Shinshaku Yotsuya kaidan: kôhen

THis is the second half of a two-part movie. It follows THE YOTSUDA PHANTOM. Ronin Ken Uehara and gangster Osamu Takizawa, have just killed Kinuyo Tanaka in a horrifying fashion, and gotten rid of a witness or two. They've sunk the bodies..... but apparently the lady's spirit haunts her sister (also played by Miss Tanaka) and Uehara. The murderers' plans gradually disintegrate under a a police investigation and Uehara's apparent insanity. Will Takizawa wind up killing everyone?

It's based on a play by Nanboku Tsuruya (1759-1829), a kabuki playwright given to supernatural and macabre themes. This was turned into a movie several times, beginning with a silent version in 1925. Although director Keisuke Kinoshita did not write the screenplay, he had a fondness for kabuki, and made a couple of other movies that show the form's influence, particularly THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA; the strong moral components and violent themes seem to have resonated with him.

Kinoshita's 1949 adaptation of the classic story is essentially a melodrama about villains doing anything they can to get ahead, with a guilt melodrama as the psychological basis for the ostensible "supernatural" element. The latter really does not come into play until the very end of part two of this two-part movie, and even then it's merely a punctuation mark at the conclusion of the two and a half hours that precedes it.

Nakagawa's 1959 version of the tale is far better in every way. The 1949 version is too long and slowly paced, the score is too melodramatic, the melodrama itself is overwrought, as is the acting. The one thing this version has going for it are a good many beautiful tracking shots, which is the movie's defining stylistic characteristic.

Regarding the pacing, I have no problem with long movies. The problem here is that Kinoshita's attempt at telling this story is not methodically or deliberately paced; it is fidget-inducing. At least 40 minutes could have been edited out with nothing lost in terms of story, theme, character development, or visual appeal.

On the other hand the 1959 version is beautiful to look at, very well acted and edited, with a subtle score that punctuates the the mood and action without overwhelming it.

I can't imagine sitting through Kinoshita's film a second time, whereas I've seen Nakagawa's version twice and would buy it if it ever gets a decent Blu-ray release. (As of this writing, September 2021, both versions are streaming on the Criterion channel but neither has a Criterion disc release.)