Raizo Ichikawa, who died of cancer in 1969 at the age of 37, is a movie star who still attracts many fans even today.
In his 15-year career, he appeared in 158 movies, many of them period dramas. A festival will be held at Cineswitch in Tokyo's Ginza district Nov. 27 - Dec. 24, screening 41 Ichikawa movies. Eighteen of them will be screened as new prints. Among them is the digitally remastered edition of "Shin Heike Monogatari (New Tales of the Taira Clan)," a 1955 film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Nov. 27-30, 12:20 p.m.).
In this movie, which became a nationwide hit, Ichikawa performed the role of the passionate Taira no Kiyomori, head of the Taira samurai clan during the Heian Period [794-1185] .
Ichikawa came from the kabuki world. His first appearance as a kabuki actor was in 1946 in Osaka when he was 15 years old. In 1951, he took the title of Ichikawa Raizo V. He joined Daiei studio in 1954.
The movies to be screened include eight pieces based on kabuki plays. Four are from the popular Nemuri Kyoshiro samurai movie series, in which Ichikawa plays the role of the nihilistic hero samurai.
Advance tickets are 1,400 yen for one screening and 5,500 yen for five screenings. A 25,000 yen pass is available at Cineswitch (behind Wako department store in Ginza. Tel: [03] 3561-0707)
Same-day tickets are 1,600 yen for one screening.
For more information, visit www.kadokawa-pictures.com/raisama/ click "eigasai" and then "geikijo"