The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen
1938 · Movie · 73 min. · Japan
Sumiko Suzuki plays Mitsue, the possessive onna-kabuki actress betrothed to apprentice shamisen player Seijiro. One day Okiyo, a beautiful young girl of samurai class, is led to Seijiro’s house by his lost cat Kuro, and becomes besotted with him. Dark jealous passions are invoked in Mitsue, which are intensified when Seijiro gives Okiyo his precious shamisen. The cat is the first to suffer at the end of Mitsue’s hairpin, but returns from the grave to assist Okiyo’s younger sister Onui avenge her sister’s murder. Director Kiyohiko Ushihara employs an arsenal of dark double exposures, slow motion sequences and specially-developed lenses to convey this dark, uncanny tale.
Direction Kiyohiko Ushihara
Cast Tokusaburo Arashi · Shinpachiro Asaka · Yaeko Asano · Yuriko Asano · Junzaburo Ban · Mitsuko Gun · Matsuko Hidaka · Yasumasa Jitsukawa · Taisuke Matsumoto · Matsuko Miho · Yukiko Miyagawa · Mitsuko Mori · Shizuko Mori · Shozo Nanbu · Eigoro Onoe · Fujiko Suwa · Sumiko Suzuki · Masako Takamatsu · Hiroko Takayama · Mitsugu Terashima · Yoshiko Tomei · Yôko Umemura · Kinue Utagawa · Eiko Wakaba
Screenplay Kenji Hata
Cinematography Takenori Takahashi
Original title Kaibyô nazo no shamisen
—
Not rated (FilmAffinity)
Add to lists
Share