{"id":30558,"date":"2025-01-28T23:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T07:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30558"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:00:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T07:00:12","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-underworld-beauty-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30558","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: UNDERWORLD BEAUTY (1958)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films is now\navailable for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seijun Suzuki is a Japanese filmmaker who got his filmmaking\nstart in the late 1950s directing B-movies. While it isn\u2019t unusual to witness a\nfigure work his way up the studio chain this way, in recent years his pictures\nhave slowly been gaining more and more attention from critics. This is because\nSuzuki had a unique style and, despite telling fairly traditional genre stories\n(many involving the yakuza), added unique and progressive elements that hadn\u2019t\nbeen seen before. Movies like Tattooed Life, Tokyo Drifter<\/em> and Branded\nto Kill<\/em> are now beloved by film aficionados in the modern era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underworld Beauty<\/em> is an earlier effort from the\nmovie-maker, but one that also carries many of his stylistic traits. Perhaps\nits most notable twist is the female lead, who, while naive, is strong-willed\nand hates being manipulated by mobsters. Radiance Films is now delivering an\nimpressive \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray of the feature from a 4K transfer provided\nby the Nikkatsu Corporation. Anyone that enjoys Suzuki\u2019s later works will find\nplenty to enjoy in this tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it doesn\u2019t take a lot of visual cues from the American\nfilm-noir genre, the story of this movie certainly has some similarities to\nthose pictures. Miyamoto (Michitaro Mizushima) is an ex-con returning home\nafter his prison sentence involving a diamond heist. He recovers and wants to\nsell the goods in order to help out Mihara (Toru Abe), a compatriot who lost\nhis leg during the robbery. But the lead\u2019s old yakuza chums, including Oyane\n(Shinsuke Ashida) want the booty for themselves. When a deal is reached to sell\nthe items, a double-cross results in Mihara swallowing the gems and hurling\nhimself off a rooftop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In order to recover the diamonds, all the characters get in\ntouch with the deceased figure\u2019s rebellious young sister, Akiko (Mari Siraki).\nEven her boyfriend Arita (Hiroshi Kondo) learns about the gems and wants them\nfor himself. Miyamoto is the only figure who feels obligated to protect the\nyoungster, even if she is a handful. Arita has no love for the mob and makes\ntheir goal extremely difficult. When they become aggressive, Akiko is prone to\ntalking back, leading to a showdown between all the characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What makes the movie different is that things don\u2019t play out\nin the expected manner. Many villainous characters are battling against each\nother and early scenes involve several trying to get a hold of Mihara\u2019s body in\norder to cut it open and take the riches. The diamonds move around town a great\ndeal, resulting in some entertaining intrigue. And the extended climactic\nshootout is entertaining, as all the characters open fire on various floors\nwithin the villain\u2019s complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reviewer, Akiko is less of a femme fatale here than\na complete wild card. Young, impulsive and naive, she works as a nude model and\ndrinks heavily. This woman has no fear of the yakuza members early on, and her\ndisagreeable manner with all parties leads to lots of unusual interactions.\nWith the assistance of Miyamoto, she eventually comes around to understanding\nthe danger she is in, but this character is complex and atypical of those in\nthese types of pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a good crime film with impressive widescreen\nphotography and a few unique elements that help it stand out. While even more\nsuspense could have been eked out of the diamonds hidden in a dead body\nscenario (I can actually see a remake of this movie being a worthwhile\nendeavor), what does occur is still exciting and a lot of fun to watch. And\nAkiko\u2019s unpredictable behavior adds to the tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The disc image looks decent. There is some grain here and\nthere, but a lot of it is very impressive and this is likely as strong as the\nmovie has ever looked. I particularly enjoyed the dark and moody lighting in\nthe sewer tunnels, as well as the lighting in the mannequin manufacturing\nfacility. This is also true of the finale, which is partially set in a\nbuilding\u2019s coal-filled furnace area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bonus features are also impressive. Shortly after Underworld\nBeauty<\/em>, Suzuki made a 40-minute short called Love Letter<\/em> aka Rabu\nReta<\/em>, that is also included. It\u2019s an unusual effort about a nightclub\nmanager who falls for a musician. She\u2019s in love with a ranger in the mountain\nwilderness and sets out to find him when she stops receiving his letters. For a\nromantic drama, it has an eerie quality This short features some gorgeous\noutdoor photography with the camera often moving through uneven, snow-covered\nareas. The picture is a little spottier here than with the main feature, but\nthe feature is so rare that the filmmaker\u2019s enthusiasts will be forgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A commentary track is included, which talks about how this\nproject came together. It suggests there are many elements here that would be\nfurther developed and used in Tokyo Drifter<\/em>, making it all the more\ninteresting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an interview with a film historian on Underworld\nBeauty<\/em>.  She focuses on the character of Akiko and how modern she is\ncompared to other female roles during this era. We see a young woman who\ndrinks, is comfortable with her body and quite pro-active in giving the yakuza\n(and others) a piece of her mind. She notes some of Akiko\u2019s unique traits, like\nher inability to stay still within the frame, as more original and progressive\nelements. The speaker also notes that the film was advertised in a\nless-than-truthful manner. While the title, poster image and a publicity photo features\nAkiko holding a tommy-gun and dressed like a dancer, nothing like this actually\noccurs in the movie. It was simply a way of luring viewers into the theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally, the disc contains trailers for both projects. And\nthere is an insert booklet with writing on the film and an archival review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underworld Beauty<\/em> is a sort-of film-noir that makes\nan impression by doing everything just a little differently than it might be in\na Hollywood (or even Japanese) studio picture. These little alterations make it\ncompelling and keep viewers guessing over the running time until its memorable\nfinale. The Blu-ray will please the director\u2019s enthusiasts and provides fun\nextras that cannot be found anywhere else. It\u2019s worth checking out.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films is now available for purchase. Seijun Suzuki is a Japanese filmmaker who got his filmmaking start in the late 1950s directing B-movies. While it isn\u2019t unusual to witness a figure work his way up the studio chain this way, in recent years his pictures have slowly been gaining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[87,697,2933,2939,3067,4910,6251,10385,13197,13879,14123,16584,17914,23533,23534,23535,24579],"class_list":["post-30558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-87","tag-action","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray","tag-crime","tag-drama","tag-japan","tag-mari-shiraki","tag-michitaro-mizushima","tag-mobster","tag-radiance-films","tag-seijun-suzuki","tag-underworld-beauty","tag-underworld-beauty-blu-ray-review","tag-underworld-beauty-review","tag-yakuza"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}