Writing

Zenzō Matsuyama

Born April 3, 1925 · Kobe, Japan

Died August 27, 2016 · aged 91

Zenzō Matsuyama (松山善三 Matsuyama Zenzō, 3 April 1925 - 27 August 2016) was a Japanese script writer and film director. He was born in Kobe and grew up in Yokohama. After leaving school, he began training to become a doctor but dropped out of medical school to take up a career in films. In 1948 he became an assistant director at Shochiku studios. With the support of Keisuke Kinoshita, he also began…

Known For

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love · 1959

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer · 1961

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity · 1959

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

The Moon Over the Ruined Castle

The Moon Over the Ruined Castle · 1954

The Moon Over the Ruined Castle

MovieDramaRomance

Proof of the Man

Proof of the Man · 1977

Proof of the Man

MovieDramaCrime

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.

Yearning

Yearning · 1964

MovieDramaRomance

War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment.

I Will Buy You

I Will Buy You · 1956

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising baseball player to The Toyko Flowers.

Long Journey into Love

Long Journey into Love · 1973

Long Journey into Love

MovieRomanceDrama

A beautifully told story of a woman hardened by marriage to a man she doesn't love, after giving herself to another. She dedicates herself to her work, designing and creating plaited cords for kimono.

Filmography

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The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love · 1959

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.

Screenplay

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer · 1961

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.

Screenplay

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity · 1959

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

Screenplay

The Moon Over the Ruined Castle

The Moon Over the Ruined Castle · 1954

The Moon Over the Ruined Castle

MovieDramaRomance

Screenplay

Proof of the Man

Proof of the Man · 1977

Proof of the Man

MovieDramaCrime

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.

Writer

Yearning

Yearning · 1964

MovieDramaRomance

War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment.

Screenplay

I Will Buy You

I Will Buy You · 1956

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising baseball player to The Toyko Flowers.

Screenplay

Long Journey into Love

Long Journey into Love · 1973

Long Journey into Love

MovieRomanceDrama

A beautifully told story of a woman hardened by marriage to a man she doesn't love, after giving herself to another. She dedicates herself to her work, designing and creating plaited cords for kimono.

Screenplay

The Lovelorn Geisha

The Lovelorn Geisha · 1960

The Lovelorn Geisha

A woman and her daughter are in love with the same man, a chef at the restaurant that the mother manages. He is slightly crippled from frostbite in his years in Siberian labor camps and considers himself 'already dead'.

Screenplay

Carmen Comes Home

Carmen Comes Home · 1951

Carmen Comes Home

MovieComedyMusic

A rural village elder plans an event on the return of a farmer's daughter from the city, unaware that she has become a Westernized burlesque artist.

Assistant Director

Happiness of Us Alone

Happiness of Us Alone · 1961

Happiness of Us Alone

The story is of two people. One is deaf, the other deaf and mute. They marry after meeting at a school reunion, and the film follows their trials and tribulations ... and joys.

Screenplay

Moment of Terror

Moment of Terror · 1966

Moment of Terror

MovieCrimeDrama

When the only son of a working class woman is fatally struck by a car driven by the adulterous wife of a company president in a hit-and-run, the victim's mother changes her identity and infiltrates the couple's home to work as their maid, plotting to murder their similarly-aged son.

Screenplay

The Other Woman

The Other Woman · 1961

The Other Woman

The real mother of the two children of a respectable university professor is not his wife, but his mistress, the hostess of a Ginza bar the family frequents.

Screenplay

The Black Battlefront Kidnappers

The Black Battlefront Kidnappers · 1973

The Black Battlefront Kidnappers

MovieActionCrime

A taut, economical policier-cum-gang-hostage thriller.

Screenplay

Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay · 1962

MovieMysteryDrama

An investigation into a drug smuggler who is assassinated in front of an insurance building sets two detectives, Sumikawa and Akine, into a sprawling investigation through Tokyo's underworld.

Screenplay

The Wiser Age

The Wiser Age · 1962

Drama about the lives of the five daughters and daughter-in-law of a store owner.

Screenplay

Bokyo

MovieDramaHistory

In 1940, Kubota Shoten, which has been in business for generations, goes bankrupt due to the debauched lifestyle of its president, Kunimitsu Kubota. Subsequently, Kunimitsu moves back to his hometown and his children are sent to live with other relatives.

Screenplay

Good Luck to These Two

Good Luck to These Two · 1957

Good Luck to These Two

A young man and woman are determined to marry despite opposition from her parents.

Writer

Daughters, Wives and a Mother

Daughters, Wives and a Mother · 1960

Daughters, Wives and a Mother

Sanae is left a widow after her prestigious husband dies, but holds the proceeds of a million yen insurance policy. Being childless, her former in-laws have no objection to her return to her own family.

Screenplay

Fountainhead

Fountainhead · 1956

A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.

Writer

Chiemi's High-Heeled Shoes

Chiemi's High-Heeled Shoes

Chiemi's High-Heeled Shoes

Adaptation

Double Wedding

Double Wedding · 1963

Screenplay

Black River

Black River · 1957

MovieCrimeDrama

A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era.

Writer

The Youth and His Amulet

The Youth and His Amulet · 1961

The Youth and His Amulet

MovieComedyFantasy

Gen is a lonely orphan boy. His sole sense of companionship comes from an imaginary friend, the god Prince Fudo-Myo. Prince Fudo-Myo comes to the boy's rescue in times of difficulty.

Screenplay

Fushoku no kōzō

Fushoku no kōzō · 1977

Fushoku no kōzō

A powerful trading company uses all means to obtain the uranium enrichment technology.

Screenplay