Black Line

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.

Country:

Japan

Genre:

Crime

Duration:

80 minutes

Year:

1960

Director:

Teruo Ishii

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Company:

Shintoho Company

Cast:

Koji Machida

Misako

Maya

Goro Torii

Reiko Onuma

Crew:

Director

Executive Producer

Director of Photography

Lighting Technician

Sound Recordist