An Actor's Revenge
| An Actor's Revenge | |
|---|---|
 English poster | |
| Directed by | Kon Ichikawa |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Masaichi Nagata |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Setsuo Kobayashi |
| Edited by | Shigeo Nishida |
| Music by |
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Production company | |
| Distributed by | Daiei Film |
Release date |
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Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
An Actor's Revenge(Japanese:Tuyết chi thừa 変 hóa,Hepburn:Yukinojō henge),also known asRevenge of a Kabuki Actor,is a 1963 Japanese film directed byKon Ichikawa,based on a novel by Otokichi Mikami.[1][2][3]
Plot
[edit]Japan in the lateEdo period:Three men — Sansai Dobe, Kawaguchiya and Hiromiya — are responsible for the suicide of seven-year-old Yukitarō's mother and father. Yukitarō is adopted and brought up by Kikunojō Nakamura, the actor-manager of anOsakakabukitroupe. The adult Yukitarō becomes anonnagata,a male actor who plays female roles, taking the stage name Yukinojō. He wears women's clothes and uses the language and mannerisms of a woman offstage as well as on.
Twenty years later, the troupe pays a visit toEdo,where the men responsible for his parents' deaths now live. Yukinojō brings about their deaths, then, having achieved his goal, and apparently overcome by the death of an innocent woman who was part of his schemes but whom he became fond of, retires from the stage and disappears.
The events are coolly observed and sardonically commented on by the Robin-Hood-like thief Yamitarō.
Cast
[edit]- Kazuo Hasegawaas Yukinojō Nakamura and Yamitarō
- Fujiko Yamamotoas Ohatsu
- Ayako Wakaoas Namiji
- Raizō Ichikawaas Hirutarō
- Shintarō Katsuas Hōjin, the escaped convict
- Eiji Funakoshias Heima Kadokura
- Chūsha Ichikawa as Kikunojō Nakamura
- Narutoshi Hayashi as Mukuzu
- Nakamura Ganjirō IIas Sansai Dobe
- Saburō Dateas Kawaguchiya
- Eijirō Yanagias Hiromiya
- Jun Hamamuraas Isshōsai
- Toshio Chiba as Rōnin
- Masayoshi Kikuno as Yukinojō’s father
- Kōichi Mizuhara as Dobe’s retainer
- Shirō Ōtsuji as First Constable
- Tokio Oki as Second Constable
- Michirō Minami as First Townsman
- Yutaka Nakamura as Second Townsman
- Chitose Maki as Townswoman
- Eigorō Onoe as The Shōgun
- Musei Tokugawaas Narrator
Production
[edit]Mikami's novel had been adapted for the screen numerous times before, the first time byTeinosuke Kinugasa(1935–36), which also starred Kazuo Hasegawa.[3]The 1963 version was Hasegawa's 300th role as a film actor,[4]who plays both Yukinojō and thief Yamitarō. The screenplay was written by director Ichikawa's wife,Natto Wada,based on Kinugasa's 1935 andDaisuke Itō's 1939 dramatisations.[1]Yoshinobu Nishiokaserved as art director.[1]The voice-over narration was provided by famousbenshiMusei Tokugawa.[1]
References
[edit]- ^abcde"Tuyết chi thừa 変 hóa (1963)".Kinenote(in Japanese).Retrieved29 October2022.
- ^ab"Tuyết chi thừa 変 hóa".Japanese Movie Database(in Japanese).Retrieved29 October2022.
- ^ab"Tuyết chi thừa 変 hóa とは (Yukinojō Henge)".kotobank.jp(in Japanese).Retrieved6 February2021.
- ^Rosenbaum, Jonathan (14 February 2002)."An Actor's Revenge".Chicago Reader.Retrieved29 October2022.