INTIMIDATION (1960)

ある脅迫

dir: Koreyoshi Kurahara

Nikkatsu

March 23, 1960

95 minutes B&W Nikkatsu scope

Ko Nishimura as Nakaike

Nobuo Kaneko as Takita

Mari Shiraki as Umeha

A neat little crime noir film, director Korayoshi Kurahara has a good story here to go along with his exceptional framing abilities. You’d almost think you were watching classic Hitchcock.

Takita (Nobuo Kaneko) is a bank manager preparing to be transferred out of town for a promotion, when a mysterious stranger blackmails him into robbing his own bank. The perfect patsy is his forever underacheiving lifelong friend Nakaike (Ko Nishimura).

Of course, nothing goes as planned, and nothing is as it seems, and that’s what makes it all the more fun getting to.