Directed by:
Kon IchikawaScreenplay:
和田夏十Cinematography:
Setsuo KobayashiCast:
Eiji Funakoshi, ミッキー・カーチス, Tatsuya Ishiguro, Jun Hamamura, 佐々木正時, 山茶花究, 稲葉義男, 中条静夫, Hikaru Hoshi, Asao Sano, Gakuya Morita, Akira Natsuki, Koichi Ito, Kisao Tobita (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Set on the Philippine island of Leyte in 1945 as the fragmentary remains of the Japanese army engage in a swift retreat from advancing Allied forces, the film stars Eiji Funakoshi as Tamura, a tubercular Japanese soldier struggling to survive. Denied a billet by his squad or a bed by the hospital because of his lack of a food ration, he wanders the island plain, like many of his comrades, foraging desperately for food. At an empty village where wild dogs roam the streets, he opens a church door that disgorges a river of corpses. After killing one of the wild dogs that roams the streets feasting on the carnage, the soldier meets a couple that has returned to the area to recover a cache of salt, a precious commodity. When the woman begins screaming insanely at him, Tamura panics and shoots her, continuing to fire wildly at her fleeing husband while seizing the sackful of salt. Tamura then heads into a wooded area where even greater horror awaits. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Eiji Funakoshi
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Blind Beast (1969)
The Black Test Car (1962)
ミッキー・カーチス
Japan
Best movies:
Swallowtail & Butterfly (1996)
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Blues Harp (1998)
Tatsuya Ishiguro
Japan
Best movies:
Revenge (1963)
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964)
Jun Hamamura
Japan
Best movies:
Japan's Longest Day (1967)
Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966)
High and Low (1963)
佐々木正時
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
山茶花究
Japan
Best movies:
High and Low (1963)
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
Le Garde du corps (1961)
稲葉義男
Japan
Best movies:
Seven Samurai (1954)
Harakiri (1962)
The Old Bear Hunter (1982)
中条静夫
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Princess Yang Kwei-fei (1955)
Hikaru Hoshi
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Floating Weeds (1959)
Giants and Toys (1958)
Asao Sano
Japan
Best movies:
The Burmese Harp (1956)
Last Samurai (1974)
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Gakuya Morita
Japan
Best movies:
Zatoichi's Pilgrimage (1966)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
Akira Natsuki
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Wife's Confession (1961)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Koichi Ito
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Japan Sinks (1973)
Kisao Tobita
Japan
Best movies:
Red Angel (1966)
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Wife's Confession (1961)
Osamu Ôkawa
Japan
Best movies:
Zatoichi at Large (1972)
Samaritan Zatoichi (1968)
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Tôru Konoki
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Wife's Confession (1961)