Umetsugu Inoue

Umetsugu Inoue was a director of over a hundred films in a wide variety of genres; working with all six major Japanese film production companies over his 35 year career. He was first noticed early on at Nikkatsu Studios for establishing a new genre of high action musical films, charged with the impulsive energy of the young Jazz culture of 1950s Japan. Just after the war, these 'Nikkatsu Action' films created by Inoue, catapulted Yujiro Ishihara into becoming the most popular singing film star in Japan. As a scriptwriter, Inoue wrote 101 screenplays and the original story for five films.