Ryutaro Otomo as the Edo magistrate Umon Kondo is out to solve a crime that centers around the murder of a jail guard & the escape of a criminal who is later himself killed. His dying words in Umon's arms were, "I didn't kill the guard." The murdered criminal had been a safe-cracker & only his girlfriend knows where he hid a fortune. She is kidnapped, so the plot gets thicker & thicker.
Acting
Ryutaro Otomo's weary moral authority anchors every scene.
Production
Gorgeously cramped Edo sets that breathe paranoia.
Writing
Layered plotting that trusts your brain, not your boredom.
Director
Toshikazu Kono
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Toshikazu Kono directed over 60 films in his career, yet remains criminally obscure outside Japan; this was one of his tightest mysteries.
The 'Umon' series spans decades of Japanese cinema, with Otomo playing the magistrate across multiple films like a period-piece Columbo.
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5.61959
6.51960
6.01961
1961
8.01962
1962
1963
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