A Double Feature at the Laputa Asagaya!

Signage for the Laputa Asagaya's Yuzo Kawashima Retrospective. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Tonight -- that's Thursday, March 2 -- I returned to the Laputa Asagaya a bit earlier than I expected. A new film program has started, the Yuzo Kawashima Retrospective. As you've probably gathered, the retrospective focuses on the career of director Yuzo Kawashima. Tonight's film was a 35mm print of Romance Express (1961), a comedic ensemble featuring several notable Toho performers. I've wanted to see the film for a while, having seen some publicity stills that make the flick look like a lot of fun. The timing was good, so I went to the theater to check it out.

Publicity material for Romance Express (1961) in the theater lobby. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The film stars Frankie Sakai, who in the story is in a relationship with the leading lady, Reiko Dan. Sakai plays a cook working the dining car of a Kodama limited express train, and Dan plays a waitress who also works on the train. There's a bit of a love triangle involving Yumi Shirakawa, who plays a train attendant.

Reiko Dan wants to marry Frankie Sakai, but, because she wants to open a bento shop after they get married, Sakai isn't sure about the proposal. So he has six and a half hours -- the time it takes for the train to travel from Tokyo to Osaka -- to make his decision.

In addition, a lot of assorted kookiness takes place on the train, including the shenanigans of a lecherous company president, a loud, drunken weirdo, and pickpocket gang. If that weren't enough, there's also a bomb scare to top things off. 

If that sounds even remotely serious, don't worry; it's not. In fact, Frankie Sakai has a slapstick fight with the pickpockets toward the end of the movie, complete with over-the-top, cartoonish sound effects. It's all done for entertainment and laughs. The movie is presented in black and white, but I think a movie this metaphorically colorful would have easily benefited from some literal color.

Oh, and I briefly spotted Shigeo Kato standing on a train platform and Haruo Nakajima as the Kodama driver. Fun stuff!

A Romance Express poster in the theater lobby. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Another note of interest is that the score was composed by Riichiro Manabe. Kaiju fans typically don't think of Manabe as having scored Toho movies during the golden age, but here's an example of his having done just that. The score itself matches the light-hearted tone of the proceedings, and it even reminded me a bit of the score to Roger Corman's The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) in places. 

The last scene takes place completely without dialogue. The camera is positioned outside the train, so the audience can only see the action take place inside the train, but it follows the characters as they move around inside. In this scene, Frankie Sakai gives Reiko Dan his answer about their getting married. It's all cleverly done, and it's a fun visual experience.

After the movie, I decided to hang around and catch another screening of Goke Body Snatcher from Hell (1968) -- again, in glorious 35mm -- as part of the Science Fiction Film Festival. Even though I literally just saw it a few days ago, I was up for another screening. I don't have anything to add to my blog post from a few days ago, other than to say I never got bored watching it again so soon after the last time and enjoyed it immensely again. What a great film!