"Three Seconds Before Explosion".... Japanese movie review, part one

 

 Release Date: October 21, 1967 Length: 84 minutes.... Director: Motomu Ida

Based upon Haruhiko Oyabu's novel Destruction Order #1, subs by Hideko92

 Did say I was going to review a few films before starting on my next drama series and almost all will be older films such as this is. I just love Japanese movies from about 1958 to 1988, the next twenty years were decent also but not as good though most were worth watching. But the movies from the last fifteen yeas have really taken a nose dive, what made films from Japan so enjoyable, interesting and unique is that they were so different than American films.

 

 But these days MONEY talks too much and just about every film has gone 'Hollywood' so I don't even bother with new films. Which is fine by me as there are so many older ones to view, even though I've seen well over a thousand that's just the tip of the iceberg and I'm looking forward to reviewing many of these older movies. The major criteria for me is that every film(98%) will be ones that I have never seen, most will be action ones from the 1960's and the early70's. However Korean movies these days are just as good as they've always been so when a newish movie is reviewed it'll probably be from Korea.

 Main Cast: The film is in color but those above two are promo pics from the Nikkatsu studio site and surprised they still had a page for this movie as it's 57 years old! Not much info there about the cast though and that's the case with every other site but least I could find who played each character. One major reason for viewing this is that it starred Akira Kobayashi and he's one of my all time fave actors. Have seen him in at least ten other films though won't be reviewing those but will still have at lest two more with him coming up. He was born in 1938 and is still a bit active even though he's 86 in age, he doesn't do acting these days but does have his own site and is very active with the world of golfing. Below is the main cast and while I did find who played who the names weren't all complete but guess that's okay as I tend to use just last names for males, first names for females to make it easier to tell them apart.

 Main Cast: These screenshots will look extremely odd and have never seen dimensions such as these. Older films tended to be 2:35x1 or 4:3, for this film the screenshots were 852x336 or about a 5:2 ratio which to me is very odd and rare. At first those dimensions were noticeable but got used to them and by the end of the movie it wasn't bothering me.  

**** Of course you'll be reading all about what took place in these posts but here's a mini synopsis on what will be taking place. After the War the Japanese government had stolen a vast amount of jewels and gold from an emerging nation called Rabaley, in turn they they were stolen from the Japanese government. They're now in the hands of a man named Takashima and three groups are after the stash he has, they have four days to get. In four days the Rabaley nation will lose all rights to it, whoever has control of the jewels at the time will be the legal owners. So the hunt is on for the huge amount of jewels that are worth $30 billion, this film was made in 1967 and today the jewels would be worth over.... $280 billion!!!! So in a nutshell that hunt is what will be taking place in this film, so many from 1964-67 were similar to this movie which is a combo spy and action film though most plots were different.

Akira Kobayashi as Mitsugu Yabuki.... The star of the film and a master spy/saboteur who works for the secret Internal Affairs Bureau of the Japanese government. Yabuki grew up in an orphanage and because of that was unable to land a decent job until this spy gig. His concentration is 100% towards work as he refused the advances of two attractive women in this movie, he works solo but at one time was semi-friends with the next character. Yabuki had been a boxer before joining the Internal Affairs Bureau organization, perhaps he was too skilled as he killed a man and was forced to quit the sport.

 Hideki Takahashi as Yamawaki.... Had worked at the same government organization as Yabuki, they were friends but not too close. Yamawaki had left fourteen months ago because of a woman which is a no-no for a spy, the woman is Nana and he's still dating her plus she's an undercover spy for Yamawaki. His current gig is protecting the jewels for Takashima, just four days to go before the deadline expires and can this 'ace' keep them safe?

Katsue Takaishi as Nana.... Singer at the Casba club but more importantly is an undercover spy for Yamawaki. Plus is his girlfriend and she's the reason Yamawaki left his government position. Like too many others she gets killed in the final ten minutes.

 Ryoji Hayama as Uezaki.... Head of the main gang trying to swipe the $30 billion of jewels from Takashima. Like most leaders he's a toughie giving orders but never gets his hands dirty. Uezaki's left hand man is Komiya who is both smart and ruthless. It appears that Uezaki may have a foreign boss who is Galen, we met him in the final twenty minutes and is from Germany where he was once an ex-Nazi spy. Seems his gang also has another leader who is Tachibara who we only saw in two scenes but his name was mentioned often.

Hiroshi Nawa as Komiya.... Uezaki's main hitman but to me was much smarter than his boss and dealt with the many tense situations very coolly. Komiya is a large man but is also very agile, wasn't his fault that the gangsters failed at the end.

 Asao Uchida as Tachihara.... On the right below, (quasi)leader of Uezaki and his gang but we only saw this man in two scenes though his name was mentioned often.

Takashi Kanda as Takashima.... Head of the Sanei company which is a legal outfit and was the uncle to the deceased Yukiko. Not too much screen time for Takashima but most of the plot revolved around him as he's the one with the valuable jewels. It was never revealed how Takashima got the jewels worth $30 billion but though they're stolen if he can keep them for four more days they're his legally.

Ruriko Ito as Yukiko.... Secretary to Takashima and was also his niece. Yukiko had been kidnapped by Uezaki's gang and if Takashima wanted to see her alive again they wanted his jewels! Which he wouldn't give up and by accident Yukiko was killed by her uncle's security guards.

 Ying Lanfang as Arisa.... Spy from China who works for Uezaki and did develop a crush on him. Arisa has seduced many enemy spies, she tried her moves on Yabuki with no success. We didn't see much of her and was killed shortly during the final scene.... she was certainly attractive!

Kazuo Kitamura as Sugiyama.... Boss of the secret Internal Affairs Bureau government organization which makes him Yabuki's superior. He was another character who we only saw in  a few scenes but he was an important man and had recruited Yabuki for his team.

 There were a few other characters but most were minor ones and it was hard finding out their real names. One was Yang who was a henchman for Uezaki, another who was slightly important was a German named Galen. He was a former Nazi spy and has somehow got mixed up with Uezaki's gang many years prior. Galen arrived in Japan on the final day of this jewel case, he's in the second screenshot while Yang is in the first.

 Was surprised there was no trailer to be found, this film is only57 years old!!!! But someone did make a two minute clip featuring a few scenes and added some subs to make it campy. It was a fun movie and to an extent this short video is too, that eerie and annoying sound right at the beginning is what we heard in the first minute of the film.

 

 Once again went into a period of inertia before beginning on the main review. Thought I was gong to zip through this and perhaps I will be but after viewing this movie and writing up the top which is very time consuming took a two day break! Sure that's no big deal as this film and most others that I will be reviewing are over fifty years old so what's a delay of two more days?! None of these movies that will be reviewed are classics and sure most of you have never heard of them which is understandable. Will give my grade for this film in part two of the review which is the next post. Doubt if this or any upcoming ones will hit the mark of 9/10 or higher which is certainly fine by me as I'm viewing these older films for their entertainment and enjoyment level, those categories would definitely get a very high grade.

 Those above three screenshots were from the first 2 1/2 minutes of the film and what a loud, annoying beeping sound was heard during the mini scene. Which showed the hero Yabuki in a flashback scene when he had been recruited by the secret Internal Affairs Bureau organization which is part of the Japanese government and he was going through some very severe training. Yabuki did pass with flying colors so became a spy for this secret government group. The case for Yabuki in the film is to retrieve a massive amount of stolen jewels worth $30 billion and he has only four days to do it, what could hinder him is that there's at least one criminal group also after the jewels. That's enough of an intro, you'll be reading about everything in these two posts. **** Have said it is important in the past and was just realizing how right I was with that thought. Which is of the above section, that is so helpful for you viewers and myself too as every character has a mini bio plus there's a short synopsis on what to expect in a movie or drama so it is very helpful to read it. It may appear to be a long section above but it's easy reading and there are many screenshots.

 That top screenshot features a man named Nakano, the only time we saw him for he was lying dead near a Tokyo pier. Nakano had worked for the Sanei Company which is a legit outfit though the owner and boss Takashima is involved in something very shady. In the second screenshot his back is towards us, his trusty secretary and niece Yukiko was telling Takashima about the latest death and it was the third employee from Sanei to be killed that week, seventh overall!!!! The whole story revolves around some extremely valuable jewels that were worth $30 billion in 1967, $280 billion in 2024! At the end of WWII the Japanese government somehow stole these priceless jewels from an emerging country called Rabaley, in turn the Japanese government had those jewels stolen from them! Who did that is unknown but the thief ended up giving them to Takashima who still has the jewels plus there were also bars of gold and there are so many of them, at least a few thousand as they do fill up over ten huge barrels. Takashima's niece Yukiko had no clue about the jewels or why the Sanei employees were killed, sadly she too will be an innocent victim.

 This film take place in a four day stretch, on day four at 6:00 pm a deadline will expire. The Rabaley government many years ago had set an expiration date on the jewels and think they did that to continue receiving foreign aid from Japan. Whoever is in possession of the Rabaley Jewels in four days will legally own them, Takashima is the person who does have them which is why so many of his Sanei employees have been killed. There are two, possibly three other forces which want the jewels and there isn't much time to retrieve them. One force is unnamed but is led by a man named Tachibara who we seldom saw but his name was mentioned often. His main two gangster leaders are above in some screenshots, Uezaki is wearing glasses and is the leader of this unnamed group, his assistant is Komiya who has a mustache. To me Komiya is the most competent of anyone in the group, he's an ace hitman plus is very agile and also quite intelligent. A second group after the jewels could be run by an ex-Nazi spy named Galen who we met towards the end and how did he get hooked up with Tachibara? In the third and fourth screenshots above is an ace guard and ex-spy named Yamawaki. He was hired by Takashima to protect the Rabaley Jewels and his assignment has 3 1/2 more days to go. More about Yamawaki shortly as he had once worked for the Japanese government, why he quit and is working for a criminal will be explained. In the bottom three screenshots above Uezaki's gang were raiding the villa owned by Takashima, they had kidnapped and tortured one of Sanei's guards to find out the location of the jewels and that's where the man said to go but was he bluffing to save his own skin?

 Will get to the other group hunting for the prized jewels very shortly. That villa of Takashima's was located in Nasu which is a real place that has a volcano and is located NE of Tokyo. The villa was deserted but Uezaki and Komiya were able to find a massive vault in the cellar, odds are high that's where the jewels are but if so why no guards protecting it? After using TNT to blow off the door the reason there were no guards was because the vault was empty but odds are high Takashima had hidden them there once, now where could they be? Yamawaki had left his own bomb in the vault, that exploded leaving two thugs dead. Outside the villa Komiya had briefly glimpsed something that was there and gone within a second, he had an idea on what he may have seen. Komiya didn't mention a name but told his boss/partner Uezaki that he wasn't seeing things and that glimpse was of someone very powerful and cunning, they better hope Komiya is wrong with his theory. But he wasn't and who he had seen was a man named Mitsugu Yabuki, he's the HERO of the movie and he didn't make an appearance until after the ten minute mark. Yabuki is dressed in black in the above screenshots, the man he told to be quiet was Tachibara who was the leader of Uezaki and Komiya's gang. Yabuki felt sure Tachibara knew where the Rabaley Jewels were stashed but why for Tachibara was also looking for them. However he did tell Yabuki the jewels were at a warehouse owned by the Sanei company, quickly Yabuki tried dashing there.

 But was held up at Tachibara's mansion as he had an army of gangsters protecting him, it took some skill for Yabuki to break in and see the leader. But Tachibara hit his alarm and before you knew it Yabuki had over twenty men on his trail, some of his escape is in the above screenshots and that was an exciting scene. Yabuki is no James Bond or other kind of superhero but did have many gadgets that helped him escape, now his destination was that Sanei warehouse. Yabuki did make it there safely but to his dismay there were no jewels to be found there.... YET! However Yabuki did run onto someone and it happened to be the head of Sanei's security team Yamawaki who we've already met. At one time Yamawaki was an agent for the Japan government's Internal Affairs Bureau which is a very secret organization. Yabuki is an agent for them and has been for many years so he does know Yamawaki though they pair were never too close. But both men highly respect each other, Yabuki knows getting the jewels will now not be an easy task and also Yamawaki knows protecting them will be much more difficult. Yamawaki had quit the organization fourteen months ago for he had a girlfriend, that's taboo in the world of espionage but to his credit Yamawaki is still dating the woman. That was a brief scene of the pair reuniting but it won't be their last face to face meeting. The above bottom two screenshots show Yabuki with his boss from the Internal Affairs Bureau Sugiyama. We didn't see him that often but in that scene he was explaining to Yabuki why the jewels had to be retrieved and by now the deadline was only three days away. 

 Am hoping I can wrap up part one in three segments and that's never happened for a movie review. As mentioned three days remain until the Rabaley Jewels will legally be Takashima's, if anyone can steal them before then they would legally belong to the thief! So of course Uezaki and Komiya are getting extremely frustrated, with so few options they resorted to kidnapping Takashima's niece Yukiko which is in the above top screenshots. The offer to Takashima was if you ever want to see Yukiko alive again then give us the jewels!!!! Which Takashima didn't agree to, don't think he was a cruel man but just didn't trust Uezaki and his cohorts plus give up $30 billion? Just by chance the day after seeing his old colleague Yamawaki Yabuki noticed him on a Ginza street where Yabuki witnessed him taking a recorder from the pocket of the woman he was walking with. The pair split up but Yabuki trailed the woman to a club called Casba and that happens to be a meeting place of Uezaki's gang. Yabuki didn't mess around and went right up to this woman demanding some answers, how does she know Yamawaki and what is on that tape? The woman's name is Nana, she was the reason Yamawaki left the Internal Affairs Bureau and they are still together as boy/girlfriend. Nana is also a spy for Yamawaki, she's working at the Casba club to keep Yamawaki informed of any moves Uezaki and/or Komiya may be planning on stealing the jewels from Takashima. There is one screenshot above of Yamawaki listening to the cassette, he now knows that an agent from Germany named Galen will be arriving in Japan tomorrow to help Uezaki in his quest to steal the Rabaley Jewels.

 Nana seemed to be on the up and up, Yabuki believed her story for it was true. In the cellar of the Casba club is where Uezaki often meets with his henchmen, as a matter of fact Nana told Yabuki he happens to be there now! With the clock ticking as the deadline to find the jewels is now just ~52 hours away Yabuki rushed to the cellar and luckily Uezaki was still there. Yabuki thought quickly and told the man he was a tabloid reporter but in reality was a blackmailer and knew where Takashima was hiding the jewels. However they're so well guarded Yabuki would have no chance on stealing them, how about Uezaki and his gang team up with Yabuki? Komiya wasn't there for he may have said no but Uezaki thought what did he have to lose and brought Yabuki to his gang's secret HQ. There waiting for Uezaki was Komiya and of course he didn't trust Yabuki at all. But he would be willing to give the man a chance, Yukiko was brought out from her cell and if Yabuki would shoot her Komiya would allow Yabuki to be part of their gang and get some of the jewels! Yukiko was brought out of her cell, Yabuki was handed a revolver and of course was trembling. However he did pull the trigger and the gun had no ammo, it was just a test from Komiya and have to presume Yabuki was aiming away from Yukiko. All of this is in the above and below screenshots, this wraps up the first part of the review and the next post naturally has the second part. The paragraphs were slightly longer but not by much as this is the first time I did a movie review in three segments, hope that works for part two also.