, also known as ''Revenge of a Kabuki Actor'', is a 1963 Japanese film directed by

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won t ...

, based on a novel by Otokichi Mikami.

Plot

Japan in the late

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

: Three men — Sansai Dobe, Kawaguchiya and Hiromiya — are responsible for the suicide of seven-year-old Yukitarō's mother and father. Yukitarō is adopted and brought up by Kikunojō Nakamura, the actor-manager of an

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

troupe. The adult Yukitarō becomes an

onnagata , also , are male actors who play female roles in kabuki theatre. It originated in 1629 after women were banned from performing in kabuki performances. There are many specific techniques that actors must learn to master the role of ''onnagata'' ...

, a male actor who plays female roles, taking the stage name Yukinojō. He wears women's clothes and uses the language and mannerisms of a woman offstage as well as on. Twenty years later, the troupe pays a visit to

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

, where the men responsible for his parents' deaths now live. Yukinojō brings about their deaths, then, having achieved his goal, and apparently overcome by the death of an innocent woman who was part of his schemes but whom he became fond of, retires from the stage and disappears. The events are coolly observed and sardonically commented on by the Robin-Hood-like thief Yamitarō.

Cast

Kazuo Hasegawa , formerly known by his stage names and , was a Japanese film and stage actor. He appeared in over 300 films from 1927 to 1963. Career Born to a sake brewing family in Kyoto, he first appeared on stage at age five in a theater run by his famil ...

as Yukinojō Nakamura and Yamitarō *

Fujiko Yamamoto (born 11 December 1931) is a Japanese stage, film and television actress. She was the winner of the first Miss Nippon Grand Prix in 1950, and appeared in over 100 films between 1953 and 1963, including works by directors Yasujirō Ozu, Kon Ichik ...

as Ohatsu *

Ayako Wakao is a Japanese actress who was one of the country's biggest stars of the 20th century. Biography Wakao began her career contracted to Daiei Studios in 1951 as part of the fifth "New Face" group. She has gone on to appear in over 100 feature film ...

as Namiji * Raizō Ichikawa as Hirutarō *

Shintarō Katsu was a Japanese actor, singer, and filmmaker. He is known for starring in the ''Akumyo'' series, the ''Hoodlum Soldier'' series, and the ''Zatoichi'' series. Life and career Born Toshio Okumura (奥村利夫 ''Okumura Toshio'') on 29 Novemb ...

as Hōjin, the escaped convict *

Eiji Funakoshi was a Japanese actor. He received the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actor and the Mainichi Film Concours for Best Actor for his performance in '' Fires on the Plain''. Biography Born Eijirō Funakoshi on 17 March 1923, in Tokyo, Eiji Funakoshi ...

as Heima Kadokura * Chūsha Ichikawa as Kikunojō Nakamura * Narutoshi Hayashi as Mukuzu *

Nakamura Ganjirō II was a Japanese kabuki and film actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1941 and 1980, directed by notable filmmakers such as Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Akira Kurosawa, and Mikio Naruse. Lineage Born into a renowned Kabuki acting ...

as Sansai Dobe *

Saburō Date was a Japanese actor. In 1945, he signed a contract with Daiei Film company and started his acting career. Following year, he made his film debut with ''Okagura Kyōdai'' directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. At the same time, he was given the stage nam ...

as Kawaguchiya *

Eijirō Yanagi (16 September 1895 – 24 April 1984) was a Japanese stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 160 films from 1940 to 1975. Career A graduate of Ikubunkan Junior High School, Tokyo, Yanagi gave his stage debut at the Yutakuza theatre i ...

as Hiromiya *

Jun Hamamura was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 1995. Selected filmography * ''Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and Nor ...

as Isshōsai * Toshio Chiba as Rōnin * Masayoshi Kikuno as Yukinojō’s father * Kōichi Mizuhara as Dobe’s retainer * Shirō Ōtsuji as First Constable * Tokio Oki as Second Constable * Michirō Minami as First Townsman * Yutaka Nakamura as Second Townsman * Chitose Maki as Townswoman * Eigorō Onoe as The Shōgun *

Musei Tokugawa was a Japanese ''benshi'', actor, raconteur, essayist, and radio and television personality. Career Musei (as he was called) first came to prominence as a ''benshi'', a narrator of films during the silent era in Japan. He was celebrated for h ...

as Narrator

Production

Mikami's novel had been adapted for the screen numerous times before, the first time by

Teinosuke Kinugasa was a Japanese filmmaker and actor. His best-known films include the Silent film, silent Experimental film, avant-garde films ''A Page of Madness'' and ''Crossroads (1928 film), Crossroads'' and the Academy Awards, Academy Award-winning historic ...

(1935–36), which also starred Kazuo Hasegawa. The 1963 version was Hasegawa's 300th role as a film actor, who plays both Yukinojō and thief Yamitarō. The screenplay was written by director Ichikawa's wife,

Natto Wada , also known as Natsuto Wada, was a Japanese script writer and film columnist. Career Wada graduated with an English degree from Tokyo Women's College in 1946. She started her career at the Fujimoto Cinema Production company, where she met her ...

, based on Kinugasa's 1935 and Daisuke Itō's 1939 dramatisations.

Yoshinobu Nishioka was a Japanese ''jidaigeki'' production designer, art director, Film producer, producer and set decorator from Asuka, Nara, Asuka, Nara Prefecture who won three Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction. Nishioka join ...

served as art director. The voice-over narration was provided by famous

benshi were Japanese performers who provided live narrator, narration for silent films (both Japanese films and Western world, Western films). ''Benshi'' are sometimes called or . Role The earliest films available for public display were produced by W ...

Musei Tokugawa.

References

External links

* *
DVD Times review

''An Actor’s Revenge and a Director’s Triumph''
an essay by

Michael Sragow Michael Sragow (born June 26, 1952) is an American film critic and columnist who has written for ''The Orange County Register'', ''The Baltimore Sun'', ''Film Comment'', the ''San Francisco Examiner'', ''The New Times'', ''The New Yorker'' (where ...

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Actor's Revenge 1963 films 1963 drama films Japanese drama films 1960s Japanese-language films Films about actors Japanese films about revenge Films about Kabuki Daiei Film films Films directed by Kon Ichikawa Films with screenplays by Natto Wada Films produced by Masaichi Nagata 1960s Japanese films Japanese-language drama films