked by Godzilla in the first half of the film. One of his last appearances was in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), in a still shot of a group of scientists restraining Akihiko Hirata’s character.
Movies23
Movie8.5ActionDramaA samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Movie8.3DramaKanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
Movie7.6ThrillerHorrorJapan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.
Movie6.5HorrorScience FictionMining engineer Shigeru investigates the disappearance and death of his fellow coworkers when prehistoric nymphs are discovered emerging from the mines. After an attack on the local village, Shigeru heads deeper into the mines only to make a more horrifying discovery in the form a prehistoric flying creature. Soon a second monster appears as the two converge in Fukuoka.
Movie6.3Science FictionActionIn 1976, a drifting star named Gorath is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. Although it is smaller than Earth, its enormous mass is enough to destroy the planet totally. A mission sent to observe Gorath is destroyed after the ship is drawn into the star, with a later mission barely escaping the same fate. However, Astronaut Tatsuma Kanai is left in a catatonic state due to his near death experience. Unable to destroy the invading star, Earth's scientists undertake a desperate plan to build giant rockets at the South Pole to move the planet out of Gorath's path before it is too late.
Movie7.8WarHistoryThe Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.
Movie7.1Science FictionCrimeA failed science experiment gives a librarian the ability to turn into a gaseous substance. He goes on to rob banks to fund his dancer girlfriend's career, killing those who interfere. Now Tokyo's most wanted criminal, can authorities stop him?
Movie6.6Science FictionActionThe legendary empire of the lost continent of Mu reappears to threaten the world with domination. While countries unite to resist, an isolated World War II Captain has created the greatest warship ever seen, and possibly the surface world's only defense.
Movie5.8Science FictionHorrorWhen a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works.
Movie8.0ComedyDramaFollowing the Second World War, the lives of various people in a poverty-stricken area of Tokyo are entertwined. Pachinko parlor girls, shoeshine boys, a maker of costume jewelry, and a streetcorner artist all struggle to make their livings and to find happiness in difficult surroundings.
Movie10.0On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder.
Movie7.8DramaWarAdmiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability.
Movie6.7Science FictionThrillerWhen an invisible man is run down by a car it’s up to an eager young reporter and a strange clown to bring a dangerous gang to justice.
MovieDramaA novice city-based teacher's first assignment is to a fishing village's grade school. The young teacher's first week with her new students is enjoyable, but she gradually notices that many of the students are skipping school. Visiting her students after class, she realizes that many of them are charged with work and tasks like making money, toiling on the farm, doing housework or tending to their younger siblings. Many of them live in unhygienic homes due to poverty or overwork. She not only reports and explains the situation to the school's principal, but also attempts to improve the conditions by making textbooks, teaching cleanliness, and making her classes relevant.
Movie6.7RomanceWarSaburo and Keiko fall in love with each other but the tide of war separates them.
Movie6.8ActionAdventureA silly yet skilled Interpol agent flies to Tokyo and gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favor of a notorious arms dealer.
Movie9.0DramaIt is based on the story "The Lawyer" by attorney Hiroshi Masaki and his account of Japan's "Headless Murder Case" in which a police officer beat a suspect to death during the Pacific War.
Movie6.4ComedyThis film depicts a troupe of wandering kabuki players traveling through rural Japan.
MovieDramaThe fifth film in the Toho Diamond series, following "The Hateful Thing." Based on the true story of "Zoo Story" by author Fukuda Saburo. During the Tokyo air raids of World War II, Zen-san, an elephant keeper at Ueno Zoo, is faced with the heartbreaking task of euthanizing Tonki, a beloved elephant, due to food shortages and wartime pressures. Unable to carry out the order, Zen-san secretly feeds Tonki, but the elephant is ultimately shot by the military police. The film poignantly captures Zen-san’s despair and the devastation of war, as he reflects on his powerlessness amid the chaos.
Movie
Movie10.0DramaAn episodic film about life in and around a rural police station and the people it serves.
MovieAfter killing a detective in a botched robbery, Keiichi (Natsuki) is on the run as police stake out the homes of his sisters, mother, and girlfriend.
- Movie8.0Drama
Song of the White Orchid was a co-production of Toho and Mantetsu, the railway that served the colonial region of Manchuria, and the first film in the Kazuo Hasegawa/Shirley Yamaguchi (Ri Koran) “Continental Trilogy.” Handsome Hasegawa (representing Japan) runs up against an impertinent Yamaguchi (representing the continent); not surprisingly, in the course of the film the woman comes around and realizes the benevolent intentions of the Japanese. In Song of the White Orchid Yamaguchi leaves Hasegawa, who plays an expatriate working for the railway, because of a misunderstanding. She joins a communist guerilla group plotting to blow up the Manchurian railway. Learning of the subterfuge that led to the misunderstanding, she renews her faith in Hasegawa—and by extension Japan—and tries to undermine the plot.