Rusty Knife (1958) Sabita naifu (original title)

Director:

Toshio Masuda

Writers:

Shintarô Ishihara (screenplay)
Shintarô Ishihara (story)
(more)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot:

Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata...

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Ward | District Attorney | Daughter | Rape

Cast

Yûjirô Ishihara	...	Yukihiko Tachibana
Mie Kitahara	...	Keiko Nishida
Shôji Yasui	...	Prosecutor Karita
Mari Shiraki	...	Yuri
Jô Shishido	...	Shimabara
Akira Kobayashi	...	Makoto Terada
Masao Shimizu	...	Shingo Mano
Naoki Sugiura	...	Seiji Katsumata
Toshio Takahara	...	Takaishi
Shigeru Amachi

Directed by
Toshio Masuda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shintarô Ishihara		screenplay
Shintarô Ishihara		story
Toshio Masuda		writer

Produced by
Takiko Mizunoe	....	producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Kuratarô Takamura		(as Kurataro Takamura)

Film Editing by
Masanori Tsujii

Sound Department
Fumio Hashimoto	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Mitsuo Onishi	....	lighting

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD) (subtitled)
• Nikkatsu

Also Known As:

"Sabita naifu" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

Japan:90 min | USA:90 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Company:

Nikkatsu

Soundtrack:

Rusty Knife

Fine Japanese noir

There's much to like about this film for noir enthusiasts. Moody characters, flawed protagonists, a great soundtrack, loose women, expert use of shadows to underline the plot, and much, much more. This is one that'll keep you riveted to the end. That said, there's some cheesy stuff as well. In particular plot elements that sometimes pop up rather conveniently take away from an otherwise very neat movie. The dialog can be stiff although some of that may be a result of the translation from the Japanese. Some sound effects, or rather their absence left me wondering. For example in the chase scene it looked as if the trucks were smashing each other yet there was no sound of the crash, just of the racing engines. In fight scenes the punches weren't always accompanied by the sound of a punch, or you could hear one but see no punch. Finally the choreography of the fight scenes left much to be desired. People flew around without being touched and punches were thrown that obviously did not connect. The studio should have taken lessons from Hollywood about staging fights. But all in all, a fine movie that also reunites two fine actors, Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara, who two years earlier starred in "Crazed Fruit".