Viewed on DVD. Restoration = eight (8) stars; subtitles = seven (6) stars; cinematography = four (4) stars. Director Toshio Masuda proves that even a mob-themed movie can be a big bore. The script contains no surprises (what's coming is telegraphed well in advance) and male actors consistently come across as let's-pretend-to-be-gangsters (they need "gangster boot camp" training!). Scenes apparently meant to be exciting are not at all because of poor execution and editing. The Director also allows his cast to double down on hammy histrionics (perhaps to compensate for a weak script and listless direction?). Lead male actor needs dental work (which sometimes distracts from his tough/soft-guy performance as viewer can't help but fixate on this deficiency in close-ups). Leading actress (Mie Kitahara) delivers a knock-out performance (as usual). Score is minimalistic and pedestrian except for the full-orchestra sections which are exceptional, but far too few. Cinematography (wide screen, black and white) and scene lighting are, well, simply terrible. Excessive filtering/fogging of dark scenes sometimes makes it close to impossible to see what's happening. Outdoor daylight scenes are often bleached-out (by being under exposed?) and, hence, hard to look at. Rear-screen projection is consistently crude and patently phony. Subtitles are often too long and flash on screen too briefly to be fully read (unless you are a skilled speed reader!). Translations stray a bit too far from line deliveries. Most signs are translated. Best to avoid this turkey. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Here's another of Nikkatsu noir films, made to compete with the French and American films of the same genre on the Japanese box office (you can sense the inspirations because one of the villains in this film likes to throw in random French phrases here and there a la Del Boy Trotter). Rusty Knife is a directorial debut of Toshio Masuda, who went on to become one of the most popular Nikkatsu directors, and who was also thrown out of a kamikaze training school in 1945 for his anti- militaristic beliefs. The film stars Nikkatsu regulars like Akira Kobayashi, Joe Shishido in a small role, and the Yujiro Ishihara-Mie Kitahara pairing like in the previous film of the Eclipse set, I Am Waiting.Rusty Knife refers to the protagonist, who, like the characters from I Am Waiting, is haunted by his past for he had to murder someone with a knife, and has since been trying to go straight edge. Obviously, these films were very, very studio formula-driven, but Rusty Knife has an advantage at handling this plot point, because much of the hero's characterization takes its roots in the incident, while the characters' pasts in I Am Waiting weren't touched upon in detail. Also, as made clear by the fullscreen-to-NikkatsuScope-widescreen switch between the two films, Rusty Knife is more action-based and flows like a thriller.The movie has a stable plot for the most part, but Mie Kitahara's presence doesn't have much depth, unlike in IAW. Here, her character isn't really that important and the other female character is almost pointless. The bad guys are better done this time, however, the final confrontation is an anti-climactic let-down and it resorts to the age- old cliché "let's just have the villain die by getting run over by a randomly approaching car, instead of giving the protagonist bloodied hands".Rusty Knife has a typical noir plot; not anything special but entertaining. Despite this, the film suffers from severe technical hiccups. Crucial sound effects sometimes aren't heard (truck chase scene), the music is inserted awkwardly (truck chase scene), the fight choreography is bad and the punches obviously don't connect, and the scene where Kobayashi's character drives a motorcycle through the city with his girlfriend is so obviously shot against a studio backdrop, looks very unrealistic, and is truly baffling. I mean, why is it even there?The film opens and closes, much like IAW, with a jazzy tune sung by Yujiro Ishihara, but it doesn't fit the movie's thrill-oriented tone as opposed to IAW's melancholy feel. It just seems out of place here. Overall, Rusty Knife is followable enough, but it truly suffers from its flaws.

I recently have watched several early Japenese film noir projects by director Toshio Masudaand have enjoyed them very much. While I doubt if they'd be considered classics, they are tough little films that pack a lot of entertainment into them. "Sabita Naifu" ("Rusty Knife") is another one of his excellent noir films.--and the first film he directed.The story is set in a relatively new town where the old style Japanese mobsters have taken hold. The problem is that repeatedly witnesses to various mob crimes have refuse to testify--either because of fear of retribution or because of payoffs. Early in the film, the District Attorney thought he had a lead on some witnesses but they are found by the mob first and killed. The only lead the DA now has is a man named Tachibana--who just got out of prison for killing a man who apparently raped his girlfriend (and the girlfriend committed suicide following this assault). Tachibana at first just wants to be left alone--he wants to reform and lead a normal life now. But, when he learns that the man he killed was NOT the only one who raped his girlfriend (it was, he just learned, a gang rape--and the man he killed was NOT the ringleader), he decides to seek justice. To complicated matters is a new friendship he's formed with a nice young lady--and how this actually is related to the rape and suicide is something you'll need to see for yourself.The acting and directing were all very good--direct, brutal and exciting to watch. While I have seen better Japanese noir, it is still very, very good noir and well worth seeing if you like crime films.

There's much to like about this film for noir enthusiasts. Moody characters, flawed protagonists, a great soundtrack, loose women, expert use of shadows to underline the plot, and much, much more. This is one that'll keep you riveted to the end. That said, there's some cheesy stuff as well. In particular plot elements that sometimes pop up rather conveniently take away from an otherwise very neat movie. The dialog can be stiff although some of that may be a result of the translation from the Japanese. Some sound effects, or rather their absence left me wondering. For example in the chase scene it looked as if the trucks were smashing each other yet there was no sound of the crash, just of the racing engines. In fight scenes the punches weren't always accompanied by the sound of a punch, or you could hear one but see no punch. Finally the choreography of the fight scenes left much to be desired. People flew around without being touched and punches were thrown that obviously did not connect. The studio should have taken lessons from Hollywood about staging fights. But all in all, a fine movie that also reunites two fine actors, Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara, who two years earlier starred in "Crazed Fruit".