"The Invisible Man Appears!".... Japanese horror/mystery film review part one

 

 Release Date: September 25, 1949  Length: 82 minutes. think there is an unreleased 87 min. version but only available in Japan. This film was not released on DVD in America until 2021

Director and screenwriter: Nobuo Adachi.... Special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya

Subs by Mashhamid, there was a 1954 sequel but none of this cast appeared in it.

 The longer this blog goes on the older the dramas and movies have been getting but this isn't the oldest one as a 1947 movie was reviewed. This film was released in 1949 which was barely four years after the war had ended, the movie industry back then was still trying to get back on it's feet. You could tell the budget for this movie was extremely low but then again bet all were until about 1952, However the stories/plots for these older movies were still top notch and that was the case for this very intriguing and interesting movie. Hate to call it a horror flick as there was very little of it but it was suspenseful and this may have been the very first semi-horror Japanese film after the war. This post is the first of two reviews, the next post has the second part and will try to find out some info about older horror films from Japan and whether this may have been the first.

 Think I viewed the 1933 American "Invisible Man" movie but it's been so long forget if I enjoyed it or not. That was inspired by the classic Wells 1897 novel and this movie was also loosely based upon that story. But have read the main inspiration was from a sci-fi novel titled "The Masked Gentleman" aka The Noh Masked Murder which was written by Akimitsu Takagi in early 1949. He was a very famous writer and many of his stories did become movies. This was also the return of Eiji Tsuburaya to movies as he had been black listed in a way after the war, he was one special effects master and those kinds of men needed so much more ingenuity way back in ancient times. Have been recapping his terrific "Ultra Q" sci-fi drama and highly recommend that. This was a long enough intro though there is more below for the characters and also a video of the movie's trailer. This is an oddity as I'm beginning this before finishing the movie but think I know enough to get a head start, the film is 82 minutes in length and I'm at the 58 minute mark. 

 Main Cast: The first four pics were promo ones for the movie, right above is a screenshot and obviously you won't be seeing much of the Invisible Man! For such a low budget movie the quality of the film was decent, especially as I think this was from a VHS rip as the DVD of this movie was never released outside of Japan until 2021. Think many known stars were in this movie and though I do know so many older Japanese actors don't know any of main characters which is often a good thing as I may discover some under the radar films they appeared in. The location of this movie was in Kobe, the Nakazato Lab was in the hills overlooking the city.

Mikiharu Koshina as Shunji Kurokawa.... He's also the Invisible Man!!!! Kurokawa was a man in his young thirties who worked and studied at the Nakazato Chemical Research Institute, so don't the next two characters. Kurokawa was very intelligent and had been working on a formula to make a person transparent but hasn't quite developed it. When he became invisible it was from a serum that his mentor Nakazato developed and will explain much more about it in the review. Kurokawa was single but had his sights set on Nakazato's daughter Machiko but so didn't the character below, who would win this 'competition'?

Daijiro Natsukawa as Kyosuke Segi.... Like Kurokawa Segi also worked and studied at the Nakazato Chemical Research Institute. Segi was quite intelligent but it seemed that Kurokawa may be a bit smarter, both adore Nakazato's daughter Machiko but it appears she may end up with Kurokawa though she likes Segi much more. In hopefully not a huge spoiler after Kurokawa became invisible it really appeared as though Segi would be the hero by developing an antidote to make him normal again but that didn't happen.

Ryunosuke Tsukigata as Kenzo Nakazato.... A noted professor who obviously ran the Nakazato Chemical Research Institute, he's had many students in the past but Nakazato felt the above two were his best ever. He was able to create a potion for invisibility but to date had only used it on small animals such as mice and cats. Nakazato hadn't tried it on humans, he knew it would work but the problem was he had no way to make anything visible again!!!! Because of that Nakazato had kept his potion secret though one person did know who was Kawabe, him stealing the formula from Nakazato is the main story, The professor is the father of the next character who is his daughter Machiko, like all of the other main characters there will be much more about him in the two posts.

Chizuru Kitagawa as Machiko Nakazato.... Daughter of the above man and would say she's in her late twenties. Machiko still lives at home with her father, younger sister and her mother Toshiko who we rarely saw. There was a 'competition' between Kurokawa and Segi, the person that could finish their creation first would get to marry Machiko! It appeared Kurokawa was on his way of winning, Machiko did like him but Segi much more and below Machiko is on the left.

Shosaku Sugiyama as Ichiro Kawabe.... Owner of a huge pharmaceutical company though in the end it was discovered that was a sham front. Will say what an underhanded creep he was and that's putting it very mildly! It was Kawabe who stole the formula for invisibility from Nakazato and also kidnapped him. Kawabe also had a small group of thugs who kidnapped Kurokawa too but he wasn't aware that he was being held 'hostage' and was tricked into trying to steal a valuable jewel for Kawabe. 

Takiko Mizunoe as Ryuko Mizuki.... What a famous actress Takiko was and didn't pass away until 2009 when she was 94 in age! If you have time check out her Ja.wiki bio and that may be the longest one I've ever seen! In this movie Ryuko was also a popular actress plus was the younger sister of Shunji Kurokawa but don't know why they had different last names. Ryuko was also close friends with the below woman Kimiko and bailed her out twice when her valuable jewel was about to be stolen.

Teruko Omi as Kimiko Chosokabe..... Owner of that above necklace/jewel which is called Amour Tears, she had an offer in this movie from a jewelry store to buy it for 5 million yen! Kimiko refused but later on was going to sell it to Kawabe for 8 million yen(!) but it was all a ruse. Kimiko had a bodyguard/manager named Hatanaka who was murdered and don't have any clue how she was so wealthy or even if she was.

Mitsuabaro Ramon as Matsubara.... Lead investigator for the case of searching for the Invisible Man. It wasn't a large role but Matsubara was very key to the story, at first discovering that the invisibility plans had been stolen and then nabbing the culprit Kawabe.

 That's it for the major characters which I guess is a lot for an 82 minute film. of course there were a few others but none played an important role. Below is a trailer for the movie and will try to find a different video for part two of the review. Back in the late 1940's and fifties many trailers also featured some outtake clips from the movie, this video did as about half of what you will view is in the movie while the other half were outtakes.

 

 

 Whew, once again that top section took a while to do, sometimes it takes longer than the actual review! Won't make this section too long as the above already is and by the time you finish reading this you may be too worn out to peruse the actual review! The next post has part two of the review and think by cutting it in half makes it easier to read so for this post will go to the halfway point of the screenshots but don't think they were the halfway point of the movie. The first screenshot above is how the movie opened and ended, that message was such a common theme for dramas and films up to twenty years after the war. For 1949 and with such a low budget the special effects were quite good in my eyes though there was one we couldn't see too well. Who of course was the Invisible Man(!) and had been driving that motorcycle, there were also special effects along that lines of the man shooting a gun, smoking, walking, getting into fights and all of those screenshots will be in these two posts. But the Invisible Man did not appear until the 23 minute mark which was almost a third of the way through though of course being invisible was the main storyline from the first second. Hopefully this review won't be overly long and don't know if it will be, it was a simple movie yet so much did take place but when it comes to recapping things I tend to be too informative, let's finally get to this 75 year old film.

 All of the action took place in the city of Kobe and the area right around it but the location didn't have much to do with the story. Most of it took place in the hills overlooking Kobe and the main location was a building/house named the Nakazato Chemical Research Institute, the professor Nakazato is in the second screenshot above. He was referring to a pair of main characters in this movie who have also been his best two proteges to date. Both are doctors in their young thirties and have been working with the esteemed professor Nakazato for years, the man talking in the top screenshot is Shunji Kurokawa. He was discussing some details about a potential formula to Kyosuke Segi who is on the left in the third screenshot and you'll be seeing plenty of him in the second half of the film. For years Kurokawa has been working on an Invisibility Serum to of course make something transparent such as a human being! Kurokawa was so close to succeeding but just couldn't quite get a few things right and though 'rivals' was asking Segi for some advice but Kurokawa never did get a chance to work on his serum after that chat. Also working to develop a Invisibility Serum was the two doctor's mentor Nakazato and told the pair he had finally succeeded(!) but wouldn't go into more detail as he wants to keep this a secret from anyone until everything is finalized such as an antidote to return a living creature back to being visible.

 Nakazato told the pair who ever developed their own successful Invisibility Serum first would win the prestigious Nakazato Prize but it wasn't an official award. What he was referring to was the woman in the fourth screenshot above who is his daughter Machiko. Both Kurokawa and Segi adore Machiko immensely, Nakazato had said who could ever finish the Invisibility Serum first could have his daughter's hand in marriage! Machiko does like both men but Segi much more and for now it appears as though Kurokawa will finish his project first, more on that later. Both doctors went back to their work and Nakazato never did show either his Invisibility Serum but did to one gentleman who visited the lab and is the business man right above, you will be seeing quite a bit of this devilish creep. His name is Ichiro Kawabe and is the owner of a very huge unnamed Pharmaceutical company but at the end of the movie we learned that story was a sham. 

 For some reason Nakazato had gotten to know this man and seemed to believe in him more than his two proteges Kurokawa and Segi. For as you can see above Nakazato demonstrated to Kawabe how his serum worked and he did make a hamster invisible, his creation is named Atomina Invisibilitator and neither word is a real one. Kawabe was mighty impressed with this serum and wants to buy the plans for a hefty sum of money. At the time we viewers didn't know what a scammer Kawabe was but you had an inkling he was a lowlife but was much worse than we originally thought. Nakazato refused the offer for he's never experimented on a human, he felt it would work but no antidote has been created yet. So silently Kawabe fumed and unknown to Nakazato watched him hide the plans in a secret lab compartment. Those plans won't be there much longer and in the bottom screenshot above is an actress named Ryuko Mizuki. Always make a segment two paragraphs but cut the second one in half as it was so lengthy and don't know why but the second paragraph in any kind of recap/review is always the longest.

 Ryuko is the younger sister of Shunji Kurokawa but don't know why their last names are different. The scheming Kawabe brought Kurokawa to see one of her revues and it was his first time seeing his sister act. Also there was Machiko and Kawabe too was attracted to her, was it because of her father's Serum or because Kawabe did like her, to me it could be a combo though more because of the Serum. Kawabe above was buttering Kurokawa up a bit, the main reason was to make him an 'ally' and to trust Kawabe in the future, you'll know why soon. That jeweled necklace in the third screenshot is named Amour Tears and it ended up being the most key thing about the story. At the time the owner Kimiko was at a jewelry store wanting to sell it, the owner offered her 5 million yen which was an unheard of sum back then but Kimiko refused the offer, so much more about the Amour Tears necklace will be coming up. A key character who we won't be seeing for a long time but will be hearing much about is the professor Nakazato. Those two masked thugs above, who were employed by Kawabe, stormed into his lab and kidnapped Nakazato. While that was going on Kawabe stole the plans for the Invisibility Serum and also the small batch that had been made. Those had been hidden in a secret compartment in the lab and that could only be opened by turning a faucet the wrong way on a water basin but as mentioned earlier Kawabe saw Nakazato hide the plans there.

 Attached to the prestigious Nakazato Research Institute was his house, no one there heard the scuffle. A cat had managed to break out of it's cage when it was knocked to the floor while Nakazato was being taken away. This cat was invisible and ended up in Nakazato's house where it scared the life out of Machiko and her mother. Above is a screenshot of the cat but being invisible means you obviously can't see it but the cat had walked upon those piano keys plus knocked over some vases and other small objects so you know why Machiko was frightened to death! In that screenshot above is Machiko on the right and her mother Toshiko is on the left, she had very little screen time and am presuming the female in the middle is Machiko's younger sister whose name was never mentioned. The following day everyone was wondering where had the professor Nakazato disappeared to and that evening Machiko received a telegram. It was from her father who told his family not to worry as he wanted some time alone to finish his latest project. Which of course was all a lie and Nakazato had been forced by Kawabe's thugs to send the note  At the house at the time had been Kurokawa and to me it seemed he didn't believe that telegram but was assured by Kawabe above that it was true and should use his absence to get closer to Machiko, he was still trying to butter Kurokawa up. But instead Kurowaka returned to his small apartment and was going to take a week's vacation for he was so burnt out from trying to develop his own Invisibility Serum. In the bottom screenshot above there was a knock at Kurokawa's door, the man who was there said the professor wanted to see Kurokawa immediately and because this man looked so respectful Kurokawa went with him asking no questions.

 Keep your fingers crossed as my goal is to have this first post contain three segments which I have always been able to do for 80-90 minute movies. Right now we're at the 23 minute mark, the top screenshot is of the Invisible Man's first appearance! Who he is and how he got that way was revealed later on in the film so that will be in the next post. The Invisible Man had walked into the Tenpodo Jewelry store, it's where Kimiko Choshokabe had tried selling the Amour Tears necklace to the owner but turned down his offer of 5 million yen as she thought someone may offer a higher amount. But she's keeping the valuable diamond necklace at the shop for security reasons, this Invisible Man knew that. The Tenpodo owner was away on a trip, taking his place was the main manager Tnmimoto who is in the second and third screenshots above. The Invisible Man wanted to see the Amour Tears diamond but of course was refused by Tanimoto, he thought the man he was talking to was professor Nakazato for his business card given to him. However it wasn't the professor for he was still being held hostage, a furious Invisible Man peeled off his face bandages above and those special effects were effective in my opinion. The Invisible Man was going to torture Tanimoto until he opened the safe and gave up the valuable diamond but of all things a cat strolled into the office and began to whine as only cats can do. That brought some others from the store to see what was going on, the Invisible Man knew this robbery was a failure so slithered out.... obviously unseen!!!!

 But he left without his clothes and bandages, even an Invisible Man needs clothing as they too get cold. This still unknown Invisible Man ended up assaulting a drunk for his clothes on the streets of Kobe, sure he did that with a few others over the next few days and you can see the Invisible Man above without his bandages! This mysterious Invisible Man soon made the headlines in the Kobe newspapers though as I said the location didn't have much to do with the story. There's a man in three screenshots above wearing a hat and also has a mustache, his name is Matsubara. He's been assigned to be the main investigator on the Invisible Man case, first stop was the Tenpodo Jewelry store. Matsubara didn't have a lot of screen time but I liked his character and he did play a huge role in solving the case. He had visited the store because of professor's Nakazato business card though the detective felt it wasn't the professor who had become the Invisible Man and he was right on the money with that theory.

 Decided once again to have two medium sized paragraphs instead of one huge one. Next stop for the investigator was the Nakazato Research Institute, of course Nakazato wasn't there because he had been kidnapped, it was also why Kurokawa wasn't at the lab. However the other highly thought of protege Segi was and his role now became much more larger. Segi couldn't give Matsubara much info about the Invisibility Serum but said the professor told him it worked but there was no antidote. Matsubara did locate the professor's secret hiding spot but of course the serum and plans for it had been stolen by Kawabe and his thugs. But there were some details of Nakazato's research in his log with the main entry being there was no antidote yet for making someone visible again. There was one other major detail that was written in the professor's journal which is the second to last screenshot above and it said if Nakazato were to die then Kawabe would get all of his research and patents. After talking with Segi Matsubara rightfully thought that entry was bogus and Nakazato had been forced to write it, now the hunt is on for Kawabe who is such a slippery fiend. Not sure where we were minute wise in this movie but I'm thinking about 35 so this is a good place to end part one. If part two needs an extra paragraph or two that's no big deal and quite a bit did take place in this movie, much more than Yakuza flicks. So of course the next post has part two and the screenshots below are from what has taken place so far.