The Thief in Black
Year: 1964
Director: Inoue
Umetsugu
Rating: 7.0
I have been a fan of the Hong Kong films
of Inoue Umetsugu ever since seeing his musical Hong Kong Rhapsody made in
1968. Run Run Shaw had brought him over from Japan the previous year to direct
King Drummer, a remake of his Japanese film Man Who Causes a Storm (1957).
Both are musicals which is what Umetsugu specialized in with his Hong Kong
films - a few others I understand are remakes as well. But not only musicals
- he directed the fun spy films, The Brain Stealers and Operation Lipstick;
the sophisticated caper tale The Venus Tear Drop, the thriller The 5 Billion
Dollar Legacy but he is remembered for his lavish musicals. He brought gloss
with him and his films just have a distinct look to them that other Shaw
films are missing. Back in Japan he was a successful director beginning in
the 1950's and while he was directing 17 films for the Shaws from 1967 to
1972, he was also directing back in his homeland - which might explain why
a few of his films shift locations to Japan. But I have always been curious
about his Japanese output and I finally tracked down one of them - The Thief
in Black from 1964.
But it is a ninja film! And they don't
dance or sing! I was hoping for a musical though certainly the DVD cover
didn't hint at it at all. There is a lot of ninja stuff going on though -
even having the legendary Hanzo Hattori as a side character. I would characterize
this as a light action film - there is a lot of it but the overall feel of
the film is not really serious in mood with no graphic violence and humor
popping out from time to time like Ninjas do. For its 95 minutes of running
time it is a swirl of activity, characters and historical plot so that you
want to slow it down and ask who was that guy again, what is his relation
to the Shogun and why do those two characters look so much alike. It took
me a while to figure out who was who and who were the good and bad guys.
It doesn't help that they are all in period costume and the women in particular
with the same hairstyle always confused me. But for a Umetsugu film the woman
are very secondary.
After a lengthy war between factions, the
Tokugawa have come out on top and they are building Edo (Tokyo) into their
future capital - with the Emperor still residing in Kyoto. After they finish
the Edo Castle, the powers that be decide to kill the five architects that
have the building plans and know all the secret ins and outs of sneaking
in and out of the castle. A man in a black mask known as Kuro-no-tozoku (Hashizo
Okawa) who the people compare to Robin Hood in the subs - hard to imagine
they knew of him but you never know - as he robs from the rich and gives
to . . . his clan. But in the midst of this another black clad Kuro-no-tozoku
shows up to help. Ninja Power!
It gets a bit helter-skelter as Jiro who
is a retainer of the Shogun looks just like the Black Thief and also is on
the side of the oppressed. When the real Black Thief has to elude chasers
he goes into a brothel where the owner tells him to use the Art of Joton
- hiding inside a woman's body - hey I am a ninja too! Turns out there is
a backstory to all of this and the two begin taking each other's place -
much to the pleasure of the fiancé of the real Thief who prefers the
new gentler model. As I mentioned before Hanzo shows up - hired to catch
the thief but Umetsugu for whatever reason portrays him a s total bumbler.
Sonny Chiba would not be pleased. It all flies by quickly and looks good
on the screen. Just no dancing.
