Underworld Beauty (1958)

Underworld Beauty, released in 1958, is one of Seijun Suzuki’s very early film noir-inflected yakuza/crime movies made for Japan’s Nikkatsu Studio.

It doesn’t have the wild visual extravagance and experimental boldness of his masterpieces Branded to Kill (1967) and Tokyo Drifter (1966) but don’t be put off by that. In its own way it’s a very cool visually impressive movie with at least a touch of Seijun Suzuki craziness.

Miyamoto (Michitarô Mizushima) has just been released from prison. His first act was to retrieve something very important. A bag of diamonds. He needs them to pay a debt. Not a monetary debt.

Three years earlier he was involved in a robbery. As a result his friend Mihara (Tôru Abe) was crippled. Miyamoto needs to make amends. He may also need to make amends to Mihara’s kid sister Akiko (Mari Shiraki).

Now the diamonds are gone. Well not exactly gone. Everyone knows where they are. Retrieving them will be the problem.

There are assorted yakuza chasing after the diamonds. Akiko’s artist boyfriend wants them as well. The current location of the diamonds introduces the hint of craziness. The plans devised to get hold of the stones add more craziness.

There is a very important fact about diamonds which on two separate occasions becomes a vital and very clever plot point.

These noirish crime movies were hugely popular in Japan in the late 50s and on into the 60s. Arguing about whether these movies such as Underworld Beauty qualify as pure noir is fairly pointless. They were clearly immensely influenced by film noir. The Japanese were able to capture the feel and the look of film noir perfectly - both thematically and aesthetically noir appealed to Japanese filmmakers, and Japanese audiences shared that taste.

In an American movie Miyamoto might have been a man in search of redemption but that’s a rather western Christian concept. Miyamoto is Japanese and he’s a yakuza. He has incurred a debt to Mihara and it must be repaid. That is the yakuza code, which was the yakuza version of the warrior code of bushido. If you owe a man a debt and cannot repay it directly you can repay it to his family. Miyamoto cannot repay Mihara, so it is proper to discharge the obligation to Mihara’s sister. The fact that he does not approve of Akiko is entirely irrelevant. The debt must be paid.

Michitarô Mizushima is excellent. Mari Shiraki is a delight as Akiko - it’s an energetic playful performance. Akiko is not a femme fatale. She’s not a good girl and she’s not a bad girl. She’s just a bit wild but her more likeable side slowly becomes apparent. She’s still a prickly character but (like Miyamoto) we start to admire her spirit.

There are certainly plenty of noir ingredients but there’s also a marked touch of absurdism. Not the touches of surrealism that we get in later Suzuki movies but more a low-key absurdism at time verging on black comedy.

The most remarkable thing about this movie, given that it comes so early in his career, is just how very very Seijun Suzuki it is. It’s not as flamboyant as his great mid-60s films but it’s filled with Suzuki touches and it’s consistently visually exciting. He just had a knack for making every shot look interesting.

It’s shot (beautifully) in black-and-white in the ’scope ratio, a combination that always works for me.

There’s an absolutely superb climactic extended action set-piece.

Despite the noirish touches Underworld Beauty is not quite film noir. It’s a crime movie that is hard-edged at times but with a few romantic touches and it’s just unconventional enough to be really interesting. It’s a truly wonderful movie and it’s very highly recommended.

The Radiance Blu-Ray looks lovely.

I’ve reviewed Suzuki’s two masterworks, Branded to Kill (1967) and Tokyo Drifter (1966) and another of his excellent early Nikkatsu noirs, Take Aim at the Police Van (1960).

And I’ve reviewed other Japanese noirs from this period - the magnificent A Colt Is My Passport (1967), Rusty Knife (1958) and I Am Waiting (1957).