The Inheritance (1962)

Two-hundred million yen is up for grabs in a dying businessman's will. The businessman intends to will it to his 3 illegitimate children, but his associates scheme to take advantage of the situation.

Director:

Masaki Kobayashi

Writers:

Kôichi Inagaki, Norio Nanjo (novel)

Stars:

Keiko Kishi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Sô Yamamura

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keiko Kishi	...	Yasuko
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Kikuo Furukawa
Sô Yamamura	...	Senzô
Seiji Miyaguchi	...	Yoshida (lawyer)
Yûsuke Kawazu	...	Sadao
Mari Yoshimura	...	Mariko aka Mari
Minoru Chiaki	...	Junichi Fujii
Misako Watanabe	...	Rie, Senzô's wife
Osamu Takizawa
Kôji Mitsui
Tôru Abe	...	Detective
Jun Hamamura
Kinzô Shin
Noriko Sengoku
Kin Sugai

Storyline

On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are unknown to his family and colleagues. A bevy of lawyers and associates then begin machinations to procure the money for themselves, enlisting the aid of impostors and blackmail. Yet all are outwitted by the cunning of the man's secretary (Keiko Kishi), in this entertaining condemnation of unchecked greed.

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Plot Keywords:

out of wedlock child | inheritance | based on novel | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

24 February 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Inheritance

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the title credits, the names "Yukio Ninagawa" and "Shinya Mizushima" are listed two times.

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Quotes

Kikuo Furukawa: I've got a favor to ask. It's embarrassing. But a coffin is waiting for me, so I can say this plainly. I don't have any legally recognized children. But I do have children. To top it off, I've got three of them. Some may be dead. But there's no way all three are dead. So I want you to find my children. I don't mean to legally acknowledge them and their heirship right away. Some may have grown up to be scoundrels. But if any of them are suitable, I'd like to add them as heirs.

User Reviews

A deliciously dark game

In this morally black play for money everyone are wearing fake faces, and I must say, though it is based on a book, it's rare plot is so original that you can never guess where it is going. A wealthy businessman is dying of cancer, and his much younger wife in a loveless union is expecting to get everything, but the man reveals that he in fact has 3 illegitimate children - as investigators attempts to find them and plots are being hatched out from all angles tension grows.

Described as a drama this feels much more like a thriller. Some might have a problem with the lack of essentially any "likeable" and "good" characters (in that case this probably isn't for you), but if you seeing the darkest corners of humanity put on display this might even put a smile on your face. Yes, there is a certain level of dark glee in seeing these treacherous characters put on acts, switch on their game faces and play everyone else for a fool - and the game only becomes more and more exciting as each pawn is placed. Made in the middle of Kobayashi's golden stretch it's a shock that such a strong entry is not more acknowledged. 8.5/10.