Rusty Knife

1958 Japanese film

March 11, 1958 (1958-03-11)^[1]

Running time

90 minutesCountryJapanLanguageJapanese

Rusty Knife (錆びたナイフ, Sabita naifu) is a 1958 action Japanese film directed by Toshio Masuda.^[2] Rusty Knife was part of the Nikkatsu film studio's wave of Japanese noir films, made in order to compete with popular American and French films at the Japanese box office.^[3] The film became more widely available outside Japan only when Janus Films released a special set of Nikkatsu noir films on DVD, as part of the Criterion Collection.^[4] The other films in the set are A Colt Is My Passport, Take Aim at the Police Van, Cruel Gun Story, and I Am Waiting.

Plot

Yukihiko Tachibana is an ex-convict trying to begin a new life after he is released from prison. Unable to forget the rape and consequent suicide of his girlfriend, he seeks revenge against a crime syndicate while resisting the urge to kill again. Meanwhile, the district attorney Karita and his men try to build a case against the same syndicate.^[5]^[6]

Cast

Yujiro Ishihara as Yukihiko Tachibana
Mie Kitahara as Keiko Nishida
Shoji Yasui as Karita
Mari Shiraki as Yuri
Joe Shishido as Shimabara
Akira Kobayashi as Makoto Terada
Masao Shimizu as Shingo Mano
Noaki Sugiura as Seiji Katsumata
Toshio Takahara as Takaishi

References

^ (in Japanese) http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1958/ch001080.htm accessed 15 January 2009
^ "錆びたナイフとは". kotobank. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
^ Blakeslee, David (25 October 2010). "A Journey Through The Eclipse Series: Toshio Masuda's Rusty Knife". CriterionCast. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
^ "Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
^ 日活アクションの華麗な世界：1954-1971 第二章ヒーロー像の定着-興隆期の様相 p.32-50 5復讐の後に広がる孤独感-「俺は待ってるぜ」「錆びたナイフ」 ISBN 4624710878
^ "錆びたナイフ". Kinema Junposha. Retrieved 2 November 2019.