Kaidan (1964)

Country of Origin: Japan
Year of Production: 1964
Running Times: 125m (USA)/164m (Japan)
Length: 10,800 ft (UK)
Format: 35mm/Tohoscope
Colour Format: Eastmancolor
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Masaki Kobayashi

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Bungei / Ninjin Club / Toho Company Ltd / Toyo Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Producer: Shigeru Wakatsuki

SCRIPT
Script: Yoko Mizuki
Book: Lafcadio Hearn

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Yoshio Miyajima
Lighting: Akira Aomatsu

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Hisashi Sagara

MUSIC
Music: Toru Takemitsu

SOUND
Sound: Hideo Nishizaki
Sound System: Western Electric Recording

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Shigemasa Toda (real name: Jusho Toda)

CAST

KUROKAMI
Rentaro Mikuni (husband)
Michiyo Aratama (1st wife)
Misako Watanabe (2nd wife)
Ranko Akagi (mother)
Kenjiro Ishiyama (father)

YUKI-ONNA
Tatsuya Nakadai (Mi nokichi)
Keiko Kishi (Yuki the Snow Maiden)
Yûko Mochizuki (Minokichi's mother)
Noriko Sengoku, Kin Sugai (village women)

MIMINASHI HOICHI NO HANASHI
Katsuo Nakamura (Hoichi)
Tetsuro Tamba (warrior)
Yoichi Hayashi (attendant)
Takashi Shimura (head priest)
Kunie Tanaka (Yasaku)

CHAWAN NO NAKA
Kanemon Nakamura (Kannai)
Osamu Takizawa (author / narrator)
Seiji Miyaguchi (old man)
Ganjiro Nakamura (publisher)
Noboru Nakaya (Shikibu Heinai)
Kei Sato (ghost samurai)
Haruko Sugimura (madame)
Jun Tazaki

PLOT SUMMARY

Four ghostly tales: 1: Kurokami: a samurai leaves his wife and marries the daughter of a wealthy lord. Year's later, still haunted by his first wife's devotion, he returns to their home and finds that she's still there in their old house, now a squalid near-ruin. But she has a terrible surprise for her unfaithful husband. 2: Yuki-onna: An ageing woodcutter is saved from a blizzard by an ice spirit who makes him swear never to tell anyone about her. But as time passes, her maries, raises and family and forgets his promise... 3: Miminashi Houichi no hanashi: a blind biwa player is called on to perform for a ghostly army of samurai warriors. 4: Chawan no naka: a samurai is haunted by a ghost whose face he saw in a cup of tea. (Full Synopsis)

Japan
Theatrical Distributor: Toho Company Ltd
Video Distributor: Toho (TLL-2476)

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Orb
Video Distributor: PVG; Tartan Video (TVT 1157)

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Continental Distributing Inc
Video Distributors: Something Weird; Video Yesteryear; Filmfax; Sinister Cinema; Nostalgia
Laserdisc Distributor: Criterion
DVD Distributor: Criterion Collection (KWA 020)

Argentina
Rating: 16

Finland
Rating: K-16

UK
Rating: X; 15; A (Yuki-Onna sequence, released as a stand alone short)

USA
Video Distributor: New York Film Annex

1964
December
29: Japan – theatrical release

1965
May
18: France - shown at the Cannes Film Festival

July
15: USA – theatrical premiere

November
22: USA – theatrical release

1977
October
14: Finland - Part 1 theatrical release

1978
September
8: Finland - Part 2 theatrical release

1979
April
8: UK - shown at the Electric Cinema Club, London

2000
September
19: USA - DVD Distributor: Criterion Collection (KWA 020)

2002
September
6: Argentina – shown at the De Kurosawa a Kitano: 50 años de Cine Japonés

Ghost Stories - US title
Kwaidan - kauhun kasvot – Finnish title
Kwaidan - Argentine / UK / US title
El más allá - Spanish title
Verisen kuun tarinoita myrskyn jälkeen – Finnish title
Weird Tales

PERIODICALS

Cinema vol.3 no.2 (March 1966) p.50 (USA)
illustrated review (by Roy Guy)

Cinéma no.101 (December 1965) p.109 (France)
review

Cinématographie Française no.2135 (6 November 1965) p.20 (France)
review

Classic Images no.127 (January 1986) p.57 (USA)
illustrated review (by Albert Manski)

Daily Cinema no.9401 (28 July 1967) p.8 (UK)
review (by Margaret Hinxman)

Film Daily vol.127no.91 (12 November 1965) p.22 (USA)
review

Films in Review vol.17 no.1 (January 1966) pp.48-49 (USA)
review (by Diana Willing Cope)

Kine Weekly no.3122 (12 August 1967) pp.12, 23 (UK)
review

Kine Weekly no.3184 (19 October 1968) p.29 (UK)
credits, review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.34 no.404 (September 1967) pp.135-136 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review (by D.W.)

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.35 no.418 (November 1968) p.186 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review (for Yuki-Onna sequence, released as a separate short)

Motion Picture Herald vol.234 no.10 (24 November 1965) p.410 (USA)
review

Sight and Sound vol.4 no.5 (May 1994) p.70 (UK)
note (by Peter Dean)

Sight and Sound vol.36 no.4 (Autumn 1967) pp.202-203 (UK)
illustrated review (by James Price)

Time Out no.468 (6-12 April 1979) p.42 (UK)
note (by Tony Rayns)

UniJapan Bulletin no.28 (1965) p.8 (Japan)
credits

Variety 26 May 1965 (USA)
credits, review (by Mosk)

BOOKS

Creature Features Strikes Again by John Stanley p.219
credits, review

Hoffman's Guide to Horror, SF and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.201
credits, review

OTHER SOURCES

British National Film Catalogue vol.6 (1968)
credits, review

KEYWORDS

anthologies, blindness, buddhism, films based on books, ghosts, jidai geki, samurai, snow, the supernatural, witches

Last Updated: 17 April, 2010