The Beautiful World of Nikkatsu Action (1954-1971)

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

New thread here to discuss all the action as well as non-action flicks the studio Nikkatsu produced from its return to movie production in 1954 until the production stop in 1971 before changing their program pictures to the infamous Roman Porno line.

Over the last few years there seem to have been more and more releases of these movies from Arrow Films, Criterion, and a few others. While I'm sometimes baffled at the selection processes (especially with the Diamond Guys boxes from Arrow), I strongly hope this trend is going to continue and more western viewers will be able to enjoy some of the hidden treasures remaining from this period.

For myself Nikkatsu Action is probably the most fun and entertaining line of program pictures which got produced in Japan (note: this may not be ultimately because studios churned out literally thousands of movies beginning with the 1950ies, just too many of them to know for sure). I've seen much of what is readily available for home viewing from Nikkatsu of this period released in Japan and other countries and have also read a couple of books about this topics only released in Japan. Within this thread I'd like to give various insights into these pictures from a social, critical and also as much as possible production point of view.

I'm planning to basically work myself through this period periodically with an emphasis on the main male stars (for example: Films of Shishido Joe from 1963-1967) and also post short critiques of the films I just saw. This will take some time to get finished but I think these flicks are worth to be seen by a wider audience. Of course everyone here is more than welcomed to discuss the movies, stars, directors and everything else in relation to Nikkatsu Action.

Let's have some fun ^_^

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

Challenge for Glory (Eikou he no chousen; 1966, Toshio Masuda)

This is one of the later movies of the prime star of Nikkatsu from this period, Yujiro Ishihara. Yujiro churned out about 90 films for the studio beginning with "Season of the Sun" in 1956 up until "The World of a Man" in 1971. "Challenge for Glory" is one of the later films in the middle period of Nikkatsu Action ranging from about 1963 up until 1967. This was a very fruitful time for Yujiro in which many of his famous "Mood" action films were shot. In those he usually starred alongside Ruriko Asaoka and Nitani Hideaki. Just as the "Mood" within the name may suggest those movies had a more melodramatic base than many of the action flicks he starred in before, but more on that at a later point.

"Challenge for Glory" actually is not really a "Mood" action movie. Besides the three main stars of the "Mood" action films being Ishihara, Asaoka and Nitani there also are a few other motives which get repeated in these movies, like a kind of betrayal from the female character (usually in connection with Nitani) and a somewhat happy and sentimental past our main hero and heroine shared together. While Asaoka is the main love interest in this one both of the above mentioned elements do not really exist in this one.

More than a "Mood" action "Challenge for Glory" feels like a mixture of many of Yujiro's films up until this point together with a completely new note on top of it. Yujiro plays an ex-boxer rising up to the boss of a business empire. He manages to do so together with his friends played by Ruriko Asaoka and Tamio Kawachi. Alongside this process he gets into trouble with the yakuza who threaten to destroy his business and everything he has built up through his own hard work.

While the movie somehow feels like a combination of the "Salarymen" movies Yujiro shot up until about 1962 and the more straight action flicks he did before, there are also some melodramatic elements included. Completely new is the type of character Yujiro plays in this one. He played "boss" roles before, but in a more personal protective way, like in "Rusted Knife" or "I Am Waiting" in which he stares as a bar owner. In this one the boss role is much more active with a clear intention to dominate and build up a big business. Maybe reflective of the star himself at that time as the head of Ishihara Productions.

"Challenge for Glory" actually got produced by Ishihara Productions and only the distribution was done by Nikkatsu. The direction from Toshio Masuda is as usual really lively and interesting but overall all the different elements of the film don't add up to a great bigger picture. I'd say this one was quite enjoyable, but overall nothing too special. Interesting was the use of Jazz music throughout the whole movie without a theme song sung by the star himself (one of the view Ishihara movies without a theme song).


Yujiro as the boxer. An image well known even to western viewers from "I Am Waiting".


The guy on the left plays a somewhat Columbo-like police detective and has immense fun doing so. I can't remember this guy from other Nikkatsu productions but he really elevated every scene of the film he was in.


Our three main characters together after a fist fight with some Yakuza. From left to right: Yujiro Ishihara, Tamio Kawachi (should be a somewhat recognizable face to western viewers from the "Battles Without Honor and Humanity" series as well as from some of the films released in the Kurahara Koreyoshi Eclipse Collection).


Masuda and his cameraman at work. Like how this shot naturally lets our eyes wander to the woman in the background.


Yujiro and Ruriko together. Despite the "mood" element being more than thin in this movie shots like these let the heart of the fans run faster.


The final showdown is placed at an indoor ice skate hall. This is probably the best scene in the whole movie. Love the fog over the ice in this shot.

[enandalusiskhund An Andalusian Dog Find all posts View Profile Close enandalusiskhund]

Great thread! I have only seen what little has trickled into the west, but I will be following this with great interest.

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

Great thread! I'm more of a Toei guy, and haven't seen much of Nikkatsu Action, but it will be interesting to learn more about the genre.

What I've seen so far is a few Suzuki films, Criterion's Nikkatsu Noir set, and couple of other random films (like 3 Seconds to Explosion, a few of Hasebe's films, one of the rambling guitarist -type of films, but I can't remember which one, etc.)

I've had Velvet Hustler R2J dvd since it was released, but I still haven't unwrapped it. I also got Arrow's Gangster VIP set but haven't watched any of them yet.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Nice thread!! I watched the second DIamond Guys boxset the week before last. Odd choice of films, linked by comedy and their 'spoofy' nature. I enjoyed them, though I prefer the monochrome, moody, film noir style pictures that Nikkatsu made.

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

Nice that the thread got such a warm welcome! Thanks everyone ^_^

Great thread! I'm more of a Toei guy, and haven't seen much of Nikkatsu Action, but it will be interesting to learn more about the genre.

What I've seen so far is a few Suzuki films, Criterion's Nikkatsu Noir set, and couple of other random films (like 3 Seconds to Explosion, a few of Hasebe's films, one of the rambling guitarist -type of films, but I can't remember which one, etc.)

I've had Velvet Hustler R2J dvd since it was released, but I still haven't unwrapped it. I also got Arrow's Gangster VIP set but haven't watched any of them yet.

With me it's more of the opposite. From Toei I have seen most of the Pinky Violence films (love them by the way) and some of the later Jitsuroku Yakuza films but have rarely seen any of the Ninkyo films from the 60ies. Hope that I will be able to close this gap somewhere soon though.

Definitely go for Velvet Hustler and the first two Gangster VIP films. All three more or less masterworks of the genre in my opinion. The rest of the Gangster VIP series is still ok but can't reach the highs of the first two despite some good moments every now and then.

Nice thread!! I watched the second DIamond Guys boxset the week before last. Odd choice of films, linked by comedy and their 'spoofy' nature. I enjoyed them, though I prefer the monochrome, moody, film noir style pictures that Nikkatsu made.

I have the set at home but haven't watched it yet. I know two of the films already, Tokyo Mighty Guy and Danger Pays. I think they are quite ok, but as you said these are some really odd choices. If one knows more of the other films released with all the Diamond Guys even more so. Just hope that the set sells well enough for a third one.

Just to explain a little bit what I mean by odd choices. The Diamond Line originally consisted out of four starlets: Yujiro Ishihara, Akira Kobayashi, Keiichiro Akagi and Koji Wada. After Akagi died in a tragic accident on the set and Yujiro broke his leg skiing Nikkatsu promoted Joe Shishido and for a short time also Nitani Hideaki into the Diamond Line. Later Tetsuya Watari and Hideki Takahashi also got somehow promoted into the Diamond Line, but I am actually not 100% sure wether Nikkatsu still called it like that later on.

In set one there is one film starring Ishihara (Red Pier) and one film starring Kobayashi (first entry of the Wataridori series). The third one is a Suzuki B-Movie starring Nitani but actually long before he got promoted into the Diamond Line. I'm completely ok with the ones starring Ishihara and Kobayashi but just can't get why they chose the Suzuki one as the third movie. Even if they picked Suzuki because his name is somewhat known in the west there would have been better choices starring for example Koji Wada or even Nitani Hideaki after he got promoted. Still, I was happy to see this little early Suzuki gem.

The second set continues with another film starring Kobayashi in one of his more comic roles, but definitely not one of his more defining and another one with Shishido Joe, also with a more comedic touch. I think they actually made a good choice with the Shishido one because he was somewhat known for his comedic roles and Danger Pays definitely is one of the better not yet released comedies with him. As for the third one, I haven't seen it yet but it really seems more like an ensemble piece with Shishido only having a small part, but I might be mistaken?

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

In set one there is one film starring Ishihara (Red Pier) and one film starring Kobayashi (first entry of the Wataridori series). The third one is a Suzuki B-Movie starring Nitani but actually long before he got promoted into the Diamond Line. I'm completely ok with the ones starring Ishihara and Kobayashi but just can't get why they chose the Suzuki one as the third movie. Even if they picked Suzuki because his name is somewhat known in the west there would have been better choices starring for example Koji Wada or even Nitani Hideaki after he got promoted. Still, I was happy to see this little early Suzuki gem.

The second set continues with another film starring Kobayashi in one of his more comic roles, but definitely not one of his more defining and another one with Shishido Joe, also with a more comedic touch. I think they actually made a good choice with the Shishido one because he was somewhat known for his comedic roles and Danger Pays definitely is one of the better not yet released comedies with him. As for the third one, I haven't seen it yet but it really seems more like an ensemble piece with Shishido only having a small part, but I might be mistaken?

I'd guess the Suzuki film was chosen because of the fact his name is recognisable in the West. Actually, the Suzuki picture was my favourite in that set: I hadn't seen VOICE WITHOUT A SHADOW before and loved it. There are lots of clever little details within the mise-en-scene, such as the Hannya mask that crops up at certain points in the film.

TOKYO MIGHTY GUY was fine but meanders a bit in the middle before coming together at the end in a climax that anticipates THE GRADUATE by several years. The comedy is all over the place and the whole film, whilst enjoyable, feels quite unfocused (imo). DANGER PAYS was very good, I thought. Shishido showed a good talent for physical comedy in that film. Shishido's part in MURDER UNINCORPORATED is fairly substantial and important to the plot. That film takes a grapeshot approach in its humour and, in its tone, feels like a Peter Sellers film. In its plotting, it definitely reminded me of another (American) film from the same period, probably one of the Matt Helm pictures, but I can't put my finger on it at the moment as it's been a while since I've seen those films.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Definitely go for Velvet Hustler and the first two Gangster VIP films. All three more or less masterworks of the genre in my opinion. The rest of the Gangster VIP series is still ok but can't reach the highs of the first two despite some good moments every now and then.

I watched the Gangster VIP films pretty much back to back when the Arrow set was released a month or two ago, as I had to write a review of it, and found the first two pictures as enjoyable as I remembered them to be, and then the subsequent films (some of which I hadn't seen before) felt much like lesser entries - most likely because I watched the whole series in quick succession and couldn't help comparing them to the first two pictures.

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

I'd guess the Suzuki film was chosen because of the fact his name is recognisable in the West. Actually, the Suzuki picture was my favourite in that set: I hadn't seen VOICE WITHOUT A SHADOW before and loved it. There are lots of clever little details within the mise-en-scene, such as the Hannya mask that crops up at certain points in the film.

TOKYO MIGHTY GUY was fine but meanders a bit in the middle before coming together at the end in a climax that anticipates THE GRADUATE by several years. The comedy is all over the place and the whole film, whilst enjoyable, feels quite unfocused (imo). DANGER PAYS was very good, I thought. Shishido showed a good talent for physical comedy in that film. Shishido's part in MURDER UNINCORPORATED is fairly substantial and important to the plot. That film takes a grapeshot approach in its humour and, in its tone, feels like a Peter Sellers film. In its plotting, it definitely reminded me of another (American) film from the same period, probably one of the Matt Helm pictures, but I can't put my finger on it at the moment as it's been a while since I've seen those films.

From the first set I prefer RED PIER with VOICE WITHOUT A SHADOW and THE RAMBLING GUITARIST coming in at a close second together. Yujiro's role in RED PIER was one of the defining ones for his star image over the next few years after the film got released. Coolness just seems to pour out of him so effortlessly in this one. Some of the characters he plays have the problem of being rather one-dimensional at times, which is more often a problem of a rather weak script, but not so in RED PIER. Really interesting character and just made to be played by Ishihara.

Seems like MURDER UNINCORPORATED may be better than I expect it to be. If there is enough Shishido Joe I think that I'd be able to quite enjoy it. Let's see, have to watch it soon I guess.

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

Escape Train (Toubou ressha; 1966, Mio Ezaki)
This one plays in Japanese occupied Manchuria at the end of World War 2. Yujiro stares in one of his typical leader roles which do not let much place left for character development. ESCAPE TRAIN is kind of a lesser version of another war film he starred in before, THE ZERO FIGHTERS (Zerosen kurokumo ikka; 1962, Toshio Masuda). After hearing about the Japanese defeat Yujiro and his group have to escape to the sea to get back to Japan, but the only train remaining isn't quite in a condition to get them there. While defending the train station from Chinese soldiers they try to get the train running again.


One of many beautiful shots in this movie. Even if the plot and characters overall aren't that interesting and well played out most of the times there are at least some nice visuals or interestingly directed scenes to be found.


Don't think this guy was a Nikkatsu actor at the time. I remember seeing him in one of the later Kawashima Yuzo movies. He plays a Japanese disguised as a Chinese because he can't stand the Japanese Imperialism. He ends up grouping together with Yujiro and his men. He was the most fun and interesting character of the movie (on a sidenote, it's always fun when Japanese actors play a Chinese speaking broken Japanese, but I guess this is something sadly getting lost in translation).


Of course a female heroine/love interest can't miss in a Yujiro film. This time not played by Ruriko Asaoka but by Yukiyo Toake. She actually got featured in quite a few films together with Yujiro around that time, but was never really blessed with good roles to play.


The film features a few nice action scenes, especially at the end. The Japanese film industry still had some money left to produce these kind of movies back then.

[sukebanboy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sukebanboy]

Big fan of the NIKKATSU romn porno era....havent really seen much of anything from before this time.

Will definitely check out anything that is recommended in this thread though..

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

Hey guys! Sorry for the delay but since I was moving into a new apartment those last two weeks I had basically no time left to watch movies and of course even less so to continue or actually start my journey through Nikkatsu Action here. I will try to get at least two posts a week in here from now on, so without further ado let's start with an introductional essay about Nikkatsu Action.

What was Nikkatsu Action all about?

1. The Image of the Self
Just like I mentioned in my first post in this thread NIKKATSU ACTION got produced over a period of about 17 years lasting from 1954 up until 1971. Of course there was a big variety of different kind of movies, genres and subgenres, some even being quite distant from your typical action movie. That said if one watches more and more of these films one can't help but see similarities and basic core values and ideas shared by many of the movies Nikkatsu produced at that time. Just like the Western genre was (and maybe still is) for the USA, Nikkatsu Action can be seen as a kind of mirror of Japanese society at the time of its production.

The heroes of NIKKATSU ACTION are usually longing for a clear definition of the image of their selfs in comparison to bigger groups trying to control them. I will remark further on this in the coming movie reviews I am planning to write here in this thread, but one of the main themes of these movies could be stated as: Everybody of us should have a unique image of one's self which cannot be given to others.

One can find this idea played out in the RAMBLING GUITARIST series with Kobayashi riding on a horse against the sunset leaving back his love interest, just as much as in the later NEW ACTION films of the STRAY CAT ROCK series with Tatsuya Fuji and Meiko Kaji and their groups of young people not willing to obey to a structured and rigid society. Even within the early rebelling youth SUN TRIBE films based on stories from Shintaro Ishihara such ideas and values seem to be at the core of much what happens.

2. A World Not Here

Nikkatsu Action dominated the box office in Japan until Toei throw them off their the with their Ninkyo Yakuza films. In the Ninkyo films the heroes are usually in a kind of universal harmony with the world represented through all the Japanese symbols used throughout the films and the ceremonies which they take part in. The bad guy could be seen as a kind of “revolutionist” disrupting this harmony.

If you compare this to the Nikkatsu Action films the heroes are fighting against an evil world they don't belong to together with the help from ordinary people also from a world our heroes don't belong to. The purest example of this can be seen in the WANDERING GUITARIST series as Kobayashi after fighting off the evil gangster cannot stay at the farm and live a supposedly happy life together with Ruriko Asaoka. He rides away into the sunset not necessarily for other adventures but because it is the right thing for him to do in order to stay true to his ideals and beliefs.

Our hero therefore not seldom seems to belong to a world not here. This theme of a kind of otherworldliness also results into the often cited BORDERLESS ACTION or MUKOKUSEKI ACTION.

3. The Program Picture Idea

The last point I want to touch on is the idea of the program pictures often overlooked today. Nikkatsu Action films got produced en masse as program pictures with an emphasis on the main starlets and actors.

Take for example the WANDERING GUITARIST series which alone spawned eight releases over a span of not even four years. One cannot deny that by focusing on only single films out of their leaves a lot of interesting questions unanswered. I will elaborate on this topic further down the road but because of the repetitive nature of these films only discussing them in terms of plot and maybe cinematic techniques leaves out all the fun spectators had and still can have watching those characters embodied again and again by the same actors with different nuances and touches here and there. This actually is quite comparable to todays superhero movies to give a more graspable example.

Ok, that's it for today. Next up will be a rough outline on how I plan to work myself through those 17 years of cinematic gold :)

[47lab Guest Find all posts View Profile Close 47lab]

Very impressive start to this thread. I hope to learn quite a bit here. We're lucky here to have two English speakers (between you and Takuma) to cover Nikkatsu and Toei with such a nuanced and knowledgeable background. :up:

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

That's a great essay! Compact and informative. Looking forward to reading more.

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

Thanks guys! Here we go with the rough outline ...

Ok, so basically I am planning to work myself through this chronologically with the main focus on the male star system which more or less carried the production over almost the complete 17 years. This starts 1956 with the SUN TRIBE movies and the discovery of ISHIHARA YUJIRO up until the late 1960ies when this kind of system slowly but surely fell into decay and got replaced by the more group oriented NEW ACTION line in the early 1970ies. I roughly divide those 17 years into five different time periods as follows.

Return to Production (1954-1956)

After Nikkatsu returned to regular movie production in 1954 they had more or less the whole industry against them. In those first two to three years they produced much less movies than in later years and also the kind of output was quite different. There isn't much available from this time to view on home video, even in Japan, but the kind of action films Nikkatsu got famous for seem to have been quite rare at those days. The studio basically was still searching for an identity for their films which they finally found with the SUN TRIBE films in kind of rebellious youth films. I haven't seen much from this era beyond some of the work of KAWASHIMA YUZO (director of BAKUMATSU TAIYO-DEN, released in the UK by MOC, highly recommended by the way) and a few others like the films KON ICHIKAWA shot for Nikkatsu and so on. There seem to have been quite a few period dramas on the one hand and literature adaptions on the other hand. Both rather far away from the kind of movies which defined Nikkatsu throughout the 60ies. Beyond the SUN TRIBE movies I am not planning to focus much on this era, at least for now.

Early Heyday (1957-1958)

After the explosion of the SUN TRIBE films in 1956 Nikkatsu finally had a big star and a direction to go to, the youth film. The production of the SUN TRIBE films famously got stopped due to the influence of various conservative groups, but the company finally had a clear image represented by the young ISHIHARA YUJIRO. In those early days the variety of genres was still a bit more open and so ISHIHARA got put into youth dramas, period films, comedies and even musicals. The big uniting theme of all those could be seen as “Youth”. Nikkatsu was trying to make new films for a new young audience.

Looking at the action genre some early ideas and motifs got formed in this two years which dominated up until the very last film in 1971 before the turn to ROMAN PORNO. This resulted in many masterpieces like I AM WAITING, RUSTY KNIFE or RED PIER, but also some early KOBAYASHI AKIRA movies were quite defining in this era.

Golden Age (1959-1962)

From 1959 up until 1962 Nikkatsu was a dominating force at the box office. This clearly can be seen as the Golden Age of NIKKATSU ACTION. Countless amounts of actioners got produced each month usually featuring one of the four Diamond Group members ISHIHARA YUJIRO, KOBAYASHI AKIRA, AKAGI KEIICHIRO and WADA KOJI. The defining movie series for this era clearly is the WANDERING GUITARIST series by KOBAYASHI which lasted roughly up until 1962.

In the later years the Diamond Line got a bit diminished due to the sudden tragic death of AKAGI KEIICHIRO and the skiing accident of ISHIHARA. This was the reason Nikkatsu promoted the popular side players SHISHIDO JO and NITANI HIDEKI into the diamond line.

Age of Maturity (1963-1967)

After the box office highs in the early 1960ies Nikkatsu slowly got on a declining path within this era. One reason for this may rightly be the popularity of the Toei Ninkyo films which dominated the box office at the time. Despite that quite a few masterpieces got shot in this era too. Characteristics are a kind of experimental type of film finding its peak in the late Suzuki masterpieces TOKYO DRIFTER and BRANDED TO KILL. Also quite defining throughout these years were the MOOD ACTION movies usually featuring ASAOKA RURIKO and NITANI HIDEAKI alongside ISHIHARA YUJIRO in a more melodramatic kind of action film.

This also was the time for two new male stars, HIDEKI TAKAHASHI and TETSUYA WATARI. While HIDEKI represents the Nikkatsu Ninkyo films WATARI appeared in more classical actioners.

Revival (1968-1971)

At this time the Japanese movie industry was already in radical decline. The same was of course true for Nikkatsu. Seijun Suzuki famously got fired for making incomprehensible films symbolizing this kind of decline within the industry. Not only the box office numbers were down but also the star system was more or less failing at this time. One of the last big stars was probably TETSUYA WATARI with his BURAI series and quite a few other actioners. But on a more general level Nikkatsu tried to reinvent itself with the NEW ACTION line and a focus once again on youth and rebellious groups, but this time they didn't only shoot youth dramas but also added an action note on top of them. The most famous example for this is probably the well known STRAY CAT ROCK series.

Ok, that's it for the rough outline. Now I plan on chronologically working myself through those eras with a focus on the male stars. For example: ISHIHARA YUJIRO's MOOD ACTION films in the AGE OF MATURITY or KEIICHIRO AKAGI films in the GOLDEN AGE, and so on. The very next post will be about the SUN TRIBE films. To get a bit more specific I want to write about SEASON OF THE SUN and CRAZED FRUIT. The latter is quite of well known even in the west, so I will only focus on points usually not emphazised that much. About the first one almost no information has been given by western critics, so I am looking forward to fill a few gaps here :)