A glimpse of Kon Ichikawa's taste in the original "Ten Dark Women"

The strange relationship between Kon Ichikawa and Crazy Cats

The sub-control room of a television station is a small room with many machines and cables. In the noisy atmosphere before the show, Eiji Funakoshi is seated in a small gap, eating and waiting for the recording of the program to begin. When the actual performance begins, the members of the Crazy Cats are projected side by side across a CinemaScope screen in the studio and perform a short skit. This is a legendary group that also performs skits, with Hajime Hana as the leader and seven musicians including Tsutomu Ueki, Kei Tani, and Hiroshi Inuzuka.

The month after ``Ten Dark Women'' was released, ``Shabondama Holiday'' began airing on Nippon Television, cementing Crazy's popularity. Although he only appears in one special scene in this film, this scene was the only time Kon Ichikawa filmed Crazy Cats.

If that was all there was to it, it would just be a once-in-a-lifetime story, but in reality, Kon Ichikawa had always wanted to make a movie with Crazy as the main character. He was such a fan of Crazy's smart laughter that he considered himself the head of a private cheering squad, so he was envisioned to star alongside Shintaro Katsu in the 1963 social satire comedy ``Gendai War Monogatari.'' The main characters are drivers of dump trucks, buses, trucks, taxis, etc., who appear one after another and die in accidents due to reckless driving.In 1970, the story was slightly changed and the title was ``Buttsukero'', which is also used here. Although it was planned to be produced starring Ueki and Hajime Hana, it never materialized.

After that, Hajime Hana appeared in supporting roles in `` Pacific Hitoribocchi '' (1963) and Kei Tani in `` Kofuku '' (1981). Ueki and others were offered the role in Kaa-chan (2001), but unfortunately this did not materialize due to various circumstances. In the end, the collaboration between Kon Ichikawa and Crazy Cats only took place for just over ten seconds of ``Ten Dark Women'', but this is not to say that the collaboration between Kon Ichikawa and Crazy Cats took place in a number of Crazy Cats scenes. I can't help but think that even among the movies in which they have appeared, they condensed and reflected their sophisticated sense of humor.

Text: Guinea Pig Yoshida

Born in 1978. Movie critic. Another name is Ichiro Yoshida. He has written for ``Eiga Hiho'', ``Kinema Junpo'', ``Eiga Geijutsu'', ``Scenario'', etc. His books include ``Introduction to film criticism! ” (Yosensha), co-authored with “Film director Takeshi Kitano. ” (Film Art Company) and others

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“Ten Dark Women” Price: ¥1,800+tax

Publisher/distributor: KADOKAWA Co., Ltd.

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