Beyond Love and Hate / 愛と憎しみの彼方へ / Ai to nikushimi no kanata e (1951)

Obscure Japanese Film #237

Toshiro Mifune

Abashiri Prison, Hokkaido. When six convicts escape one rainy night, kindly veteran screw Kubo (Takashi Shimura) is shocked to learn that one of the men was Goro Sakata, also known as Fudo (Toshiro Mifune), a model prisoner who had only six months left to serve. It transpires that, in order to get Fudo to join the escape, the ringleader (Eitaro Ozawa) had spread a lie that his wife, Masae (Mitsuko Mito), was having an affair.

Takashi Shimura

Ryo Ikebe

However, it turns out that she has indeed become very close to a young doctor, Kitahara (Ryo Ikebe), although their relationship has remained platonic thus far – but will Fudo believe this? Possibly not, considering that – after hearing of her husband’s escape – Masae has made herself look guilty as hell by fleeing to the mountains with Kitahara (her reasons for this are never fully explained, perhaps because they make no sense)…

Mitsuko Mito

Distributed by Toho, this production by the Eiga Geijutsu Kyokai (Film Art Association)* was based on a story by Kotaro Samukawa (1908-77) entitled Datsugoku-shu (‘Escaped Prisoner’); this title was no doubt not used here as the same company had only recently released an unrelated picture also starring Toshiro Mifune entitled Datsugoku (1950).

Although director Senkichi Taniguchi brought Akira Kurosawa back on board to help him with the screenplay for this one, the script proves to be little improvement on that of Taniguchi’s previous film, Devil’s Gold. One scene which seems likely to have been a Kurosawa contribution recalls his 1950 picture Scandal, painting journalists in an extremely unfavourable light as dishonourable people who basically print lies for money. Unfortunately, the film feels too long for its slender story, which seems to have been cooked up mostly as an excuse to get Taniguchi and his star Toshiro Mifune back up in the mountains again.

Eitaro Ozawa and Mifune

On a more positive note, the locations are pretty impressive here, with one scene taking place on the side of a steaming volcano, which must have been a dangerous place to shoot in. There’s also another strong score which could only be the work of Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube, while the strong cast do their best with the substandard material foisted upon them. In particular, it’s good to see Takashi Shimura in a more substantial role than usual even if he has to play a prison guard so soft he’s practically a marshmallow.

* According to Kurosawa in his book Something Like an Autobiography, he established the Film Art Association in 1948 together with Taniguchi, their mentor Kajiro Yamamoto, Mikio Naruse and producer Sojiro Motoki. 

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Devil’s Gold / 魔の黄金 / Ma no ogon (1950)

Obscure Japanese Film #236

Masayuki Mori 

Iwaki (Masayuki Mori) is a gold prospector who has been in the mountains for 13 years – including the entire war – and finally struck it rich. He had originally gone there after being rejected by Tsukie (Chieko Soma), the woman he loved, for not having enough money. Returning to society, he is at first mocked for his uncouth appearance until people realise he’s carrying a fortune, at which point he becomes the toast of the town.

Chieko Soma

Takashi Shimura

Iwaki’s prospecting partner, Akutsu (Takashi Shimura), had died from exposure not long after they struck gold, so he hires Azuma (Eijiro Tono), a drunk who claims to be a detective, to track down Akutsu’s son. Meanwhile, Tsukie turns up, but she’s now married to a sick architect (Jukichi Uno) and is after Iwaki’s money. The only honest person Iwaki encounters is the maid, Tokiko (Michiko Hoshi), at the hotel he stays at, but she’s involved with a poor fisherman, Ichiro (Ichiro Izawa)...

Eijiro Tono

Jukichi Uno

Ichiro Izawa

This Daiei production was based on a novel by the largely forgotten Shu Sekikawa (1912-87) and was the fourth major feature film to be directed by Senkichi Taniguchi. It was also the first of Taniguchi’s features not to have been co-written by Akira Kurosawa, which may be one reason why it’s not as good as the director’s previous three – I doubt that Kurosawa would have been satisfied with the script of this one, which Taniguchi co-wrote with newcomer Takeo Matsuura.

Michiko Hoshi

Taniguchi was an avid mountaineer and, as in his debut feature Snow Trail (1947), there’s some impressive location shooting in the wintry mountains, but the bulk of the story takes place in an urban setting. As a film, it’s not very characteristic of Japan and the influence of Hollywood is obvious throughout. The score by Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube is effective, but unfortunately this is a story which not only unfolds all too predictably, but relies on a couple of annoyingly implausible coincidences.

Mori before and after his trip to the barber

It’s a surprise to see the usually suave Masayuki Mori in such a rough part, but he rather overdoes it and I couldn’t help wonder if Takashi Shimura – wasted here as he all too often was in a small (and in this case poorly-written) role – might have been a better fit. In fact, much of the acting is too broad for my taste, although the women are a notable exception. I personally think they’re usually better actors than the men on the whole, perhaps because they feel less need to show off, and this seems especially true in Japanese films of the post-war period for some reason. As for the two female stars here, Chieko Soma retired from acting at the age of 40 in 1962 and is presumably deceased, whereas Michiko Hoshi was acting as recently as 2013 and appears to be still with us at the time of writing at the ripe old age of 98.

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I’ll Cry Alone / 帯をとく夏子 / Obi o toku Natsuko (‘Natsuko Unties Her Obi’, 1965)

Obscure Japanese Film #235

Ayako Wakao

Eiji Funakoshi

Natsuko (Ayako Wakao) is a former hot spring geisha who has become the exclusive mistress of company president Sakuma (Eiji Funakoshi in unconvincing old man make-up). He’s under pressure from his sister Kanako (Yumeji Tsukioka) to marry Taeko (Noriko Hodaka) as it will be good for the company and, although he wants to continue seeing Natsuko on the side, Natsuko is not happy with the idea.

Yumeji Tsukioka

Kyoko Enami

A chance of a different future seems to present itself when Sakuma begins a liaison with unlikely window cleaner Sumiko (Kyoko Enami) and Natsuko runs into (literally) the teacher she had a crush on at school, Kenji (Mikijiro Hira). However, he’s now reduced to working as a garage mechanic and unable to keep her in the luxury to which she has become accustomed…

Mikijiro Hira

This Daiei production was based on the ‘Natsuko’ series of stories by Seiichi Funahashi* serialised in the literary magazine Shincho between 1952 and 1961. The first batch was published as a novel entitled Geisha Konatsu in 1952, and Toho had produced two films about Natsuko using that title in 1954/55 with Mariko Okada starring. Funahashi was also the author of the source material for Story of a Blind Woman (also 1965) and the two versions of Portrait of Madame Yuki (1950 and 1968). Unfortunately, as I felt was the case for those stories, this is another that’s unlikely to resonate much with viewers these days.

Although the film has a clear message in favour of female independence, coming as it does after we have watched Natsuko fawning over two undeserving men for most of the film, it feels tacked on almost as an afterthought. Considering the deeply-ingrained sexism of the society that Natsuko is forced to inhabit, a more hard-hitting approach would have been preferable, but the tone is fairly light here, with some scenes simply played for laughs (of which, admittedly, there are a couple). This half-heartedness is probably because the real reason for the film’s existence was simply to provide another vehicle for Ayako Wakao; at the time, much was made of the fact that she wore only kimono in this picture – but, of course, a different kimono for each scene.

Directed by veteran Shigeo Tanaka with the same competent indifference he brought to the earlier Wakao costume-change flick Tokyo Onigiri Girl (1961).

*Sometimes listed as Seiichi Funabashi, but I think that’s incorrect.

DVD at Amazon Japan

Thanks to A.K. and to Coralsundy for the English subtitles

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Across Darkness / 闇を横切れ / Yami o yokogire (1959)

Obscure Japanese Film #234

Hiroshi Kawaguchi and So Yamamura

When a stripper is murdered in a love hotel, suspicion naturally falls on Ochiai (Kappei Matsumoto), the mayoral candidate found drunk and unconscious in the same room, but ambitious rookie reporter Ishizuka (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) smells a set-up. Urged on by the editor he idolises (So Yamamura), he starts digging and exposes a tangled web of corruption leading to the current mayor (Jun Hamamura) and transport boss Hirose (Osamu Takizawa). Along the way he falls for the dead woman’s best friend, a fellow stripper named Motomi (Junko Kano)…

Jun Hamamura and Kawaguchi

This Daiei production was from an original screenplay by regular Kurosawa collaborator Ryuzo Kikushima and its director, Yasuzo Masumura (Kikushima also co-wrote Masumura’s Afraid to Die and The Hoodlum Soldier). As you’d expect from Masumura, it zips along at a snappy pace, but unfortunately that in itself is not enough to make an engaging picture, a point that this one certainly proves. It doesn’t help that it relies so heavily on the very limited talents of Daiei boss Matsutaro Kawaguchi’s son Hiroshi, who is in almost every scene, while the slight lift the film gets when the more charismatic So Yamamura is on screen is insufficient to counteract the Kawaguchi effect. Junko Kano is also effective in an almost Gloria Grahame kind of way as a woman who’s been more or less forced to get by on her looks but retains her sense of self by generally refusing to turn on the charm that men seem to expect of her.

Kawaguchi and Junko Kano

Even with a better actor in the lead, though, I question whether this movie would be much improved – somehow, there’s just nothing convincing about the characters or situations or any real reason why we should care about any of it, and I was left wondering what on earth this film’s raison d’être was supposed to be, especially as it’s impossible to take seriously as a political drama. Perhaps it was intended as a send-up of American film noir but, if so, it falls spectacularly flat. Unusually, there’s no music score – presumably the producers felt that the endless amount of talk (much of it shouted) would render music unnecessary. All in all, it’s no wonder, then, that this has been one of the more obscure items in Masumura’s filmography – it’s definitely no hidden gem, that’s for sure. Of course, that’s just my opinion and it’s only fair to note that most of the Japanese viewers’ reviews which can be found online are quite positive, so maybe I’m missing something…

Osamu Takizawa

The print quality on the Japanese DVD release is not great and contains numerous scratches. 

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Yotsuya kaidan - Oiwa no borei / 四谷怪談 お岩の亡霊 (‘Yotsuya kaidan: The Ghost of Oiwa,’1969)

Obscure Japanese Film #233

 

Kei Sato

 

This Daiei production was the seventh post-war film version of Japan’s most famous ghost story and the last made for the cinema until 1981. Coming just four years after Shiro Toyoda’s adaptation (known in English as Illusion of Blood), this one may have felt somewhat unnecessary, but it does add a couple of new twists and turns out to be surprisingly good. For those unfamiliar with the story, it concerns Iemon, a masterless samurai married to Oiwa and struggling to get by. When an opportunity to better his situation presents itself, he’s only too willing to take it even if it means poisoning his wife so that he can marry another woman (I’ll leave you to guess the rest). 

 

Tatsuya Nakadai had starred in the previous film, whereas here it’s his former classmate from the Haiyuza theatre school, Kei Sato, who may be the most cold-blooded Iemon of them all. This is partly down to the perfectly-cast Sato’s almost reptilian performance, but also the script, as I think this is the only version in which he knows in advance that the poison will disfigure his wife. Iemon is also clearly not haunted by guilt in this one, so the ghosts cannot be interpreted as a manifestation of his conscience. 

 

Sonosuke Sawamura and Sato

Fortunately, Sato is not the sort to overact, although the same cannot be said of certain members of the supporting cast, especially Sonosuke Sawamura, who plays the masseur, Takuetsu. The other major role, of course, is that of Oiwa herself, but though it may be a famous part, in many ways it’s not a very appealing one for an actress – in most versions, Oiwa is initially little more than a doormat for Iemon to wipe his feet upon, then a messy make-up job makes her look hideous and finally she just has to jump out of dark corners as a ghost and cackle maniacally. Despite this, Kinuyo Tanaka and Mariko Okada – both big stars – had played her in the past, but in this case it’s Kazuko Inano, a theatre actress who had made other films but was not a film star. She does a decent enough job here, but it’s Sato’s performance you’ll be more likely to remember. 

 

Kazuko Inano

 

The director of this version was Kazuo Mori, a veteran who had made his first film in 1936 and directed the previously-reviewed Suzakumon (1957) and The Saga of Tanegashima (1968). He was an above-average if not exceptional talent, and his choices here are mostly good ones (although the green fireball spirits that feature in one scene are more cute than scary). The film seems rather murkily photographed, which made me wonder whether the struggling Daiei studios were trying to save on electricity at the time by restricting the lighting available (I had similar thoughts about the studio’s 1968 picture The Pit of Death). On the other hand, this could equally have been an artistic choice, and it is one that would make sense as the story takes place in the days before electric light, In any case, it certainly suits the film, which also benefits from excellent sets and costumes as well as camerawork. 

 

Jun Hamamura pops up as one of Iemon's victims

Perhaps the real star of the show here, though, is the wonderfully atmospheric score by Ichiro Saito, which features a combination of furiously-strummed shamisen, a string section, single bass notes and ominous rumbling sounds, all of which is subtly effective and adds considerably to the feeling of unease. 

 

 

AKA The Oiwa Phantom / The Curse of the Ghost / The Curse of the Night, etc

DVD at Amazon Japan 

English subtitles at Open Subtitles 

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