Ghost Stories From Japan

 

(tmdb.org)

KWAIDAN-1965-"The Black Hair"- A samurai (Rentaro Mikuni) abandons his devoted wife (Michiyo Aratama; CHUSHINGURA (1962)) and marries into a noble family just to gain a position. Finding his new bride (Misako Watanabe; SAMURAI SPY (1969)) to be cold and self-possessed, he realizes too late he still loves his first wife and misses their life together. Eventually, he returns to her. Everything seems the same until….

"The Woman of The Snow"-Woodcutters Mosaku and his apprentice Minokuchi (Tatsuya Nakadai; later the star of FACE OF ANOTHER (1964)) are caught in a blizzard. They find shelter in a hut. They are visited at night by a mysterious eerie woman in white who kills Mosaku but allows the young man to live provided he never tells anyone of their encounter. Later he meets Yuki and they marry and raise a family. Then one night he tells Yuki about his encounter…

"Hoichi the Earless"-The battle of Don-no-ura is a great battle sequence. Hoichi, a blind biwa player lives at a temple with several other attendants. One night he is visited by a mysterious samurai who says his master wants to hear Hoichi play. He goes with the samurai every night but refuses to say where. He won't even tell his master (Takashi Shimura; in GHIDORAH the same year). He also appears to be growing paler. When Hoichi leaves during a storm, 3 attendants follow him. It turns out Hoichi has been playing his biwa in a graveyard to the spirits of dead warriors. There's more though…This also features a great battle of Don-no-ura sequence.

"In a Cup of Tea"-A writer relates a story that has no ending. Sekini, a samurai guarding a lord, sees the face of a mysterious man in his teacup. Later that night he is visited by the same man who appears to be a ghost. When he tells the other guards, they laugh at him. Later he duels 3 ghosts who are attendants of the other man. Sekini seems to beat them but there the story ends. The writer's publisher comes to visit him. He and the landlady find the writer trapped in a large jug of water.

 (imdb)

This is director Masaki Kobayashi's (THE HUMAN CONDITION series) only foray into the realm of Japanese ghost stories. It's an excellent anthology but some “western” audiences might find it too slow moving. The stories come from a 1904 book by Lafcadio Hearn, an author born on a Greek island, who had a hardscrabble childhood, lived in several countries (including the US) but settled in Japan permanently in 1890.

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Mothra

MOTHRA-1961-A group of scientists, photog Michi (Kyoko Kagawa) and Bulldog (Furanki Sakai), a stowaway reporter go to investigate an island they thought was deserted after learning of an A-bomb testing by the nation of Rolisca (stand in for the USA). They discover “Shobijin” two tiny ladies who save Dr. Chujo (Hiroshi Koizumi) from some killer plants. An evil guy named Neruson (Jerry Ito) tries to capture the duo and natives surround the group. They leave but Neruson comes back, kidnaps the little pair and takes them to Japan where he plans to exploit them. Bad move. They sing a song about Mothra who eventually comes to Japan as a giant caterpillar. When the army fails to kill it, Mothra spins a cocoon and becomes the colorful winged giant moth. Neruson is killed and the girls are returned to their island. Bulldog's editor is played by the great Takeshi Shimura.

 Ishiro Honda directed and did his usual great job despite a restricted budget. It was the first entry in a new Kaiju series that would eventually rival Godzilla in popularity in Japan. The J-pop duo “The Peanuts” played the little ladies (they were really twin sisters).

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More Japan

OSAKA ELEGY-1936-Ayako (Isuzu Yamada; later in films by Kurosawa), a young woman who works as a phone operator for big pharmaceutical company lives with her younger sister and deadbeat father who'd been caught embezzling money from the company he used to work for. To raise the money to pay back the company, she leaves home and reluctantly becomes her boss's mistress. After the boss's wife catches them together a couple of times they break up. An ex-office co-worker Susumu wants to marry her but instead she becomes the mistress to another married man and sends money to her self-serving brother but her father steals it for himself. So she and Susumu can get married she tricks another married man into giving her money but he calls the cops and has her arrested. Dumped by her intended and ostracized by her stupid family Ayako goes off by herself (to prostitution? homelessness? a better life?). 

Interesting, well acted and directed early film (and first hit) from Japan's Kenji Mizoguchi (UGETSU, SANSHO THE BAILIFF). Takashi Shimura, the character actor later in GODZILLA and many films by Kurosawa has a small role.

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