(1953, b/w; Ugetsu monogatari, Japanese) In the 16th century of feudal Japan, Genjuro (Masayuki Mori), a poor farmer near Lake Biwa in Omi province, who on the side creates ceramics, goes with his neighbor Tobei Nakanogo (Sakae Ozawa) to the city of Nagahama to sell his wares. Returning to his wife Miyagi (Kinuyo Tanaka) and boy child Genichi after successfully earning enough also to purchase her a kimono, he declares: "Money is everything!"

Later Tobei, having groveled at the feet of a samurai, comes back to his wife Ohama (Mitsuko Mito), who chastises him for becoming the village idiot. Commenting on Genjuro's changed disposition and irritability (not the husband she has longed for), Miyagi expresses the desire of only wanting to be happy with her family.

In a time of civil war, full of ambition to make even more money with his pottery, Genjuro with the help of Tobei, ignoring warnings of Shibata's troops in the vicinity, work hard to fill the kiln with new clay pots. When the plundering enemy soldiers enter the village, Genjuro hesitates to flee because the kiln fire needs to be maintained to finish baking the valuable pottery. Finally forced to abandon their house, Genjuro and his family barely escape along with Ohama and Tobei; he returns as soon as possible to discover that though the fire has died, inside the kiln the pots are done baking.

Deciding to take a boat across the lake to Nagahama as safer than traveling by road, the four (with Ohama singing and steering the craft) encounter another boat with its occupant warning them of pirates - "You'll lose your cargo and your lives" - before he dies. Genjuro directs Ohama to go back to the shore where Miyagi and Genichi are told to wait for his return; the three then resume their voyage.

In the market of Nagahama, two women approach Genjuro, requesting that he deliver a large order of his ceramics to the Kutsuki manor. Meanwhile, Tobei, ignoring Ohama's pleadings not to waste the money, takes his share of the proceeds to purchase armor and a spear. During his absence, a gang of men abduct Ohama and rape her.

The same two women come to Genjuro, guiding him to the manor; there he is lavishly welcomed by Lady Wakasa (Machiko Kyo) and her aged nurse Ukon (Kikue Mori), the same pair who led him to the abode of the late Lord Kutsuki. Praised for the beauty of his master craftsmanship as he drinks sake from his own cup, Ukon recommends he immediately marry Lady Wakasa. The spirit voice of her deceased father joins her own song on her wedding night; as she bathes Genjuro in the spring the following morning, Lady Wakasa, a ghostly enchantress, says to her husband: "You must devote your entire life to me," promising him the pleasures of paradise.

Based on Akinari Ueda's story "Tales of Moonlight Rain" (adapted by Matsutaro Kawaguchi), Kenji Mizoguchi directed this enigmatic enchantment from a screenplay by Yoshikata Yoda.

Taking advantage of an opportune moment to run his spear through a general, Tobei receives the reward of a horse, a suit of armor, and a retinue of vassals. Eager to return home he nevertheless agrees with his men's clamoring to stop at a bordello to celebrate where he finds Ohama, to whom he says: "I thought you'd be proud if I made good."

Carrying her son on her back, attempting to hide from marauders, Miyagi is robbed and stabbed by starving men. Away from the manor, purchasing gifts for Lady Wakasa, Genjuro encounters a Buddhist priest who pronounces a foreboding: "The shadow of death is upon your face." Advising Genjuro to "return home quickly," but first he promises to "exorcise this ghost."

Returning with his gifts to the manor, Genjuro confesses to having a wife and child, begging forgiveness from Lady Wakasa and permission to go home to them; her nurse excoriates the false husband, telling him how people have treated them with contempt and slander after the clan was wiped out; but because Lady Wakasa died a virgin, she brought her back to experience a woman's gratification with a man specially chosen.

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