The first feature-length theatrical film shot in Konicolor, The Green Music Box is based on the eponymous novel by Makoto Hojo. A musical action film for children, the movie typifies Umetsugu Inoue’s creative use of color. It also marked the debut of fourteen-year-old Ruriko Asaoka, whose character becomes entangled with a spy trying to steal her father’s secrets. The cast also includes the talented comedian Frankie Sakai. Asaoka would sustain a career in Nikkatsu action and melodrama pictures through the following decades, while Sakai brought his inimitable sly humor to a number of Yuzo Kawashima’s vibrant dark comedies. Description adapted from Il Cinema Ritrovato. (Dir.: Umetsugu Inoue, Japan, 1955, 90 min., 35mm, Japanese with English subtitles)
Restored 35mm Konicolor print from the Collection of the National Film Center, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Image © 1957 Nikkatsu