Retrospective: Inoue Umetsugu
Washi to taka
Dir. Inoue Umetsugu
Japan 1957, 115’
Subtitles: Polish & English
In Inoue’s follow-up to The Winner, Yujiro Ishihara plays a seaman who joins the crew of a rusty cargo ship to avenge himself on his father’s enemy. Also on board is another new hand with a secret, played by a buff, shirtless Rentaro Mikuni. Ishihara’s bad attitude immediately gets him into trouble with the crew, which he escapes with his fists. He finds an unlikely ally in Mikuni, who has reason to dislike and distrust him. Ishihara also attracts the attention of the two women on board, a sultry stowaway and the captain’s high-spirited daughter—played by Ruriko Asaoka—who has already been claimed by the short-fused first mate.
The story, which Inoue first scripted when he was still an assistant director, does not play out in obvious ways, just as Ishihara’s character is hard to classify. He is neither a heartless toughie nor a pure-minded exemplar, but something new to Japanese films: a dirty hero with his own sense of justice and a way with song.
Inoue shot nearly the entire film aboard a real WWII cargo ship in Tokyo Bay, halting only when a typhoon threatened to send his ship, cast and crew to the bottom. The real pitching, rolling, and spray of seawater he captured add to the air of danger, excitement and, in the scenes of a cocky Ishihara singing to a wary-but-fascinated Asaoka, erotic tension. - Adapted from Mark Schilling in Asia Sings! A Survey of Asian Musical Films.
Awards and Festivals
Blue Ribbon Awards 1958 Winner Blue Ribbon Award
Inoue Umetsugu
Inoue Umetsugu (1923-2010) was a Japanese film director and scriptwriter. He directed 115 movies, wrote 101 screenplays, and is credited with the original story for five films. In addition, he worked with all six major Japanese film production companies.His film work extended to Hong Kong, and he did the technical guidance for movies there from 1966 to 1970. The Polish Retrospective is considered a prelude to other Inoue Umetsugu Retrospectives being programmed in order to celebrate the centenary of his birth.
Filmography
1955 Midori Harukani a.k.a The Green Music Box
1960 Shōri to Haiboku
1960 Six Suspects
1961 Gonin no Totsugeki Tai
1967 Hong Kong Nocturne
1967 King Drummer
1967 Operation Lipstick
1968 Hong Kong Rhapsody
1976 Ikare Doku Hebi: Moku Gekisha o Kese a.k.a Cobra
1983 Man Who Causes a Storm
Cast & Crew
Director: Inoue Umetsugu
Screenplay: Inoue Umetsugu
Cinematography: Iwasa Kazumi
Editing: Suzuki Akira
Music: Ōno Tadasuke
Cast: Ishihara Yūjirō, Mikuni Rentarō, Tsukioka Yumeji, Nagato Hiroyuki, Asaoka Ruriko
Producer: Sakagami Shizuo
Production: Nikkatsu
Language: Japanese
Colouration: Colour
