"The Rainbow Man" .... horror/suspense movie from 1949 review, part one

 

Release Date: July 18, 1949  Length: 80 minutes  Director: Ushihara Kyohiko

Subs by Mashhamid, based on the 1947 detective novel by Kikuo Kakuta 

It also had some uncredited special effects done by Eiji Tsuburaya

This film also went by the title of Niji Otoko, Niji for rainbow and Otoko for man.

 **** I never have a problem but wonder if others do which is of the quality of movies prior to 1952. For the first five or so years after the war while the stories and acting were all top notch the film used for movies was often Army surplus film as times were tough and budgets for most films were extremely low. No viewer has ever complained about the quality of screenshots and I'm used to them being this way which has never bothered me and in a way prefer things that aren't perfect.

 Wow, talk about a vintage car and bet for even 1949 it was considered to be ancient! So this is the first of at least four movie reviews and perhaps there may be more, all of the films will be before 1975 and all will have two parts as I bet it makes reading easier. Don't know why but have a hard time alternating between posts for dramas and movies, tend to stick with one for a while and wish I could go back and forth. As most know I absolutely savor these older films and can never get enough of them, rarely do I give a grade for any because that's not the reason I view them and usually enjoy these movies. This was an eighty minute movie yet I took more screenshots than any other movie I have reviewed, more than two hour films! So much took place, jot down notes while watching something and wrote down so much info it may be hard to decipher my writing!!!! Of course this was a black and white film but on three occasions there was a colored 'Rainbow' such as the screenshot below.

Main Cast: Bit of a large cast as far as main characters go but there were very few others and though just an eighty minute film all had a decent amount of screen time. Often I know several from a cast but not for this film outside of the top two characters which isn't a bad thing as getting to know others makes me aware of many other films I have never heard of. The main theme of this movie, besides the deaths, is that the Maya family has had a curse on them for centuries, the curse is of a RAINBOW!!!! It does sound odd and when a family member sees one it supposedly is an omen of impending tragedy, usually their death! When someone sees a Rainbow it's just them seeing it and no one else, all will explained in the two posts.

Teruko Akatsuki as Mimi Torigai.... Teruko was very popular in the 1950's, more on her below In the film Mimi was a social affairs reporter for the Showa Gazette and always seemed to get the scoop first over her rivals such as the next character. Mimi had gone to school with Yurie and the pair had been close which is why Yurie begged Mimi to help her out as she had been accused of murder, not once but twice! Mimi was the main character and was billed that way but didn't seem she had as much screen time as most other lead characters do in their films.

Keiju Kobayashi as Ryosuke Akashi.... That's him on the right above with Mimi, though rivals with different newspapers think the pair were about to be romantically involved at the end of the film! Ryosuke was a reporter for the New Oriental newspaper and to me seemed to be better at his job than Mimi yet it's her who usually gets a scoop first. The police also think Ryosuke is better at his job as he's often called in by them to give his evaluation of a case. Below is from the end of the movie when Ryosuke thought his whiskey had been poisoned!

Den Ohinaga as Inspector Okada.... Wasn't top billed but had as much screen time as everyone else and this may have been the most important character in the film. The first murder took place in the small village of Tateshina which is in Nagano prefect. That's over a hundred miles NW of Tokyo where Okada was stationed but he was assigned the case and perhaps back then it was common for large cities to take on the more important cases. We didn't see him often but Okada had a trusted assistant who was a detective named Shimizu and did refer to him often.

 Sumiko Wakasugi as Yurie Obata.... The main figure in this movie as what took place revolved around Yurie who was accused of first killing one man then a few days later a woman though she was innocent both times. In the second half of the film it was discovered Yurie was pregnant though she did lose the baby when she fell down some stairs. Who the father was then wasn't quite clear, it could have been her future husband Suga who all thought died in a fire though it wasn't him who burnt to death, the mystery will be explained in the review.

Junnosuke Miyazaki as Toyohiko Maya and also Hachiro Suga.... When I first saw Toyohiko thought the beard was a fake or possibly newly grown which was the case. With the beard Hachiro below could pass as Toyohiko as both looked similar plus Toyohiko had been out of the Maya household for five years so of course his looks would change. The real Toyohiko had been found dead in the family villa that had been burnt to the ground but first Toyohiko was stabbed to death. However because Toyohiko appeared hack home and because the body was badly charred all thought it was Hachiro who had died. The detective Okada caught on to Hachiro impersonating as Toyohiko near the end and he almost got away with his crimes, why he did the killings will be in the two posts.... bet much of that was ultra confusing!!!!

Kenjiro Uemura as Katsuto Maya....At times looked and acted extremely bizarre but Katsuto was normal.... to an extent! He had gotten hooked on Mescaline and though I'm not sure bet that wasn't too common back in 1949. Katsuto was an artist and would usually do paintings of Rainbows(Niji), he was talented but even more so when taking the drug. Katsuto in a way was also the smartest in the Maya family or at least the most honest, he knew all hated each other and he too had been under suspicion for the two deaths.

Bontaro Miake as Ryuzo Maya..... Father of the Maya clan and a respected physicist. That's him below and what a dour man he was who only seemed to enjoy being in his lab. Where Ryuzo has been working on creating artificial rainbows and the whole family is obsessed with them! About 25 years Ryuzo had won a prestigious prize for research which is the main reason he became wealthy and respected. But it was discovered in the film that he had stolen the research from his partner Yajima and took all of the credit, because of that Yajima ended up killing himself.

Kiyoko Hirai as Shimako Maya.... The second wife of Ryuzo as the first had passed away and Shimako may have been twenty years younger. None of the children were borne by her and not one of them seemed to like Shimako but did any hate her enough to kill? That was a huge question as Shimako did die and what led to her death was seeing a Rainbow which has cursed the Maya family forever and not sure why. The huge estate the Maya family lives in was actually owned by Shimako, did Ryuzo marry Shimako for her money?!

Kumeko Urabe as Kane Nonomura.... The maid at the Maya mansion, there was one other. Though a maid most seemed to trust and rely on Kane who was killed about a third of the way into the movie. She had been calling the police from a phone booth and during that call Kane screamed in fear that she saw a Rainbow even in the rain(!), shortly after she died!!!!

Tamotsu Moriyama as Doctor Hirai....On the left below, not a huge role but did play a key part in two scenes where he told all that Yurie was pregnant and helped the Maya father Ryuzo recover after a chandelier fell on him.... he eventually did die.

 That's really it for the cast, there weren't all that many minor characters plus most of the action took place at a mountain estate so the above eight or so rarely had contact with others. There is a version of this movie on YT but of course it's not subbed and don't think I have ever watched a movie there.... probably never will. Wanted to have a trailer for the film as those help you see what I had viewed but can you believe there were none?! I can and because it wasn't a very known movie can understand to an extent why there's no trailers but most other films from that era do. So think up next will be this film from 1960 called "The Human Vapor", have never seen it so am looking forward to it and there are a few other trailers besides this one on YT.

 

 

 Always try to begin off with some interesting and (un)useful trivia info. Those first two pics above belong to the main female character in this film Mimi who was played by Teruko Akatsuki, she was born in 1921 and was 28 when this movie came out. While appearing in many movies Teruko's main claim to fame was as a singer and what a popular one she was back in the 1950's!!!! She released too many singles and albums to count which appear to still be popular to this day as most have been rereleased on CD but sadly Teruko didn't live a long live. She retired from show biz in 1958 because of severe chest pains, four years later in July 1962 she passed away due to cancer and was only 41 in age. Playing Mimi's best friend in the movie and who was accused of murder twice was the other woman above who was Kazuko Wakasugi and played the role of Yurie. She was the more popular of the two when it came to acting but retired in 1964 at the age of forty but it wasn't due to a marriage. There's no official date but it appeared Kazuko died around the year 2017 which someone mentioned at a film festival, if so she lived to the ripe old age of 93.

 Whew, let s finally get to the movie and that above takes so long to write up though I do enjoy doing that section and to me think they are getting better with each drama or film. This was an eighty minute movie but took about twenty more screenshots than usual as so much did take place, especially in the first fifty minutes. Did see two mini reviews of this film but that's it as it wasn't a very known one, both reviews said it was influenced by Western film. Can understand that for at the time American troops still had a large presence in Japan plus censorship laws for horror or violent films were very strict. As the title say this is part one, of course part two of the review is the next post and breaking these in half makes them easier to read. Hopefully everything that took place will be clear, there were/are a couple of things I'm not sure about as so much was crammed into eighty minutes but often when writing details out what took place is much clearer. The man above is a detective named Okada, he's telling the reporter and main character Mimi about the Maya family and how weird they were which was no understatement! Have been very good with movie reviews at keeping them at three segments of two paragraphs though will confess they are too long at times and despite there being so much that took place the goal is to keep that pace continuing.

 When doing posts for dramas or films always use the first names for females and the last names for men as it doesn't get confusing that way. But except for the detective Okada will be using everyone's first name as there were three males in the Maya family and all the characters were important.

 That first screenshot shows the main character Mimi Torigai who was a reporter for the Showa Gazette but despite having the main role didn't appear she had as much screen time as other leads do in movies. There's eight main characters and all had a decent amount of screen time without one monopolizing. Mimi had followed a police car that was bringing her best friend from school Yuri Obata to the local precinct, she was quickly hustled off to a cell after arriving. Mimi entered the station to talk with the chief as she was insistent that Yurie could never have killed anyone! That chief at the Tokyo precinct was a detective named Okada who to me was quite an intelligent sleuth and didn't let emotions sway his judgments. Because Mimi was a reporter and covering the case Okada could tell her more details than he could to most other people. He explained that Yurie had been accused of killing a man named Hachiro Suga outside the small village of Tateshina in Nagano prefect, a hundred miles NW of Tokyo. Am thinking that back in those post-war days the police in larger cities had to solve crimes outside their borders which is why Okada had been assigned to the case, The murder took place at a mountain villa overlooking Tateshina and most of the action will be at an estate in the village.

 That villa and estate were owned by a noted physicist named Ryuzo Maya, that and the following info was the story Okada was telling Mimi. Two days ago the villa had been burned down, in it the body of a man named Hachiro Suga was discovered. He was the young assistant to the physicist and the villa also had a lab besides the main one at the estate. There were some solid reasons Mimi's one time best friend Yurie was being accused of the murder even though Suga was her boyfriend and finacee! Yurie was the last person to see Hachiro Suga alive, Yurie had said at the villa that she had begun to feel ill so was going into the village to see the doctor Hirai and accompanying her was the housekeeper Kane. But later Kane told the police the pair separated once they got to the village of Tateshina and the only doctor in town, Hirai, claimed Yurie never went to his office. Perhaps it wasn't concrete evidence to convict Yurie but the detective Okada had no other suspects plus Yurie had been found wandering in the woods near the villa after the death and arson. The body of Hachiro Suga had been badly burnt so the face wasn't recognizable but all presumed it was Suga but at this point I had my doubts. The actual cause of death was from a stabbing, then the perp committed the arson to destroy much of the evidence. However the (planted?)knife was found next to Hachiro's body and it just happened to have Yurie's fingerprints on it's tip, that's the second and more damaging strike against her. At the station Yurie wasn't saying much and it wasn't an act as she truly couldn't remember what happened the hour before her boyfriend was killed. Okada allowed Mimi to visit her best friend as perhaps she could get some info out of Yurie who was quite frazzled, while talking with Mimi she kept referring to Rainbows.

 Don't think the rest of the paragraphs will be as long but the first two often are to explain much of what has and will be taking place. Those Rainbows Yurie was blabbering about was because the Maya family had been saying they've been cursed by them for seemingly centuries. Her boyfriend Hachiro wasn't a blood relative but had been working with the elder Maya plus when/if he got married to Yurie Hachiro would become a distant relative. That's because Yurie's aunt is Shimako Maya who married Ryuzo Maya after his first wife died.... Does all of this sound ultra confusing?!?! That Maya housekeeper Kane had ventured back to Tokyo as she may have some evidence to clear Yurie, she called the main detective Okada from a phone booth to say she would be arriving shortly. But while on the phone Kane began to scream out 'It's a Rainbow' even though it had been raining, legend has it that is what a Maya family member or someone close to them will say after being the only person to see a Rainbow and it means impending doom.... or even death! Okada and his men heard the screams of Kane who had been at a payphone at Shinagawa Station, when the police arrived it was too late as Kane was killed.... but how, from fright? Need to note during this time there was another man at the station who was Ryosuke Akashi, he's a reporter for the New Oriental paper. He's a rival of Mimi's but the pair are close and think they may be hearing wedding bells in the future! Sigh, so much for keeping paragraphs shorter.....

 Akashi is a top notch reporter but it seems Mimi always gets the scoop first but that didn't seem to bother Akashi all that much. He is a very astute man and the detective Okada wanted Akashi at the station to hear his opinions on the case. With the death of Kane that means two close to the Maya family have been killed so it appears one doesn't need to be a blood relative to be affected by the curse of the Rainbow! After Kane's death Okada began to think perhaps Yurie wasn't involved in the death of her boyfriend Hachiro, she was released and headed back to the Maya estate in the village of Tateshina. Also with Yurie was her best friend Mimi along with Akashi, though he was close to Mimi the pair never let anyone else notice that. What an odd family the Mayas were and in the intro section did give a bio of all of the members. The young man with the scarf above was the eldest Maya son whose name was Katsuto and was an artist, his passion was painting Rainbows. He was telling Mimi and Akashi about the return of his younger brother Toyohiko, more on him shortly. Throughout the review you will see how the Maya family, such as Katsuto, is obsessed with Rainbows. The older man in the third to last screenshot is the Maya family father Ryuzo, he too is overly obsessed with Rainbows. Ryuzo is a respected physicist and had a lab at his estate which was quite large. Most of his current research has been for creating an artificial Rainbow and above Ryuzo was showing Akashi his progress which seemed to be going well. By this time making an appearance at the Maya estate was the detective Okada, he met the family members mentioned plus there's two others.

 Two days ago there had been eight people residing at the estate which is now down to six. Four were Maya family members along with two housekeepers but it's now one with the death of Kane and the other had no impact on the story. Yurie and her finacee Hachiro who was Ryuzo's lab assistant were the other two living there but of course Hachiro is now dead or should I say murdered. There was one key bit of evidence against Yurie that had been recently discovered by the detective Okada who pressed Yurie hard for details about it when him and his top aide Shimizu paid a visit to the estate. The evidence was of a family ring that had been given to Yurie by her mother and how did the deceased Hachiro happen to have that ring lying next to his burnt and stabbed body? Coming to Yurie's rescue were two of the Maya family, the pair that haven't been introduced yet. In the second screenshot above is the mother of the Maya family Shimako but she's not the birth mother of any of the children. Ryuzo's wife is deceased and though not mentioned bet it was from the curse of the Rainbow! Shimako was the aunt of Yurie and no clue on what happened with her mother, with Shimako being a relative the estate is where Yurie had been living. Shimako immediately stood up for Yurie during the intense questioning and told the detective Okada he was way off base with his accusations which could be true but Yurie had no answer for how the ring ended up next to her deceased boyfriend Hachiro.

 Also trying to protect Yurie was the younger Maya son Toyohiko, he's the man with a beard. EDIT: Almost forgot to add in but to me Toyohiko was such a suspicious man from the first second we met him, knew he was impersonating someone and guess who?! Five years ago Toyohiko had left the Maya household and none of the family cared for each other though the older son Katsuto is the only one who will say that out loud. Why Toyohiko returned is a mystery for now and it just happened two days ago, he told the detective Okada when he was coming to the estate he had to pass by the villa where the father Ryuzo has a lab. Tokohiko claimed that he saw Hachiro there working and the pair talked for a few moments, at the time Toyohiko said Hachiro had told shown him the ring. It was only s so-so believable story and immediately that tale put Toyohiko under suspicion but as Okada says above his alibi was verified by two hikers(middle screenshot above) and that Toyohiko had been far away from the villa when it was burning down. There wasn't a long list of suspects, Yurie is still #1 on the list and in part two of the review she will be number one again for there was.... a second murder!!!! Actually the third murder as Kane was killed too in that phone booth but that killing didn't get mentioned that often. This part is almost done but have a few more details before ending this. One is that above Ryuzo's second wife Shimako was talking with the elder son Katsuto and we learned here that the huge estate was actually Shimako's and she had inherited it from her family. She's not wealthy but Shimako does have some money and is that why Ryuzo wed her? I will say NO but am not positive on that for guess who the third victim will be?!?! Shimako also appeared to be obsessed with cats, not where she has to have many as pets but she seems to think they're cursing her! That ends this part and guess I made the paragraphs too long but when writing never realize it until I look back. Below are plenty of screenshots of what took place in the first half of the movie and of course part two of the review is the next post.