Kazuo Mori

Directing

Kazuo Mori

Born January 15, 1911 · Matsuyama, Japan

Died June 29, 1989 · aged 78

Kazuo Mori, also known as Issei Mori, got his start as a jidai-geki director in silent films of the 1930s. In postwar years he became a leading director at Daiei, working regularly with the studio's familiar stars like Shintaro Katsu and Raizo Ichikawa. In the 1960s and '70s, Mori established himself alongside Kenji Misumi as one of the most dependable names in chambara franchise series, directin…

Known For

Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Kiniro no ōkamiZenigata heiji torimono hikae: Kiniro no ōkami · 1953
Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Kiniro no ōkami
1953
MovieMystery
A series of murders surrounds the 70,000 ryō in buried treasure hidden by the Kanayama Magistrate.
The Tale of Zatoichi ContinuesThe Tale of Zatoichi Continues · 1962
The Tale of Zatoichi Continues
7.11962
MovieAdventureAction
Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love.
I Am Being TargetedI Am Being Targeted · 1950
I Am Being Targeted
1950
MovieCrime
A thriller of deduction and duels, in which a newspaper reporter bravely takes on a gang in the city’s skyscraper district over a mysterious recording by a diva.
Three Young SamuraiThree Young Samurai · 1961
Three Young Samurai
6.71961
MovieDramaAdventure
During Japan's Warring States period three young Tokugawa vassals head their separate ways after Takeda Shingen's forces overran their castle. When they next meet they have all joined opposing sides.
Wrath of DaimajinWrath of Daimajin · 1966
Wrath of Daimajin
6.31966
MovieFantasyHorror
In a mountainous region of Japan, Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. A band of young boys decide to rescue their enslaved fathers on their own.
The Killer's KillerThe Killer's Killer · 1970
The Killer's Killer
1970
MovieAction
Takeshi Ijuin leaves for Chicago to be a cameraman, and a few years later returns to Japan. But he only learned the technique of homicide in Chicago. When he visits the graveyard with his father to pray at his mother's tomb, his father is shot by someone. Now he thirsts for revenge.
Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashikiZenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashiki · 1953
Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashiki
1953
MovieMystery
Zatoichi and the Doomed ManZatoichi and the Doomed Man · 1965
Zatoichi and the Doomed Man
6.81965
MovieAdventureAction
Blind swordsman Zatoichi, jailed briefly, is implored by another prisoner to aid him in proving his innocence of a crime for which he is sentenced to death. Zatoichi is reluctant to get involved, because he knows how often such involvement has led to trouble in the past. But events conspire to thrust him repeatedly into involvement, and gradually he comes to believe in the man's innocence and determines to free him.

Filmography

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Mission: Iron CastleMission: Iron Castle · 1970
Mission: Iron Castle
6.31970
MovieActionDrama
The Shinobi-no-Mono series was so successful that Daiei Studios dipped into the well one more time, making the best 60′s B&W ninja movie ever seen in the otherwise color-dominated year of 1970. Issei Mori directs Hiroki Matsukata as the reluctant leader of a small band of spies charged with kidnapping a noblewoman from a heavily ninja-proofed castle. The finality of the air slowly began to fill like smoke, and in all that had become dark the loyalty of the Ninja who dared to go shone like light as they entered a world shrouded in mystery. Things do not go as planned in what is possibly the darkest and most fatalistic of the already noir-ish 60′s fare. Both the decade and it’s distinctive style of shinobi cinema went out on a high note with Mission Iron Castle.

Director