一个关于竞争与自我牺牲的爱情故事，发生于明治末期。三弦琴艺人鹤八与民谣歌家鹤次郎是一个传统音乐组合。不过他们常常争吵。他们分开了，鹤次郎却无法靠自己兴旺。他们就又复合了，但当鹤次郎发现鹤八陷入一场恋爱之中时，便故意与她争执到分崩离析的地步，好让她安心去结婚。

在日本甲府的偏僻山村，宁静的乡间小道上行驶着一辆又老又旧的巴士。司机园田（藤原鶏太 饰）和美丽的女售票员阿驹（高峰秀子 饰）每日起早贪黑，迎来送往去向各处的客人。虽则努力多多，但是收入一向微薄，难见起色。迫于生计，公司独辟蹊径，决定打造一条专门面向各地游客的旅游线路。园田和阿驹为这个设想所触动，二人开始着手准备起来。适逢自称小说家的井川（夏川大二郎 饰）来此游览当地名胜，他们于是拜托井川，撰写游览所用的演讲稿……
本片根据井伏鱒二的短篇小说《おこまさん》改编，是导演成濑巳喜男和女演员高峰秀子首次合作的作品。

年轻的肥皂厂女工町子（倍赏千惠子 饰）与奶奶、父亲和两个弟弟住在东京下町，清贫的生活、叛逆的弟弟，让她不得不早早负起家庭的责任。町子与同一间工厂的职员道男（早川保 饰）爱情甜蜜，道男正在准备入职考试，成为正式工，他志在必得。像其他年轻女工一样，町子将步入结婚、辞工、搬家、生育、持家的小康生活，而正在她对这样平淡无奇的未来感到迟疑的时候，钢铁工人良介（胜吕誉 饰）的出现打乱了她的步调。日本战后社会的世态炎凉、下町的人情冷暖，都让町子陷入了深深的思索——对女性而言，幸福究竟是什么？

The story of the film is simple: A young girl in the countryside raises a young horse and develops a deep relationship to the animal. But the war is becoming part of life, so in the end she has to sacrifice her horse and sell it to the military.
The idea of propaganda film has been discussed by various scholars. Donald Keene mentioned that it only takes the ending of a film like uma to turn an overall innocent story into propaganda. The film was in 1941 officially supported and praised by the Japanese government. An official government statement commented: “Feel Gratitude in your hear and lend yourself to support the war effort” and Army Minister Tojo Hideki commented: “Only by means of the heartfelt affection of the breeders can fine horses – a mobile weapon that will become increasingly necessary in the future – be raised.”
A film about a teenager fond of horses, that turns into a propaganda film – so why should you be interested? Uma directed by Kajiro Yamamoto is often regarded as being the first film with a major involvement of Akira Kurosawa – who apart from his job as assistant director was said to have a love affair with the film’s teen aged star Takamine Hideko. Takamine herself was already one of the greatest stars of Japanese cinema, affectionately referred to as “Deko-chan” by her fans. After the war she would appear in many famous movies, most prominently in the works of Kinoshita and Naruse.

Two detectives begin a stakeout based on the slim chance of catching a murderer whom they suspect will try to reunite with an old flame.

Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.

Kimiko, a Tokyo white-collar working girl, lives with her serious, intellectual, haiku-writing mother. Kimiko seeks to marry her boyfriend but needs her absent father to act as the go-between and negotiate the marriage. Kimiko travels and finds her father living with a second family.

1964 film by Hideo Gosha

An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him declared incompetent, a family-court counselor witnesses his obsession slide into ruin—and asks whether ignoring the atomic threat is any saner.

1969 film by Masahiro Shinoda

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.

In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.

1966 film by Kihachi Okamoto

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

1980 film directed by Akira Kurosawa

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

1957 film by Yasujirō Ozu

In the midst of an attempt to take over his company, a powerhouse executive is hit with a huge ransom demand when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake.

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.