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Based on Wahei Tatematsu’s novel “Enrai”, the production of “Distant Thunder” has quite a background behind it. Initially, several directors competed for the adaptation rights, while Nikkatsu considered adapting another of Tatematsu’s novels, “Buriki no Hokukaikisen”. However, those plans were stalled, and focus shifted to “Enrai”. Atg’s Shiro Sasaki intended it to be Kichitaro Negishi’s directorial debut, but by the time the project materialized, it had become his eighth work. It was still, however, his mainstream debut, since his previous productions had been pinku eiga. Negishi, who had no personal connection to rural areas, agreed to direct because the characters he wanted to portray happened to live in the countryside. He had also long hoped to collaborate with screenwriter Haruhiko Arai.

One controversial scene involves a long take of Johnny Okura delivering a monologue inside the greenhouse. Though edited from three cuts, it appears as a...

Japan during the 1960s saw a surge in crime flicks. Examples include the stylish gangster features by Seijun Suzuki and the darkly comical underworld movies by Kihachi Okamoto. Yet, there were also slower pieced character study crime thrillers that took their time to develop their characters and create overwhelming suspense and atmosphere with powerful themes that made audiences think. Look no further than Akira Kurosawa’s terrific films “The Bad Sleep Well” and “High and Low.” Yet, Kurosawa wasn’t the only notable director to put out poignant noir tales. Right around this time, filmmaker Tomu Uchida had built quite a name for himself with the numerous jidaigeki pictures he made. Occasionally, Uchida would step away from cinematic depictions of feudal Japan to do something more unique in his filmography, such as his phenomenal crime epic, “A Fugitive from the Past.”

“A Fugitive from The Past” is screening...

Japan during the 1960s saw a surge in crime flicks. Examples include the stylish gangster features by Seijun Suzuki and the darkly comical underworld movies by Kihachi Okamoto. Yet, there were also slower pieced character study crime thrillers that took their time to develop their characters and create overwhelming suspense and atmosphere with powerful themes that made audiences think. Look no further than Akira Kurosawa’s terrific films “The Bad Sleep Well” and “High and Low.” Yet, Kurosawa wasn’t the only notable director to put out poignant noir tales. Right around this time, filmmaker Tomu Uchida had built quite a name for himself with the numerous jidaigeki pictures he made. Occasionally, Uchida would step away from cinematic depictions of feudal Japan to do something more unique in his filmography, such as his phenomenal crime epic, “A Fugitive from the Past.”

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Arrow Video floors us with yet another well-curated Japanese masterpiece. For practical purposes, this disc might represent the Western premiere of Tomu Uchida’s three-hour ‘crime and punishment’ saga. Unfolding like a novel and filmed with an unusually gritty visual scheme called ‘the Toei W106 method,’ the story’s timeline is split between 1947 and 1957. It has a strong postwar social statement to make, but the overriding theme is one of spiritual Karma, and the function of guilt in imperfect humans. Several of the actors are just unforgettable, especially Rentarô Mikuni, Junzaburô Ban, and Ken Takakura.

A Fugitive from the Past

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1965 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 183 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / Kiga kaikyô, Straits of Hunger / Available from Amazon / 39.95

Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Sachiko Hidari, Ken Takakura, Junzaburô Ban, Kôji Mitsui, Yoshi Katô, Susumu Fujita, Akiko Kazami, Rin’ichi Yamamoto, Tadashi Suganuma.

Cinematography: Hanjirô Nakazawa

Special Effects: Sadao Uemura

Art Director: Mikio Mori...