Born in
Kyoto, Nakagawa was early on influenced by
proletarian literature and wrote amateur film reviews to the
Kinema Junpō film magazine. He joined
Makino Film Productions in 1929 as an assistant director and worked under
Masahiro Makino. When that studio went bankrupt in 1932, he switched to
Utaemon Ichikawa's production company and made his debut as a director in 1934 with
Yumiya Hachiman Ken. He later moved to
Toho, where he made comedies starring
Enoken and even documentaries during the war. It was at
Shintoho after the war that he became known for his cinematic adaptations of Japanese
kaidan, especially his masterful version of
Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan in 1959. To Western audiences, his most famous film is
Jigoku (1960), which he also
co-wrote. The film was released on DVD by the
Criterion Collection in 2006. He also filmed many
kaidan for television. His last film was 1982's
Kaidan: Ikiteiru Koheiji. ==Partial filmography==