THE MERCILESS TRAP

 

This is a 1961 noir film made by Japan's Toho Studios. I discovered it on the Internet Archive, in an English-dubbed version with English main titles. Very few non-Kaiju Toho films were given the status of an English-language version. I assume THE MERCILESS TRAP got this distinction due to its being very much like the gritty low-budget American crime films of the 40s and 50s. (The original Japanese title of this movie is NASAKA MUYO NO WANA.) 

Makato Sato plays Ninomiya, an ex-con who makes his living driving a dump truck. Ninomiya is under suspicion of having murdered the call girl he was with the night before. A sympathetic inspector (Ichiro Nakatani) takes Ninomiya to the morgue and shows him the woman's corpse, but the truck driver is shocked to find that it is not who he spent the night with. Ninomiya knows that the police will doubt his story, so he goes off to find the actual woman (Kumi Mizuno)--a woman he happens to be infatuated with, even though he knows almost nothing about her. That woman, named Masako, happens to have plenty of troubles of her own....and both she and Ninomiya are pawns in a criminal game they know nothing about. 

THE MERCILESS TRAP has plenty of noir-like features, with its grimy, working-class settings, stark black & white photography, ex-con protagonist suspected of a crime he didn't commit, and a mysterious woman who holds the protagonist's fate in her hands. Toho giant monster fans will appreciate THE MERCILESS TRAP for its acting lineup of Kaiju veterans, such as Akihiko Hirata playing the role of Ninomiya's boss and Mie Hama in a small role. Director Jun Fukuda would go on to helm many Godzilla adventures himself. 

Makato Sato also showed up in plenty of Kaiju features, usually as a gangster or a bad guy. Here he gets the lead role, and I must say he's rather over-exuberant in it. One can understand why he's so emotional, but if anything it makes his character look even more guilty. Cult legend Kumi Mizuno gives a great performance as Masako, a young woman who has important reasons for being mysterious. 

Watching THE MERCILESS TRAP makes one realize how easily film noir could be transferred to another country. This is a Japanese film, but it has an urban feel and plenty of characters trying to get through life the best way they can. The jazzy, soulful music score by Kenjiro Hirose adds to the atmosphere. 

Noir and Kaiju fans will appreciate THE MERCILESS TRAP. It is a fine showcase for Kumi Mizuno, proving that she could hold her own in a mainstream drama that didn't have any genre elements.