Inoue is a Japanese director and screenwriter who made more than a hundred features and three hundred TV dramas in his five decade long career. He began his film career at the age of 27 in the Shintoho studio and made his debut in 1952 by directing the film Head Cheerleader of Love. Thanks to the successful jazz musical Jazz on Parade 1954 nen: Tokyo Cinderella musume (1954), he devoted the rest of his career to musicals. In 1955, he moved to Nikkatsu studio and achieved great commercial success with the film Arashi o yobu otoko (Man Who Causes a Storm, 1957), making a star of the leading actor, Yujiro Ishihare. Since 1960, he has been an independent director. Starting in 1965 and lasting until 1971, he spent three months of every year in Hong Kong, where he directed musicals such Xiang jiang hua yue ye (Hong Kong Nocturne, 1967), Hong Kong Rhapsody (Hua yue liang xiao, 1968), Wo ai jin gui xu (We Love Millionaires, 1971) and Yu nu xi chun (The Yellow Muffler, 1972) for the Shaw Brothers Studio. In those six years, he made seventeen films in Hong Kong. In 1977, he began working for TV and his last film was Code Name Black Cat (1987).