Black Line (Kurosen chitai) 64 years old

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.

Credits

Black Line Cast

Name Character
Shigeru Amachi He was 28, 54 years old when he died as Koji Machida
Toshio Hosokawa He was 4, 29 years old when he died as Goro Torii
Kyôko Ôgimachi
Utako Mitsuya She was 23, 67 years old when she died as Misako
Yôko Mihara She was 27, now 91 years old as Maya
Hiroaki Kurahashi as Detective Inoue
Hiroshi Asami as Kayoko (gay boy)
Reiko Seto as Reiko Onuma
Jun Ôtomo as Yukichi Tachibana

Black Line Crew

Name Department
Teruo Ishii as Director. He was 36 (81) years old when He died Directing
Teruo Ishii as Screenplay. He was 36 (81) years old when He died Writing
Ichirô Miyagawa as Screenplay. Writing
Michiaki Watanabe as Original Music Composer. He was 7 (now 57) years old Sound
Black Line poster
Black Line (64 years)

  • Release day: Wednesday, January 13, 1960
  • Runtime: 80 minutes