Castle of Sand is a 1974

1974 in film

The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...

 police procedural

Police procedural

The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...

 directed by Yoshitaro Nomura

Yoshitaro Nomura

Yoshitarō Nomura was a prolific Japanese film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His first accredited film was released in 1953; his last in 1985...

, based on the novel "Inspector Imanishi Investigates" by Seicho Matsumoto

Seicho Matsumoto

was a Japanese writer.Seichō's works created new tradition　of Japanese mystery / detective fiction. Dispensing with formulaic plot devices such as puzzles, Seichō incorporated elements of human psychology and ordinary life. In particular, his works often reflect a wider social context and postwar...

, and is largely considered by critics as one of the masterpieces of Japanese cinema

Cinema of Japan

The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...

.

Plot synopsis

Yoshitaro Nomura’s 1975 film of Seicho Matsumoto’s immensely popular detective story tells the tale of two detectives, Imanishi (Tetsuro Tamba) and Yoshimura (Kensaku Morita), tasked with tracking down the murderer of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a rail yard.

Cast

• Tetsuro Tamba
  Tetsuro Tamba
  was a Japanese actor.-Biography:Tamba is perhaps best known by Western audiences for his role as Tiger Tanaka in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice . By then, he had among other roles appeared in two films by director Masaki Kobayashi: Harakiri and Kwaidan...
  
  - Detective Eitaro Imanishi
• Go Kato
  Go Kato
  Go Kato was born February 4, 1938, in Omaezaki, Shizuoka, Japan. He is a Japanese entertainer, and actor.-TV Dramas:*Sosa Kenji Ukon Makoto no Satsujin Chosho...
  
  - Eiryo Waga/Hideo Motoura
• Kensaku Morita
  Kensaku Morita
  is a Japanese actor, singer and governor of Chiba Prefecture in Japan.- External links :...
  
  - Detective Hiroshi Yoshimura
• Yôko Shimada
  Yoko Shimada
  is a Japanese actress. She is best known to Western audiences for her portrayal of Mariko in the 1980 miniseries Shōgun. She was the only female member of Shogun's massive cast of Japanese actors shown speaking English, for which she relied on a dialogue coach, as she was not fluent in the...
  
  - Rieko Naruse
• Karin Yamaguchi - Sachiko Tadokoro
• Ken Ogata
  Ken Ogata
  Ken Ogata was a Japanese actor.Ogata was born in Tokyo, Japan. Ogata is well known for his roles in Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book, Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Shohei Imamura's The Ballad of Narayama...
  
  - Kenichi Miki
• Seiji Matsuyama
  Seiji Matsuyama
  is a Japanese manga artist, and the creator of the fanservice-themed manga Eiken. He has a variety of hobbies, including video games, and collecting figurines and toy models.-Manga:*Eiken *Ura Kendou Zero*Zokusei...
  
  - Shokichi Miki
• Yoshi Kato
  Yoshi Kato
  Yoshi Kato was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in 92 films between 1950 and 1988.-Selected filmography:* The Rice People * Zero Focus * Immortal Love...
  
  - Chiyokichi Motoura
• Chishu Ryu
  Chishu Ryu
  was a famous Japanese film actor, a favourite of the director Yasujiro Ozu. From 1928 to 1992 he appeared in at least 155 films, including Ozu's Tokyo Story and Yoshitaro Nomura's Castle of Sand...
  
  - Kojuro Kirihara

Awards

• 1975 Kinema Junpo Award
  • Best Screenplay (Shinobu Hashimoto and Yôji Yamada)
• Readers' Choice Award
  • Best Japanese Film Director (Yoshitaro Nomura)
• 1975 Mainichi Film Concours
  • Best Director (Yoshitaro Nomura)
  • Best Film (Yoshitaro Nomura)
  • Best Film Score (Kosuke Sugano )
  • Best Screenplay (Shinobu Hashimoto and Yôji Yamada)
• 1975 Moscow International Film Festival
  • Diploma (Yoshitaro Nomura)
  • Nominated for Golden Prize (Yoshitaro Nomura).

External links

• Suna no utsuwa at IMDb
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
  
  
• Suna no utsuwa at Allmovie