An Actor's Revenge (1963)

Yukinojo, a Kabuki actor, seeks revenge by destroying the three men who caused the deaths of his parents. Also involved are the daughter of one of Yukinojo's targets, two master thieves, and a swordsman who himself is out to kill Yukinojo.

Director:

Kon Ichikawa

Writers:

Otokichi Mikami (newspaper serial), Daisuke Itô (screenplay)

Stars:

Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kazuo Hasegawa	...	Yukinojo Nakamura / Yamitaro the Thief
Fujiko Yamamoto	...	Ohatsu
Ayako Wakao	...	Namiji
Eiji Funakoshi	...	Heima Kadokura
Narutoshi Hayashi	...	Mukuzu
Eijirô Yanagi	...	Hiromi-ya
Chûsha Ichikawa	...	Kikunojo Nakamura
Ganjirô Nakamura	...	Sansai Dobe
Yutaka Nakayama	...	Townsman
Chitose Maki	...	Townswoman
Toshio Chiba	...	Ronin
Kôichi Mizuhara	...	Dobe's Man
Saburô Date	...	Kawaguchi-ya
Shirô Ôtsuji	...	Civil Guardsman
Jun Hamamura	...	Isshosai

Storyline

While performing in a touring kabuki troupe, leading female impersonator Yukinojo comes across the three men who drove his parents to suicide twenty years earlier, and plans his revenge, firstly by seducing the daughter of one of them, secondly by ruining them...

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Plot Keywords:

kabuki | year 1836 | love | kimono | japan | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally designed as a tribute to actor Kazuo Hasegawa, whose 300th film this was. The film was based Teinosuke Kinugasa's Yukinojô henge: Daiippen dainihen (1935) which also starred Hasegawa in the same dual role.

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Connections

Version of Yukinojô henge: Daiippen dainihen (1935)

User Reviews

There are some truly beautiful scenes here

There are some truly beautiful scenes here, particularly the marvellous use of widescreen in the colourful kabuki sequences and Kazuoha Segawa is faultless in the duel central role. He plays dressed as a woman on the stage but seems also to live out his life this way and he also plays his thieving side-kick. Apparently played for laughs throughout it is difficult for a non Japanese to fully appreciate much of the subtlety and Shakespearean style play on words. Indeed, for me, the whole is rather too mannered and stagey. There is much blurring between stage and 'real life' which some find charming but I tend to find rather confusing and lifeless.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

16 June 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

An Actor's Revenge

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daiei Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1