"Blueprint of Murder", 1961 movie review part two

 

 Release Date: January 3, 1961  Length: 73 minutes   Subbed by Opensubs

Director: Kiachi Okamoto, though not too busy after 1980 he directed his final film in 2002

Screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa who mainly wrote Sci-fi films such as Mothra and Varan

 Second film in a row that starred Yuzo Kayama, I really liked him in "Sun Above, Death Below" and while a fine actor was known more for his music. He still performs on occasion these days but is 87 in age so of course not too often, he was 23 when this film was released and think it was his first starring role. Do recommend checking out Yuzo's Ja.wiki page and what a long and interesting career he's had. As you can tell by the title there was a murder which was the key storyline but there was another theme. Which was of Industrial Espionage which I don't think is a common genre. The following year "Black Test Car" was released and it did have the same theme, I enjoyed that movie more than this one and a bit further down have the trailer for that film.

 Don't know if there are many other movies with a Industrial Espionage storyline, sure there are but I'm not aware of them so drop a comment if you know of more of these from Japan. The Blueprint in the title refers to plans for a new car design created by the character of Komatsu. For a change don't have much to add in about the film in this section though it does star a few medium sized faves of mine such as Kumi Mizuno and what an attractive woman she was, just wish her role was slightly larger but will get to more of her movies in the future. **** Though just a 73 minute movie I bet more took place in this one than a film being twice as long!!!! It was hard to believe how much happened as there was rarely even a two second pause to allow us viewers to catch our breath! For such a short movie there were many main characters as most below had a decent amount of screen time. Will get to all the major details but not all the others as so much did take place which I guess could be considered a positive.

Yuzo Kayama as Jiro Kusaka.... Though he had the lead role seems as there were a few others with almost as much screen time. Jiro was am instructor at a Whaling Training Center, a place where he taught others how to hunt Whales though it wasn't an important part of the story. Jiro's older brother Ichiro was a test car driver and had died in an accident, his boss Komatsu who is above felt it was no accident but murder! So Jiro rushed back to Tokyo from his seaside school, it wasn't his intention but with his best friend Ken Sudo worked to solve the mystery of Ichiro's death. He doesn't look al that strong but Jiro was one tough fighter and had attended a university where he met the next character.

Masaru Sato as Ken Sudo.... This is an actor who I've always liked and was so superb in the "Akai Meiro" drama from 1974-75 which was recapped a few months back. In this film he played the role of Ken Sudo who was the owner of a struggling weekly tabloid called True World. Sudo was also its main reporter and had attended university with Jiro but they hadn't seen each other for a year. Sudo could be a bit of a clown though when the chips were down was very serious, he did love to drink and was helping his pal Jiro with the mystery of Ichiro's death.... or should I say murder! In the second screenshot is Sudo's only other True World worker who was Naomi, we didn't see her too often.

Ichiro Nakatani as Shizuo Komatsu.... Owner and main engineer of Komatsu Motors, he was the person Jiro's brother Ichiro was a test driver for. Komatsu was a very decent man and was the first to say Ichiro's death was a murder and not an accident. Many companies had been trying to buy and then steal Komatsu's new plans for a car but he won't sell, it's where the angle of Industrial Espionage comes into play. His company does have a plant on site for developing plans and such but the main  factory is somewhere else. The biggest storyline was two rival gangs trying to steal Komatsu's new car design, at the end what a trick he pulled on a gangster group who stole his fake plan! Komatsu's assistant was his younger sister Kyoko who we didn't see too often but was one cutie!

Tatsuya Mihashi as Azuma.... Detective on the Ichiro Kusaka case, at first he thought it was an accident as it had occurred at a dangerous mountain curve. But then the evidence began to build up plus there was one more killing so Azuma began to believe he did have a murder case. He was a smart man who allowed Jiro and Sudo to work privately on the case.

Seizaburo Kawazu as Yusaku Otori.... Owner of the Goei Economic Reporting Agency which was actually a criminal organization. He tried to buy the new car plans from Komatsu, when that failed he had Ichiro killed so while not a killer was the man puling all of the strings. Otori's business had made many shady deals which paid off well for his Yakuza clients though at the end he was the target of another rival gang.

 Naoya Kusakawa as Maekawa.... Main economic advisor for Otori's company and what a slimy man he turned out to be! Maekawa also had ties to the unnamed group the next character Shiman led and at the end turned traitor to his main boss Otori. Maekawa did appear to be a wimpish man as he was no fighter but did play a role in the death of Ichiro Kusaka and also tried to kill his brother Jiro.

Tadao Nakamura as Akira Shiman.... Think the name is really Shima but the subs added on the N. Nakamura is a well known face to me as he's appeared in so many older Yakuza movies, he always played a gangster but often had some class to him. Shiman's gang was unnamed but he too was like Otori as he tried to buy the plans for Komatsu's new car, when that failed stealing was his only option. Later on Shiman's goons did kidnap Otori along with Sudo but both escaped by the skin of their teeth.

 Mickey Curtis as Miki(!).... The main henchman for Otori though was friends with Sudo who he did help out at the end. That's him on the right below, Curtis was another long time veteran of movies and his father was from England but his mother was Japanese and Japan is where he was born.

 Ko Mishima as Ichiro Kusaka.... Jiro's older brother and though he died in the first five minutes he was the key to the movie. Ichiro was a test driver for Komatsu Motors and had been killed while doing a test drive on a mountain road, at first it was ruled an accident but according to Komatsu it was murder! Shiman had tried blackmailing Ichiro to steal the blueprints for this new car, when Ichiro wouldn't be was killed! By a thug named Fusakichi who had used the alias name of Boshu, shortly after he too was murdered so he wouldn't rat out Shiman and his gang! Ichiro is in the first screenshot, Fusakichi is in the second.

 

Yukiko Shimazaki as ????.... She was a singer at the Palason club owned by Shiman, not a huge amount of screen time but enough so it was odd her name was never uttered once! So will use her real name of Yukiko in the review, at the time this film came out she was 29 in age and besides being an actress she was also a popular singer. In the movie Yukiko did play a spy who worked for a Hong Kong group, she too was planning on stealing the designs for Komatsu's new car and the plan was a solid one. However it didn't pan out and a small gripe from me is what happened to Yukiko(?)as she had been waiting for the stolen plans to be delivered to her at Haneda Airport. That didn't happen but we never did learn what Yukiko had ended up doing along with her three henchmen who are in the background of the first screenshot.

 Kumi Mizuno as Tomi.... Hostess at the Palason nightclub and also was friends with Sudo. Not enough screen time for Tomi but she was a bit of a key character towards the end

 Didn't add in the character of Nonoka who is mentioned in the above screenshot, I was a bit confused about him but he wasn't too important to the story as he didn't get a lot of screen time but his small gang was mentioned many times. Did say this movie had an Industrial Espionage theme and wonder if there are more in this vein? This film came out in 1961, the following year "Black Test Car" was released and as good as this movie was the other was much better. As a matter of fact it's one of my top ten films from the 1960's, it also had to deal with a new car and its designs trying to be stolen. But the espionage angle was so much more intense in that movie, this one had some lighthearted moments but "Black Test Car" never did, I give that film one of my highest recommendations to date!!!! Know not many buy DVDs these days but it is worth getting, I have it and surprised it still plays after so many views! Wish it had more special features but of course sixty years ago who would have known how fast technology such as videos would advance, below is a terrific trailer for the movie which is subbed in English.

 

 Won't add in anything else into this intro which is rare for me, as I'm writing this up have gone over two days without a regular post and need to be like this new car in the film and get my speed just a bit higher. Have reviewed about a dozen films since July and doing these kinds of posts had really slowed down for no good reason. Up next will be a few posts for a 1970's Sentai series but will also be having a few more movie reviews soon too. Out of these recent dozen would say eight were solid watches, a pair were very superb and two were just so-so but still worth viewing. This film would be in that group of eight and there were really no complaints from me about anything though perhaps too much was crammed into73 minutes and still am not sure about a few details. If you love action this had plenty of it plus a solid story line though was just thinking more of the story could have been focused on the Industrial Espionage angle and it was easy to miss why so many people wanted to steal this new car's designs but all in all what a fun flick this was.

 Briefly have some details here to let all know where we stand at the halfway point of this film. Komatsu Motors had developed a new car that can obtain higher speeds than most other autos and would also use less fuel. That's a boon for consumers but not for Oil companies who would see their profits fall. The owner Komatsu refused any of the low offers he had received for his designs, his top test driver Ichiro Kusaka had even been murdered when he wouldn't be blackmailed and steal the plans for the new car. Returning to Tokyo had been Ichiro's younger brother Jiro, along with his close friend Ken Sudo were trying to discover who killed Ichiro.

 The police at first ruled the death was an accident but the main detective on the case Azuma now realized it was murder, he's done a wise thing in allowing Jiro and Sudo to do their own investigating. The three gangsters who had been planning to steal Komatsu's new car designs were Otori who owned a fraudulent economic company that helps the Yakuza launder their money. There's also a thug named Shiman who is the leader of a small gang plus is the owner of the Palason nightclub .A popular singer at the club is named Yukiko, she too has plans to nab the car designs and worked for a Hong Kong syndicate. That's where we currently stand in the movie but sure you read the above post, writing the above up helps me immensely as I did take a long break after part one and it jogs my memory. For only a 73 minute movie there were many main characters, at least ten but all did have some decent screen time. Five didn't in the first half but all become important to the story in this second part of the review such as the man on the right in the first screenshot.

 His name in the film was Miki and what a sly devil he was. Miki was the main assistant to Otori and didn't call him a henchman as Miki wasn't a fighter nor carried a gun but did odd jobs for Otori such as planting bugs in offices and finding out info, more on him towards the end. That will also be the case of the man in the second screenshot who was even more devilish than Miki and whose name was Maekawa. He was the top advisor for Otori's fraudulent economic company and he was smart enough where he didn't have to resort to crime and could have made a name for himself at an honest company. Maekawa was also a traitor as he worked for a rival of Otori's named Shiman, one thing they had in common was trying to steal Komatsu's new car designs and Maekawa was helping both! The third person trying to nab the plans is in the bottom screenshot above, she's a popular singer at the Palason club Shiman owns and her name was Yukiko. We learned during that call Yukiko was working for an unnamed Hong Kong syndicate, the plan she came up with to steal the car designs was the best though in the end she didn't obtain them and neither did anyone else. The man above wearing a hat and talking about Industrial Espionage was the detective Azuma who was still working on the Ichiro Kusaka case. To me Azuma seemed like a decent and competent man who wasn't the hero at the end but wasn't far off from solving the crime(s) and may have saved the lives of the two main heroes.

 Also above with more screen time in the second half of the film was a hostess at the Palason club named Tomi. We only saw her for about a minute in the first post but Tomi was semi important to what will take place. As mentioned in the first post Tomi was played by Kumi Mizuno and how I wish I had a time machine to travel backwards and to have met her!!!! Tomi knew the reporter and Jiro's best friend Sudo well and was telling him how Otori had driven her father to commit suicide many years before and wanted revenge! Thar was the first Sudo had heard of her father Wada dying and above Sudo did confront Otori with the story. Which of course Otori denied but soon confessed, if he doesn't want to see Sudo write a story about it in his True World tabloid then he had better fork over a million yen! That would save Sudo's company from folding, then he would give the rest to Tomi which would still be quite a hefty amount. After that confrontation with Otori Sudo told Tomi what to expect but she also had a woeful tale for Sudo.... Wada wasn't her father! Tomi had known his daughter which is how she learned of the story which was a true one as Otori was responsible for a man named Wada killing himself, Tomi was going to pass herself off as the Wada daughter but in the end run that never took place.

 Up until now we've met so many characters but it was easy enough to keep track of who was who. But will admit that so much took place in these final 25 minutes I was confused at times and even looking at the screenshots hasn't cleared that up but perhaps I will be 100% accurate with what took place. The first two screenshots above are showing the two gang leaders Otori and Shiman talking with each other, with them was the slimy Maekawa and Otori was shocked to learn his trusted economic advisor was also working for Shiman. The three had been discussing the designs for Komatsu's new car and not much had been said about it for a while. You wouldn't think these two gangster leaders would team up but I felt Maekawa was playing them off each other.... so that he could reap the rewards of whoever stole the plans?! Maekawa is the man in glasses and really looked like such a wimpy man. However that wasn't the case and we did learn during this scene that he was the motorcycle driver tailing Jiro's brother Ichiro in the opening scene of the movie. For that incident he had been working for Otori, the dump truck driver Boshu for Shiman(!)and you can see how things can become a bit confusing. So Maekawa did play a key role in the murder of Ichiro, it just so happened that listening outside the door was Jiro and he hadn't known about much of that info until now.

 Jiro burst in and at times he could be a bit hot headed but then again he was trying to find out who murdered his brother. Bursting in wasn't the wisest of decisions for Jiro who had a pistol aimed at his head by Shiman, that's right above. But saving the day was Jiro's best friend Sudo who had been keeping tabs on Jiro, Sudo could be a bit goofy and corny at times but also came through when the going got tough. He dragged Jiro away to safety who was a bit upset at Sudo for doing that, he had wanted his revenge on Maekawa! But Sudo talked some sense into his best friend Jiro, of course he wants the head of Maekawa but also the ones of Shinma and Otori so it's time to be a bit patient. That chat was taking place on a Baseball field, the pair was soon jumped by another gang but beat them away and even grabbed two of their weapons. This group was called Nonoka which was the name of its slimeball leader. This is the character who confused me more than any other in the film, he seemed to be close to Shinma and think was in line to be the new manager at the Palason club for him but soon after this failed scuffle Nonoka was killed and it was made to look like a suicide, the first screenshot below The one after is of Shiman, as it shows he was the person who planned this suicide. In the second to last screenshot above Shinma along with Maekawa was talking with the singer Yukiko, guess Shinma had her singing at his Palason club for they were temporary allies. What was discussed in this very important yet short meeting will be right after this next batch of screenshots.

 Getting close to the end as this is the final segment and as was the case for the entire movie so much did take place. What happened is in the above screenshots plus the first six below. Yukiko had been sent to Tokyo from Hong Kong to steal those plans for Komatsu's new car, obviously Shiman must have been someway associated with that group. The time was mid afternoon, Yukiko's plan was for Shiman and his henchmen to raid Komatsu Motors and grab those plans, that job should be done around 7:00 pm when all employees except for Komatsu would have left. While that was going on Maekawa would be taking care of some loose ends and perhaps even burning down the Palason club to get rid of any evidence. The robbery and other tasks should be complete by 7:15 pm, Yukiko said for all to meet at Haneda Airport by 8:00 pm and an hour later they would be on a flight to Hong Kong. Off course no one else knew about this scheme but Jiro and Sudo were still on the hunt for Shiman and especially Otori. Yukiko also wanted Otori out of the way for he knew too much and still had dreams of getting the car designs. Before heading to Komatsu Motors Shiman and his gang stopped of at Otori's office, in such a nice gift besides Otori being there so wasn't Sudo! Both were tied up as you can see above, Shiman didn't want to kill either but just wanted to make sure the raid at Komatsu Motors had no snags.

 Also being nabbed as hostages was Jiro who happened to be with Tomi, the pair had gone to check out a lead at Shiman's huge garage and not sure why he needed such a huge one. While there Jiro noticed the motorcycle that Maekawa rode, it was also the one Maekawa used when helping out with Jiro's brother's murder! Jiro is a tough man but does have a major problem in that he's too eager and doesn't step back to evaluate a situation. That's what happened here as Maekawa had a pistol and was easily able to make Jiro and Tomi his hostages. As you can see above Maekawa tied the pair up and turned on some gas which made the two very sleepy but don't know if the gas was lethal. While Jiro and Sudo had been in those hostage incidents Shiman was at Komatsu Motors and got the blueprints for the new car very easily, he held a gun to Komatsu's sister's head until he opened the safe! Which Komatsu of course did but didn't seem all that upset, we learn why very soon. Meanwhile Sudo was able to dupe the thug guarding him and Otori as Sudo took down the goon, untied Otori and went on the hunt for Jiro. Sudo had a strong feeling he was at Shinma's garage and that was the case, Sudo arrived just in time as Jiro and Tomi were knocked out from the gas. We're down to about five minutes to go, Jiro and Sudo headed to the Palason club hoping Shiman was there which he was along with Maekawa.

 Arriving a bit earlier was Otori's main henchman/assistant Miki who didn't realize his boss had been kidnapped but was now free. Miki had gone to the Palason club to install a recorder to tape Shiman's conversations, that's right below. But Miki screwed up and reversed the wires which meant it turned into a loudspeaker though it turned out to be helpful as the sound could be heard outside the club, the detective Azuma arrived but at the end of the duel. For Jiro and Sudo were going head to head with Shiman's gang, they were holding their own but were outnumbered and soon hurt. Sudo had blood streaming down his face and couldn't see a thing but did find a rivet gun and this was all happening in the cellar of the Palason club. Sudo fired blindly but was able to trap Mawkawa with the rivets, soon Azuma with his officers entered the cellar, arrested Shiman and his thugs so it was a semi-happy ending. It would have been a happy one even if Shiman had escaped for he never stole the right car designs from Komatsu who had put some fake ones in his safe just in case an event like what took place happened! The real designs were taped to his office walls and were never noticed! Below are many more screenshots of what took place in this second half of the film, this review was getting a bit long so wrapped it up quickly and no major details were left out. Did give my thoughts on the movie in the intro and this was such a fun film but at the end did wonder what ever became of the singer/spy Yukiko who had been waiting at the airport for those stolen car designs?