Song of the Night: Harbour-Town Blues (å¤œã®æŒè¬¡ã‚·ãƒªãƒ¼ã‚ºã€€æ¸¯ç”ºãƒ–ルース) (1969) [VoD] - 2.5/5
Part 6. Unremarkable but entirely watchable. Party girl Yumiko Nogawa wonders what to do with her life while dating guys left and right, and milking money out of old fool Hisao Toake. The fool's son Kyosuke Machida also has the hots for Nogawa and wants to marry her. Enter conman Tatsuo Umemiya (in a sailor suit he bought from someone) who tells every girl they are the love of his life. And then there's Yukie Kagawa who also wants her share of the old fool's money. This one's got some nostalgic 60s wild youth / young adults swing and a script by Masashige Narusawa (who wrote and directed the ninkyo masterpiece Flower Cards Chivalry, and penned countless Umemiya and Midori sex melodramas) - certainly not his best work but still better than average in the genre.
Song of the Night: Villain Blues (å¤œã®æŒè¬¡ã‚·ãƒªãƒ¼ã‚º 港町ブルース) (Japan, 1969) [TV] -2.5/5
Part 7. Umemiya is a former bar barker gone photographer whose pride still hasn't recovered from a girl he couldn't conquer. Young bloke Tani is now doing rounds in the same circles Umemiya used to. He is constantly getting in trouble either because of a girl or competition, or both. Then he falls in love with Umemiya's sister. Meanwhile Umemiya has made a fan out of “don't take no for an answer†Masumi Tachibana, much to the comical dismay of his mother. This film was based on a novel as opposed to a pop ballad, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. There's plenty of story but not much plot to speak of, nor does the film capture the nocturnal atmosphere the way some other in the series do. But director Takamori keeps things moving fast, the Toei gang are all here doing their thing, and Tachibana flashes her boobs once or twice. As harmless time waster this is not half as bad as Chris D. suggested. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi is credited as the assistant director.
Song of the Night: Woman (å¤œã®æŒè¬¡ã‚·ãƒªãƒ¼ã‚ºã€€ãŠã‚“ãª) (Japan, 1969) [VoD] - 4/5
Part 8, a hugely atmospheric nocturnal drama about bar girl Yumiko Nogawa coming across night hustler Tatsuo Umemiya. The film opens with devastated Nogawa pulling a knife on Umemiya. "Go ahead, stab me. I'll give you a present, a worthless life" he says with tired voice, before the film cuts back to show how things got to this point. Turns out Nogawa used to work as a hostess for a mean mama Yasuko Matsui and Umemiya, then light-headed little sister Tachibana arrived to complicate things. This is a visually intoxicating, remarkably well written (by Masashige Narusawa) and atmospheric film with great performances. Umemiya in particular is excellent as impulsive and tragic sociopath who is not in full control of himself. He is, in fact, only keeping up appearances while being too weak to leave Matsui. Director Takamori deserves credit for not fucking this up. The only weakness is that the films 2nd half, while good, doesn't quite have the same momentum as the 1st. But this is still a very good film, easily the best in the series.


Song of the Night - Street Woman (å¤œã®æŒè¬¡ã‚·ãƒªãƒ¼ã‚º 女ã®ã¿ã¡) (Japan, 1973) [TV] - 2/5
A little misleadingly titled 9th film. It could be a mistranslation of the Japanese title "A Woman's Path". Umemiya is a former racer seducing women with the help of desperate girlfriend Yutaka Nakajima, who poses as his sister. The first victim is Yukie Kagawa, who is seduced, slept with, and then dumped naked on the corridor next morning, to be "saved" by Ichiro Araki who then dumps her in a hostess bar he and Umemiya work for. Nakajima hangs with Umemiya until she's so hopeless she tries to kill them both. Ah, perhaps "Street Woman" was a less offensive title than "A Woman's Path" after all. The film's surplus of naked Kagawa (incl. topless catfight) plus the usual pretty production design help overcome what is otherwise an unremarkable effort with plentiful terrible comedy (by the musical group Pinkara Trio, whose song formed the film's basis, and who handpicked Nakajima for her debut role). Disappointing considering this was helmed by the king of breakneck entertainment Kazuhiko Yamaguchi during his sexploitation stint (1973-1974) between the Pinky Violence and karate eras. Note that this came 4 years after the previous instalment, while the previous 4 all came out in 1969.


Song of the Night: Tearful Love (å¤œã®æŒè¬¡ã‚·ãƒªãƒ¼ã‚º ãªã¿ã æ‹) (Japan, 1973) [TV] - 3/5
Part 10, with Nakajima again. Umemiya does not appear in this one. The base is an Aki Yashiro song written into a screenplay by Masashige Narusawa. Nakajima is a naí¯ve good girl who helps young yakuza punk (Tani) who bumps into her with a gun in his hand and a bullet in his arm. She's working in her mom's hostess bar (one of the girls is played by Yumiko Katayama) populated by horny customers and the mom's boyfriend who also has his eye on Nakajima. Before the tale is over, poor Nakajima's been bullied, harassed and raped (more than once). The more subtle tones of Narusawa's better work are nowhere to be found here, but Nikkatsu Action refugee Buichi Saito helms the film with swift pace (it's only 73 min), plentiful nudity by everyone except Nakajima, and the series' trademark top notch cinematography and production design. An entertaining B-film, nothing more, nothing less (the A-film, btw, was Takakura's Third Generation Yamaguchi Gang, Toei's no.1 film of 1973).


A Blood Stained Love Affair (Yoru no enka: Shinobikoi) (å¤œã®æ¼”æŒ ã—ã®ã³æ‹) (Japan, 1974) [VoD] - 2.5/5
The last entry in the Song of the Night series, still with Nakajima as the heroine. She holds on to her clothes (it took a Yusaku Matsuda to make them gone some 5 years later), so the skin is on the supporting cast. Nakajima is a wanna-be model affiliated with club mama Naomi Shiraishi. Shiraishi is holding on to her toyboy Toshio Shiba by feeding him with money. The money comes from rich geezer Nobuo Kaneko, to whom Nakajima's virginity is secretly sold. But then Shiba falls in love with Nakajima. Enter Tatsuo Umemiya, a sleazy photographer who takes photos and deflowers virgins, and we have a love pentagon. Unremarkable, but nevertheless watchable and trashy entry with plentiful sex and nudity. And it's got a sex-crazed Mexican wrestler in it! Surprisingly, it was helmed by Yasuo Furuhata. Notice the title difference: this was called “Ballad of the Night†(Yoru no enka) instead of “Song of the Night†(Yoru no kayo). However, considering the cast, crew, and concept (“based†on a Aki Yashiro song), it's safe to assume this was either the 11th and last “Song†film, or a failed reboot with a slightly altered title. Toei Channel's homepage and TV ads suggests the former.
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