Kōji Shima

Biography

Born as Takehiko Kagoshima in Nagasaki, Shima left for Tokyo after graduating from high school. He was in the first class of the Nihon Eiga Haiyū Gakkō and joined the Nikkatsu studio as an actor in 1925. Playing mostly romantic leads, he appeared in films directed by such masters as Tomu Uchida and Kenji Mizoguchi. He turned to directing in 1939, and quickly came to prominence with films such as Kaze no Matasaburō, an adaption of a Kenji Miyazawa story, and Jirō Monogatari. After the war, he directed such films as Ginza Kankan Musume and Jūdai no Seiten at Shintoho and Daiei Studios. He won a prize at the 1st Moscow International Film Festival for Unforgettable Trail. Some of his last films were made in Hong Kong for Shaw Brothers. He directed over 90 films as a director and appeared in over 90 films as an actor. He was once married to the actress Yukiko Todoroki.

Directed

1. Warning from Space (1956) — Director
2. Anchin and Kiyohime (1960) — Director
3. The Phantom Horse (1955) — Director
4. A Geisha on Horseback (1954) — Director
5. The Makioka Sisters (1959) — Director
6. Lil's Return from Shanghai (1952) — Director
7. Zangiku monogatari (1956) — Director
8. The Beloved Image (1960) — Director
9. The Tale of Jiro (1941) — Director
10. The Golden Demon (1954) — Director
11. The Orchid (1970) — Director
12. The Pit of Death (1968) — Director
13. Otoko to onna no sei no naka (1962) — Director
14. Ginza Cancan Girls (1949) — Director
15. Asakusa at Night (1954) — Director
16. Love Song Over the Sea (1970) — Director
17. Chance Meeting (1958) — Director
18. Lady Chatterley of Japan (1953) — Director
19. Hibari no komoriuta (1951) — Director
20. Jūdai no seiten (1953) — Director
21. Kaze no Matasaburô (1940) — Director
22. The Story of a Blind Woman (1965) — Director
23. Thirst (1958) — Director
24. Shojo jutai (1966) — Director
25. Ambassador Ramen (1967) — Director
26. Good-Bye! (1949) — Director
27. Teinen Taishoku (1963) — Director
28. Muchana Yakko (1964) — Director
29. Tropicana Interlude (1969) — Director
30. Mado Kara Tobidase (1950) — Director
31. Made in Japan (1953) — Director
32. Shogun's Holiday (1958) — Director
33. A Rainbow at Every Turn (1956) — Director
34. Cascading White Threads (1956) — Director
35. The Grave Tells All (1960) — Director
36. Musume no boken (1958) — Director
37. Dear Murderer (1969) — Director
38. 情熱の詩人啄木 (1962) — Director
39. New Women’s Dialogue (1955) — Director
40. Todoroki Sensei (1947) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Tokyo March (1929)
2. Mistress of a Foreigner (1930) — Tsurumatsu
3. Sweat (1929) — Heizaemon Kitayama
4. A Paper Doll's Whisper of Spring (1926)
5. The Woman Who Touched The Legs (1926) — Detective
6. Mito Kōmon (1926)
7. Daughter and Springtime (1932)
8. Sōbō (1937)
9. Passionate Poet Ishikawa Takuboku - Hometown (1936)
10. Hatobue wo Fuku Onna (1932)