Underworld Beauty (1958) directed by Seijun Suzuki A dark look at the yakuza underworld, where a boyfriend will cut the stones out his freshly dead girlfriend's brother just to get rich!
Miyamoto (Michitaro Mizushima) upon being released from jail, retrieves three diamonds from a robbery that put him there, only to tell the yakuza boss he's giving them to his partner, who lost a leg in the crime, kept his mouth shut, and is living in poverty. They're not keen on that idea. The beauty here is Akiko (Mari Shiraki), his partner's younger sister, who's more interested in partying and posing nude for a local mannequin maker, who she also dates.
The sets are impressive, the blacks are as jarring as I've ever seen them in a B&W film, and Suzuki moves this crime noir along at a pretty steady pace, already showing some of his interesting touches. His juxtaposition between the young teens dancing at the soda shop and the dark world of the yakuza is interesting... the pure joy and sexuality in their behavior against everyone trying to get their hands on the diamonds in their miserable dark spaces...
It's not a film without it's flaws - at times it looks so good, it's easy to forget it was put together cheaply and quickly, but it's worth seeing especially for an early look at Suzuki's work.
Miyamoto (Michitaro Mizushima) upon being released from jail, retrieves three diamonds from a robbery that put him there, only to tell the yakuza boss he's giving them to his partner, who lost a leg in the crime, kept his mouth shut, and is living in poverty. They're not keen on that idea. The beauty here is Akiko (Mari Shiraki), his partner's younger sister, who's more interested in partying and posing nude for a local mannequin maker, who she also dates.
The sets are impressive, the blacks are as jarring as I've ever seen them in a B&W film, and Suzuki moves this crime noir along at a pretty steady pace, already showing some of his interesting touches. His juxtaposition between the young teens dancing at the soda shop and the dark world of the yakuza is interesting... the pure joy and sexuality in their behavior against everyone trying to get their hands on the diamonds in their miserable dark spaces...
It's not a film without it's flaws - at times it looks so good, it's easy to forget it was put together cheaply and quickly, but it's worth seeing especially for an early look at Suzuki's work.