Ghost of Hanging in Utusunomiya

Although unusually elaborate in some of its set pieces, The Ceiling at Utsunomiya is similar to many chambara films of its period. However, it's the first of Nobuo Nakagawa's movies to include a ghost (albeit very briefly), and introduces several of the devices the director was to repeat in later films as he became more involved in supernatural tales, such as snakes, bloody head wounds, facial disfigurement, vengeful spirits, an ambivalent attitude towards samurai and lengthy tracking shots.

Ah, there's dark doings afoot. It's a plot to replace the Shogun with his brother on his visit, which will elevate the standing of the local lord. Hiroshi Ogasawara is wandering around. He's always the polite fellow, but he seems to attract hordes of ninjas, who chase him endlessly, so he can chop them up into flinders. He's also in love with local wild girl Akemi Tsukushi, and aided by beautiful serving wench Konomi Fuji, who is dazzled by his good manners.

It's rather hard to tell what's going on, because there are a large number of red herrings in this plot which fail to distract Our Hero. Things that are clues or red herrings include a masked assassin and a local merchant, disappearing woodworkers, a kidnapped young woman in a palanquin, a prisoner who escapes to fall down a well and turn into a ghost, people toiling in a stone quarry, and a lot of cats. Some of these intersect with Ogasawara. Some do not. It is impossible to tell until the end which is which. Also, it begins in the middle of things, then flashes back for about three quarters of it. Thus, the mystery of what is supposed to happen may or may not distract the detective, but they do distract the audience.

Visually it's quite lovely, especially the darling outfit the Shogun wears. As a mystery story, it's patently poor, and in the end, everything happens because after sending in someone to investigate, no one listens. The denouement is excellent, though.