Smallpox Tale (疱瘡譚) 49 years old

The smallpox virus has created its own unique atmosphere in Terayama’s film where the skin of a bandaged adolescent and the surface of the filmic image are subjected to a bizarre ‘disturbance’ as snails cross the screen and nails are hammered into the skull of the ailing patient. Illness in this film is as much a psychic entity as a physical one and manifests itself in an array of theatrical tableaux from grotesque women rigorously brushing their teeth to a snooker game where the players in white face makeup behave like automata. A Tale of Smallpox uses a medical theme to chart the traumatic dream life of Terayama’s times, evincing deep-rooted concerns in the Japanese national psyche that hark back to the upheaval of Meiji modernisation and the devastation of World War Two.

Credits

Smallpox Tale Cast

Name	Character
Keiko Niitaka She was 40, now 90 years old
Takeshi Wakamatsu He was 24, now 74 years old
Yoko Ran

Smallpox Tale Crew

Name	Department
Tatsuo Suzuki as Director of Photography. He was 40 (76) years old when He died	Camera
Shuuji Terayama as Director. He was 39 (47) years old when He died	Directing
Shuuji Terayama as Screenplay. He was 39 (47) years old when He died	Writing