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Nobuo Nakagawa

67 movies · 3 TV shows

Known for
Directing
Born
Apr 18, 1905
Died
Jun 17, 1984 (age 79)
Place of birth
Kyōto, Kyōto Prefecture, Japan
Also known as
Nakagawa Nobuo · 노부오 나카가와 · 나카가와 노부오

Biography

Nobuo Nakagawa (中川 信夫, Nakagawa Nobuo, April 18, 1905 – June 17, 1984) was a Japanese film director, most famous for the stylized, folk tale-influenced horror films he made in the 1950s and 1960s.

Born in Kyoto, Nakagawa was early on influenced by proletarian literature and wrote amateur film reviews for the Kinema Junpō film magazine. He joined Makino Film Productions in 1929 as an assistant director and worked under Masahiro Makino. When that studio went bankrupt in 1932, he switched to Utaemon Ichikawa's production company and made his debut as a director in 1934 with Yumiya Hachiman Ken. He later moved to Toho, where he made comedies starring Enoken and even documentaries during the war. It was at Shintoho after the war that he became known for his cinematic adaptations of Japanese Kaidan, especially his masterful version of Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan in 1959.

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To Western audiences, his most famous film is Jigoku (1960), which he also co-wrote. The film was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection in 2006.

He also filmed many Kaidan for television. His last film was 1982's Kaidan: Ikiteiru Koheiji.

Profiles IMDb

Known for

Nobuo Nakagawa: movies and TV shows

Behind the camera (70)