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Black Line
TITLE DETAILS

Black Line

1960-01-13 · 80 min · ★ 5.0

Crime

Freelance reporter “Scoop” Machida is hot on the trail of a prostitution ring called the Black Line, when he is framed for the murder of a young woman. Forced to clear his own name, the handsome journalist sinks deeper into the Black Line’s rotten swamp of drugs, prostitution, and murder and finds unexpected help in Maya, a steamy female gambler familiar with the neon-lit streets, shadowy alleyways, and seedy nightclubs he must navigate. The closest film in the Line series to classic American film noir, Ishii’s Black Line is a pulpy assortment of crime film conventions including the starkly expressionistic black and white cinematography by Jûgyô Yoshida, a jazzy music score by Michiaki Watanabe, and a sleazy screenplay by Ishii and Ichirô Miyagawa.

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Production details

Directors
Teruo Ishii
Production companies
Shintoho Company
Countries
Japan
Status
Released

Top Cast

Shigeru AmachiShigeru AmachiKoji Machida
Utako MitsuyaUtako MitsuyaMisako
Yōko MiharaYōko MiharaMaya
Toshio HosokawaGoro Torii
Reiko SetoReiko Onuma
Kyôko YashiroChiaki
Junko UozumiJunko UozumiKaneko Sano
Hiroshi AyukawaHotel manager
Yuji MunakataJoe
Jun ŌtomoJun ŌtomoYukichi Tachibana
Masaru KodakaPhoto seller
Ryuji MoriyamaTaizo
Hiroshi AsamiKayoko (gay boy)
Miho JoHotel maid Tokiko
Kuniko YamamuraKayo
Yoko NanbaraEmi Hamaguchi
Kyōko KatsuraKyôko
Keiko MinakamiSingapore (waitress)
Masayo YoshidaRanko Kuroki
Masao TakamatsuOld man at boat store

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