Agent Shiranui (1960) User Reviews (9)

Evil blind masseur cheats, rapes and kills - No, it's not Zatoichi!

[ChungMo · 6/10 · 16 November 2006]

Quite surprised to find out that Shintaro Katsu had already played a blind masseur before he started the Zatoichi series, I was eager to see this film. Yikes, what I got was very unexpected.

The film starts out with a few scenes of the main character, Suga-no-ichi, as a blind child. The sightless scamp is already concocting schemes to swindle people out of money. Cut forward to Suga as an adult, now a priest working under the also blind head priest who is Secretary of Religious Affairs for the Shogun. Curiously all the other priests in this temple are blind, it's not explained in the film why this is. Suga gets sent out on errands by the head priest and he uses this as a chance to rob, swindle, rape and murder while wandering around Japan. Suga joins a band of thieves while running his own schemes independently. But foremost in Suga's mind is the position of Secretary of Religious Affairs and he hatches a plan to get it.

Shintaro Katsu is excellent in the role. A number of Zatoichi mannerisms are already present in his portrayal of the blind masseur. The film is well directed and photographed in black and white. Unfortunately, the character of Suga is so despicable that the film is tough to follow, only Katsu's performance makes it tolerable. There is nothing of the noble Zatoichi here. Also there's no sword work, this is not a chambara film at all. The film might have worked better if it was played with more humor and less rape, but it's rather serious about the whole story. The ending is a cop-out. Interestingly, Katsu's brother, Tomisaburo Wakayama, played a similar, though much less despicable, character in the "Wicked Priest" series a few years later.

Recommended for Katsu fans, others might want to rent a Zatoichi film instead.

Zatoichi on the Dark Side

[Bonz99 · 6/10 · 13 October 2012]

I only discovered this film by accident after watching over a dozen of the great Zatoichi series with Shintaro Katsu. As of this date, the film is available for free on Hulu, and titled "The Blind Menace".

This film, made in 1960, precedes the first Zatoichi by two years, but may have triggered the notion of a blind protagonist. In this, Shintaro Katsu is blind, but is not a swordsman like Zatoichi. Instead, he is an evil and devious thief and rapist, thoroughly nasty.

If you liked the Zatoichi series, this film is worth watching, if only to see a slightly younger Shintaro Katsu playing quite a different character than the good-hearted and humble Ichi that followed.

A Tale Steeped in Evil

[henri sauvage · 7/10 · 21 July 2013]

Shintaro Katsu plays blind masseur Suginoichi, a character who in this earlier film is, aside from his affliction and occupation, the complete antithesis of Zatoichi the honorable and big-hearted Blind Swordsman. An outcast born in poverty, even as a young boy he's an accomplished extortionist with big plans for his future. The film then follows Suginoichi as an adult, when a chance meeting with an ailing traveler who's carrying a large sum of money launches him on a Grand Guignol spree of murder, theft, betrayal, blackmail and rape.

I have to hand it to Katsu: Suginoichi has to be one of the most fascinatingly repellent characters I've ever seen. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He hates the world and everyone in it, especially women, and they'll all be made to pay. The lesson he's taken from life is that if he can rise fast enough, he'll be able to keep one step ahead of retribution for his evil deeds. And for a time, a long time in fact, he prospers, but in an ironic and highly appropriate twist, Suginoichi's comeuppance arrives when a nasty trick he played on the occasion of his first murder backfires at the worst moment.

If you watch this film expecting something like the Zatoichi series, especially if you're looking for dazzling displays of sword-play, you'll be sorely disappointed. If on the other hand you like dark period dramas, shot in the starkly beautiful black-and-white in which Japanese cinematographers once excelled, I recommend checking this one out.

It's Shintarô Katsu....and he's playing a blind masseur...but he sure AIN'T Zatoichi!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 17 August 2012]

Two years before he starred in his first Zatoichi film, Shintarô Katsu played a very similar character. He is also a blind masseur who travels Japan during the feudal period. But he is NOT a swordsman righting wrongs....nope...this blind guy is a one-man crime spree! This blind guy, Suginoichi, is a sociopath...a guy who steals, rapes and murders. He's sort of an anti-Zatoichi.

The premise isn't bad. After all, at times Zatoichi is just too nice to be true--so it's refreshing to have such a bad blind guy. But there is a serious problem with this. He is SO bad that he is also repellent--and it makes the show difficult to watch. Fortunately, the rape scenes are handled delicately and they don't show the rape (something they do show in quite a few Japanese films). But afterwords, the first lady kills herself and he is so cold and uncaring about his causing this--it makes you truly despise the guy. Then, only moments later, he's raping another woman! This seems to be beyond the limit for most viewers and I could imagine many turning off the movie at this point. I kept it on...as I was curious where all this would lead. Regardless, I can sure see why "Agent Shiranui" ("Blind Menace" or "Shiranui Kengyô") never became a series. And, if your thing is seeing Katsu raping ladies (and I hope to God it isn't), his later Hanzo the Razor series is right up your alley.

Well made and it ended well, but also quite repellent, that's for sure! I conclude with a quote from one of Suginoichi's partners in crime--"He's the creepiest guy I know. No one is safe when he's around!"

When a masseur goes bad

[Angel_Peter · 7/10 · 14 January 2019]

I did not really know what to expect when I started seeing this movie. It starts with a blind boy doing some mischievous deeds. It then cuts to his adulthood where he is a masseur. From here we really start to get to know him and follow his life. Rarely have I seen a character with no redeeming qualities and so cold.

Acting and story is quite good in this movie. Do not expect any sword fights or anything like it. It just evolve around Suginoichis life and deeds.

Would I recommend this movie? Well if you look for samurai action look another place. If you are looking for a disturbing story about a blind man then this may be a good choice for you. I would recommend it but it is not for everyone. And the main character is truly not a nice person to follow.

Proto Zatohichi

[ebiros2 · 7/10 · 3 July 2012]

Based on a play by Nobuo Uno, Shiranui Kenko is a story about Sugino Ichi who showed unusual talent in evil ways since his early childhood.

Sugino Ichi (Shintaro Katsu) was blind since he was a child, but he used his talent to commit crime to make his living. One day he meets Kurakichi, a thief, and he becomes part of his gang lead by Shiranui Kenko. He is ordered to refuse the loan request by Namie (Tamao Nakamura) - a wife of samurai Tojuro Iwai. Sugino Ichi tells Namie he will loan the money in exchange for him having an affair with her. Namie's husband finds out and Namie commits suicide. Next, Sugino Ichi schemes to kill his boss Kenko Shiranui, and take over as the the second Kenko Shiranui. His scheme seems to be succeeding, but not everything is going the way he expects.

Starring Shintaro Katsu, and his future wife Tamao Nakamura. Katsu plays a seminal role as the blind masseuse 2 years prior to his leading role as Zatohichi. This movie also was the first hit for Katsu, and established him as a bankable actor for Daiei corporation. Following year this movie was released, he marries his co-star, and his stellar rise to stardom starts.

It's a story about evil which sometimes plays the central theme in early Japanese samurai movies. Tamao Nakamura played a similar role of wife getting raped by a person she asks favor from in Daibosatsu Toge. Even with theme like this, this movie has lot of class and is high in artistry. It's certainly one of the better samurai movie from the early '60s, and is worth a watch.

''Eliminating a guy like that would be a public service''

[sonofthepioneers1967-710-623989 · 9/10 · 24 October 2021]

This movie has absolutely nothing to do with the 26 movie series of the great blind character Zatoichi, played by the fantastic Shintaro Katsu, who also plays a blind masseuse in this story. However, the director of this production, Kazuo Mori, later directed 3 Zatoichi films: ''The Tale of Zatoichi Continues'' (the second film in the series), ''Zatoichi and the Doomed Man'' (the eleventh in the series), and ''Zatoichi at Large'' (the twenty-third film from the series).

"The Blind Menace'', made two years before the character Zatoichi's first movie, is a very simple story about a blind man named Suginoichi who has only three goals in his life: to have lots of money, betray and kill everyone around him, and rape as many women as possible.

The first scenes of the film show the character as a child, doing something absolutely silly but disgusting, which made me lose the desire to drink the coffee I was having at that moment. And it is clear to viewers that that child has nothing good being developed inside of him, he is a disgusting, lying, thief, and absolutely mean child. When he becomes an adult, the character progresses in his crimes. In addition to continuing to steal money from others, he also performs a pseudo-massage that leads his victims to death. Now, in addition to being an uncontrollable serial killer, he's also a relentless rapist. As I said before, there is no woman in the movie who is free from being raped by Suginoichi. Lying, betraying, stealing, killing and raping is his life, apart from these ''sports'' of an authentic psychotic, life has no meaning for him. He just doesn't betray his own shadow because that's impossible.

There is a very interesting moment in the story when one of three thieves (not murderers, I must say, just steal), are horrified by the extreme meanness and cowardice that lies within Suginoichi, and then, as they walk away from him, one comments to the another that they should kill him: ''Eliminating a guy like that would be a public service''. Lol...And it's really true, I think it's the perfect phrase, and it sums up what Suginoichi is and deserves: a weed that deserves to be eliminated!

In the final 5 minutes of the film, finally a detective and authorities overpower the serial killer, and he is partially lynched in the street by a maddened and angry mob, and finally, the authorities take him to prison, and the film ends.

Aesthetically the film is very beautiful, I think Kazuo Mori made a very artistic work through the radical movements of his cameras, in some scenes, especially the scenes with the crowd. The photography is beautiful, a wonderful black and white and very well used. Ichiro Saito's music is also very convincing and in the moments of impact of the scenes.

Perhaps what disappoints in this film is the very character of Shintaro Katsu, who two years later would play Zatoichi, a character with a totally opposite nature from the serial killer Suginoichi. So, for those who have never seen "The Blind Menace" and seen the films of the "Zatoichi" series before, they are shocked by the cruelty of the Suginoichi character, after all, Katsu was marked as the figure of understanding, kindness and honesty, through the character Zatoichi. But we have to keep in mind that "The Blind Menace'' was made two years before ''Zatoichi''!

That's it, if you, like me, love the work of the fantastic Shintaro Katsu, you have to see this movie because it reveals that Katsu was an excellent artist and totally versatile. My only advice is don't drink anything during the first 10 minutes of the movie!

After watching all 26 Zatoichi films, it's absolutely horrifying

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 6/10 · 6 March 2021]

If you're a big Zatoichi fan like me, this might genuinely be one of the most unsettling movies you'll ever watch.

It'd be even worse than finding an old Avengers-style movie where Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo etc spend the whole movie acting like the droogs during the first 15 minutes of A Clockwork Orange.

But it does assure me we don't live in the darkest timeline, because in the darkest timeline, there exists one Zatoichi film and 26 Suginoichi films...

Are They Blind To His Schemes?

[boblipton · 6/10 · 17 October 2020]

Shintarô Katsu has been blind since birth. Even as a child, he knew how to use his blindness to manipulate people for his advantage. Now he is an adult, apprenticed to the Tôdô-za, the guild of blind men. He uses his apparent guilelessness to accumulate wealth as the head of a criminal gang. Can he gain control of the guild? If he does so, what are the limits to his power?

Katsu is best remembered for the innumerable movies and TV shows as Zatoichi, the blind swordsman. This Shakespearean sort of tale is an early role in the model, and it is very well done, with his early misdeeds keeping the audience wondering when they're going to catch up with him. It's based, like Zatoichi, on a germ of reality: a guild of blind men was established near the beginning of the 15th Century, and they were the only men permitted to become masseurs. Like all Japanese organizations, the few at the top could become extremely wealthy, while those at the bottom lived in terrible poverty.