Bride of White Castle
Director: Tadashi Sawahima
Year:
1961
Rating: 6.5
Okimi is a dreamer. An orphan weaver in medieval
Japan, she has heard a once upon a time tale of the Lord of Hakabu Castle
meeting a commoner and taking her to be his wife. She thinks it may happen
to her. She also sings quite well being played by Hibari Misora and we get
a few tunes through the film. A few fantasy ones which struck me as Bollywood
influenced. I wonder if Bollywood had penetrated Japan by 1961? A couple
others feel like Cugat was leading the band. She tells her elderly neighbor,
"I can't live without a dream", to which he replies "We, old people, don't
have dreams". She is also not the brightest bulb in the village and so when
three men hide in her hut from the police, they are able to persuade her
that Kozo is a Lord being chased by the evil governor. He has in fact just
stolen a box with 1,000 Ryo within from Hakabu Castle and has hidden it in
a shrine. Kozo is played by future superstar Kôji Tsuruta. He is the
leader of his small gang of misfits who are more comical than menacing.
Okimi tells them that she will get the box
of money and bring it to them - but by the time she has, they have had to
go on the run. And she runs after them. They are thrilled to get the box
and all four go to Edo where they immediately lose Okimi intentionally. "Boss,
we could have sold her and made a fortune". "I am not that bad a guy". When
they open the box, it has nothing but rocks in it and they jump to the conclusion
that Okimi did the switch. She gets help from a small food vendor played
by Isao Yamagata and for a while I was thinking he was a good guy for a change
but no. There is a lot of chasing, running, fighting, singing, crying and
Okimi missing her Lord who is also missing her. Will these two ever get together?
Will he ever tell her the truth about who he really is? Tune in next week
to find out.
