Ugetsu (Film 1953-ENG SUB)

Ugetsu, also known as Tales of Ugetsu or Ugetsu Monogatari (lit. "Rain-moon tales"), is a 1953 Japanese historical drama and fantasy film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi starring Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō. It is based on two stories in Ueda Akinari's 1776 book of the same name, combining elements of the jidaigeki (period drama) genre with a ghost story. Audio in Japanese with English subtitles.

Drawing from Ueda's tales "The House in the Thicket" and "The Lust of the White Serpent", the film is set in Japan's civil war torn Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1600).

In a small rural community, a potter leaves his wife and young son behind to make money selling pottery and ends up being seduced by a spirit that makes him forget all about his family.

A subplot, inspired by Guy de Maupassant's 1883 short story "How He Got the Legion of Honor" ("Décoré !"), involves his brother-in-law, who dreams of becoming a samurai and chases this goal at the unintended expense of his wife.

The film won the Silver Lion Award at the 1953 Venice Film Festival and other honours. Ugetsu is one of Mizoguchi's most celebrated films, regarded by critics as a masterpiece of Japanese cinema, credited with simultaneously helping to popularize Japanese cinema in the West and influencing later Japanese film.

Cast & Characters:
Machiko Kyō as Lady Wakasa
Mitsuko Mito as Ohama
Kinuyo Tanaka as Miyagi
Masayuki Mori as Genjūrō
Eitaro Ozawa as Tōbei (as Sakae Ozawa)
Ichisaburo Sawamura as Genichi
Kikue Mōri as Ukon, Lady Wakasa's Nurse
Ryōsuke Kagawa as Village Master
Eigoro Onoe as Knight
Saburo Date as Vassal
Sugisaku Aoyama as Old Priest
Reiko Kongo as an Old Woman in Brothel
Shozo Nanbu as Shinto Priest
Ichirō Amano as Boatsman
Kichijirō Ueda as Shop Owner
Teruko Omi as Prostitute
Keiko Koyanagi as Prostitute
Mitsusaburō Ramon as Captain of Tamba Soldiers
Jun Fujikawa as Lost Soldier
Ryuuji Fukui as Lost Soldier
Masayoshi Kikuno as Soldier
Hajime Koshikawa
Sugisaka Koyama as High Priest
Ryuzaburo Mitsuoka as Soldier