"The Woman in the Typhoon Area" 1948 movie review, part two

 

 Release Date: September 6,1948   Length: 68 minutes  Subs by electricEmotionz

Director: Hideo Oba, based on the novel by Ruiji Yanagisawa

 For these movie reviews try have them for lesser known films, you won't see any from the Godzilla franchise or any other known series. To date this may be the least known movie I've reviewed, there are 3-4 mini posts out there with some info about the movie but no regular review. The main reason for wanting to view this is because it starred the above woman Setsuko Hara who could be the most popular or known Japanese actress of all time, least over there she is. Will talk a bit more about her at the bottom of this longish intro section and will do more of her movies in the future.... perhaps my next review!

  Above was from the opening credits and I wondered what did the 1879 mean as it wasn't the year this film took place.

 Main Cast: It may be difficult to see it because of he fog and the lowish quality of film but that building on the right side of the tiny island is where 90% of the action took place. That building was a weather observatory and don't know why it didn't double as a lighthouse. There weren't too many main characters, four who arrived on the island who will be listed first below. Then the other five were the men stationed at the observatory but only the two had many lines or screen time. Very briefly the main story was of a boat with four smugglers ending up on an island where there was an observatory. The reason the gang stopped there was that they had only thirty minutes of fuel left and there were no other local islands. But on Kurashma they too had very little fuel but within 36 hours a supply boat would be coming, however also coming was a typhoon so the boat may not be arriving and the weathermen were stuck on the island with four smugglers!

Setsuko Hara as Kuriko Sato.... What a different role this was for Setsuko and had never seen her be a toughish character. Which is what Kuriko was as she was part of a small gang of smugglers, there were four others but one died early on it the film. Though she acted tough Kuriko was a caring person who had been a nurse in WWII, she seemed to be an excellent one so what a shame she didn't continue on with that career. Kuriko was orphaned at the age of eleven which may have been the main reason for how she turned out to be. She was the girlfriend of the below man Kijima and have no idea why as that man was such an A1 jerk.

Satoshi Yamamura as Kijima.... As mentioned the boyfriend of Kuriko and the leader of this small smuggling gang. Only because he is a tough talker as to me Kijima didn't appear to be much of a fighter or even that smart to be a leader, having a gun may have been the only reason he was the boss.... then again his henchmen weren't exactly Mensa types either!

 Eijiro Higashino as Yoshii.... What a creepy man he was and wouldn't trust him with your worst enemy! We ended up learning so little about him besides being a goon but at least a dedicated one, Yoshii also had a minor hump in his back.

Isamu Yamaguchi as Kataoka.... Though he piloted the gang's boat and wore a captain's hat he was far from one though did show more intelligence and respect towards others than his mates. That is until the forty minute mark when Kataoka attempted to make a move on Kuriko, when he was refused Kataoka tried having his way with her. Which ended badly as arriving on the scene were Kijima and Yoshii, after a short struggle Kataoka fell off a cliff into the sea and was washed away in the typhoon.

Jun Asami as Amano.... Radio operator for the Kuroshima Meteorological Observatory, back then operators used a device called a Radiogram which was very similar to a Morse Code machine. Amano had been shot by Kijima but it was just a flesh wound, he seemed to care a lot for Kuriko even though she was a smuggler, the feeling from her was mutual. Amano's radio was destroyed by Yoshii and Kataoka but had been repaired by the end of the day, unknown to Kijima Kuriko gave permission for it to be done..

 

Fuyuki Murakami as Takeda.... Leader of the observatory who would talk back to Kijima even though he constantly had a gun pointed at him! We got most of our info from Takeda such as the typhoon would be hitting the small island the next day, also that a supply ship was traveling to the island but may not come if the typhoon was too strong. Takeda also let the smugglers know that by destroying the radio it would make the Coast Guard come to the island though once again the impending storm may derail that.

 There were three other workers at the observatory who were Suzuki, Noguchi and Yamane. They did get a bit of screen time but always seemed to be in the background, all three were slightly important but couldn't tell you who was who! There was one other character whose name was Maki, he had been the fifth smuggler. In the opening scene when their boat was being chased by the Coast Guard Maki had been shot, a few hours later he died before the boat reached Kurashima.

 Will review two more movies, then take a break and recap a Sentai series from the 1970's but not sure which of the two I will do first as both look terrific. Also not sure what the next film to be reviewed will be and do have plenty of them so deciding can be a headache at times though a good one! So after the next one will be another starring Setsuko and I really thought that film had been reviewed many years ago but couldn't find the post for it, did I delete it? Have only seen this film once so forget almost all that took place but did recall it was quite a superb movie, it's from 1947 and titled "The Ball at the Anjo House". Do remember it was such an interesting watch as it took place less than two years after the war had ended, times were tough in Japan back them so many wealthy families had do give up much of their riches. That's what took place to the Anjo family who had one final bash at their mansion before they had to give it up. There's no official trailer for the movie but do have a mini clip of it below, Setsuko looks so different in this video compared to this film, as mentioned she played such a variety of roles and was 27 in age when this movie was released.

   

 

 Did talk quite a bit about Setsuko in part one, no need to for this post but will again when the above movie is reviewed. Also above is a screenshot of the typhoon hitting Kurashima, there weren't too many special effects in the movie and as mentioned many times the quality of film used making movies was subpar after the war but personally have never had a problem with that. Also say often how I rarely give grades for these older films as I just view them for their entertainment value and though not everyone has been a huge winner all have been worth watching. A few of the films have disappointed me though all were good, think sometimes trailers make you think a film will have more action or horror. Had no expectations coming into this movie which was a good thing to me and will say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. This movie was no masterpiece but the pacing was excellent and that's an advantage to a film not being too long as there's no time for filler. The story was solid and believable though the final few minutes could make you roll your eyes to an extent. So if you're a Setsuko fan highly recommend this film as the character she played was so different than most of her other roles but doubt if she does have any fans here or anyone who had ever heard of her!!!!

 Ended part one off at the 35 minute mark of the movie, there's 33 minutes to go yet took more screenshots from the second half as more seemed to take place. Would think you read the first post so you know where we ended off but will briefly describe the situation, it does help me doing that. There's four smugglers who ended up at a weather observatory on Kurashma, there was a fifth man who had been shot by the Coast Guard early in the movie and had passed away. The remaining smugglers didn't have enough fuel to take a long journey so had been drifting in the sea until coming upon this remote and small island. Which also didn't have much fuel but least did have some food and supplies for the thugs, three men and one woman. There's a massive typhoon approaching so the smugglers may be stuck on Kurashima for another two days, their plan was to hijack the supply boat coming to the island but the storm would delay that arrival for at least two days. The leader of the gang was a lowlife named Kijima who had shot the observatory's radio man Amano in the right arm which wasn't life threatening, will begin off with Amano and the only woman in the movie Kuriko.

 Kuriko may not have been an Angel but still thought she could have found a much better man to be a boyfriend than Kijima who really had zero redeeming qualities. After Kijima had shot Amano and destroyed the radio Kuriko had taken care of the injury and did a superb job as Kuriko had been a very competent nurse during WWII. This second half opens up with the top three screenshots, Kuriko went back to change Amano's dressings. It was very easy to see that the two had taken such a liking towards each other but of course neither could or did want to admit it. Above Kuriko did muse a bit about how she ended up the woman she became, at the age of eleven she had been orphaned and since then had been living by any means on the streets. So in a way the war was the best thing to happen to Kuriko and wonder why she didn't continue on being a nurse as they had to be in high demand. That was really it for us viewers learning about any character's past, as mentioned Kuriko was no Angel but sure she could have done so much better than Kijima and how did she hook up with the other smugglers? Being on an island had to be lonely if you're a man, in that third screenshot you did see Kuriko jumping into Amano's arms but don't think it went any further.

 It almost did for Kuriko shortly after as she went outside and strolled over to the steep cliff overlooking the sea. The rain and wind were really picking up but the brunt of the typhoon shouldn't be hitting the area for another twelve hours. With Kuriko gazing at the sea and musing about her misfortunes arriving on the scene was the smuggler and her mate Kataoka who to me didn't seem to be such a bad guy. It just occurred to me we never did hear about any of the crimes the small gang had committed, had they ever smuggled goods in from overseas or stolen goods from another boat? Kuriko was an attractive woman and Kataoka just couldn't hold back any longer as he really pressed Kuriko to have a quick tryst with him which she laughed at! That sent Kataoka over the edge, he quickly pounced on Kuriko and was about to have his way with her. But suddenly arriving on the scene was her boyfriend Kijima along with Yoshii, when Kijima saw what Kataoka was doing he flew into a rage! It was a very short scene of about ten seconds as the pair grappled with each other, the struggle took place close to the cliff's edge and Kataoka soon fell over into the sea to his death. That meant just the three of Kuriko, Kijima and Yoshii remained but they do have a pair of guns. Of course we've seen Kijima use his but also Yoshii had one and think his mates had forgotten all about that.

 That incident had taken place at night, now it's the next day and the typhoon should be hitting Kurashma in a few hours. But the weather is already brutal outside so even if they did have enough fuel there's no way the trio could have left the island on a boat and it also means the supply boat will be delayed for two days. Kijima's plan was to take out the crew of the boat and grab as many supplies as possible from the boat, hopefully it will be carrying fuel and if not perhaps the trio could hijack the boat? Which to me and Yoshii seemed like a long shot at best, there would be guards on the supply boat plus how many bullets could be left in Kijima's revolver? When Kijima had taken a brief nap the previous day Kuriko had allowed the observatory men to repair the Radiogram machine that Yoshii and Kataoka had damaged badly, it's now working. That was unknown to Kijima who wanted to completely destroy it but was talked out of it for now by the radio operator Amano and the observatory leader Takeda, the other three weren't much of a factor in the story. Amano said he wouldn't contact the Coast Guard about the smugglers being on Kurashima and would just inform them on the status of the soon to treacherous typhoon which at first is what Amano had done.

 The tensions on the island were rising rapidly for all realized they may be stuck together for another 2-3 days. Yoshii in a way almost seemed the worst as he swore he could hear the ghost of Kataoka crying out for help, the trio of smugglers had retired to a small sleeping cabin attached to the observatory. While they were there the tense weathermen pleaded with their leader Takeda to send a radiogram to the Coast Guard alerting them of the smugglers and it had to be done for who knows what the slightly crazed Kijima may do next. So in a screenshot above you can see the message Amano sent the Coast Guard but even so with the typhoon approaching could they make it to Kurashima? Though the five were worried about Kijima he would soon be out of action, while in that small cabin the storm intensified and the roof collapsed right on top of him though Kuriko and Yoshii weren't harmed. But Kijima was and had severely injured his arm, above you can see Yoshii telling his leader it's just him left to protect the trio and he would be no match if the Coast Guard or supply boat arrives. We're now getting very close to the end, need to view more seventy minute films as writing up this shorter review was a much needed breather.

 Think by now there was only a little over five minutes to go in the film but much did take place. With Kijima injured Yoshii knew he had no chance to come out on top if the Coast Guard arrived at Kurashima, he told the radio operator Amano he would grab Kijima's gun and give it to him. Yoshii wasn't betraying his evil leader who truly was a lowlife thug, by taking the gun away from Kijima could mean that Yoshii and Kuriko would come out of this situation alive and probably not get a harsh punishment. Kuriko had no clue what Yoshii had been up to but think she would have helped him out if she knew, Kuriko was just so tired of Kijima's evilness and in a way seemed to tell him it was all over between the two! Shorty after is when Yoshii began his plan, he did enter Kijima's room to grab the gun and this is when I realized Yoshii had his own gun, had forgotten because he hadn't used it since the opening scene. Think Kijima had forgotten all about that gun and you can see the pair facing off against each other above, both did shoot and hit each other with Yoshii dying rather quickly but not Kijima. When he fell to the ground because of his wound Kijima fired his last bullet, very sadly it nailed Kuriko and what a shame that she was about to die.

 The radio operator Amano rushed right over to her but there was nothing he could do for Kuriko and he did care a lot for her though Kuriko was a smuggler but perhaps not by her own choice. As she lay dying in Amano's arms Kuriko whispered it's a shame she hadn't met him three years ago when the war ended and if it had happened what a different life she would have led. A few seconds after Kuriko passed away and with that the movie also ended, you could say it was a bit cheesy with the four smugglers all killing each other and that includes Kataoka though it didn't seem overly dramatic to me. So that concludes this latest movie review and this was one I did enjoy quite a bit though not in any kind of obvious ways. Did discuss that in the intro and the story being slightly different than other crime films was a plus, it was also such a different kind of role for Setsuko. Many more screenshots below of what took place in the second half of the movie and as mentioned earlier haven't decided in what's coming up next and whatever it is you'll be seeing that review in about four days.