Eighteen Years in Prison
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Synopsis
Trying to survive in the ruins of post-war Japan, Kawada (Noboru Ando, By a Man’s Face Shall You Know Him) and Tsukada (Asao Koike, Sympathy for the Underdog) run afoul of the military police after stealing valuable copper wire. Kawada is arrested and sent to prison, but Tsukada uses their gains to start a yakuza gang. Facing violent inmates and a cruel warden (Tomisaburo Wakayama, Big Time Gambling Boss), Kawada vows to escape and stop his former partner. Tai Kato directs this epic prison story with characteristic visual flair, while gangster-turned-actor Ando delivers a stunning performance charged with real-life gravitas. As an examination of the deep scars of wartime, this genre classic is also a clear precursor to Kinji Fukasaku’s epoch-making Battles Without Honour and Humanity series.
Picture 7/10
Radiance presents Tai Kato's Eighteen Years in Prison on a dual-layer Blu-ray disc, featuring the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and a 1080p/24hz high-definition encode.
Given a dated master from Toei, Radiance has managed to enhance the visual quality as much as possible, and the results are commendably good despite the inherent limitations. The most significant issue is with the black levels: the gamma appears off, and the limited range tends to flatten the imagery in darker scenes. The film's predominantly dreary color scheme does little to alleviate this, though the colors are as saturated as well as one could hope under the circumstances.
The older master shows its age with muddled grain and a slight fuzziness that obscures finer details and textures, yet a commendable film-like texture remains thanks to a solid-looking encode. The restoration work is impressive, cleaning up the print so well that print blemishes are few and far between
While there's certainly room for improvement, a new restoration might be unlikely. As it stands, the presentation is about as good as one could expect under the circumstances.
Audio 6/10
The Japanese 2-channel PCM monaural soundtrack is somewhat flat but remains clean and free of significant damage.
Extras 5/10
In addition to the film’s original trailer, Radiance includes a few scholarly features. Tony Rayns offers an insightful look into Tai Kato's career, tracing his journey from his early days at Shochiku to his later crime films, with particular emphasis on this film and By a Man’s Face Shall You Know Him. He also dedicates substantial time to discussing the film’s star, Noboru Ando, a former yakuza.
Tom Mes contributes a compelling 17-minute video essay titled Tall Escapes, which explores the history of Japanese prison films, starting with the 1926’s Women in Prison and progressing through Kato’s work and Toei’s other notable entries, including the Female Prisoner Scorpion series.
The limited edition also features a 25-page booklet. It begins with an essay by Mes that not only covers the film and Kato’s career but also looks at the influence of other filmmakers of the time (Kurosawa, Kato having worked on his films) and how his work went on to influence others (Kinji Fukasaku and his Battles films for example). Additionally, the booklet includes a reprint of a 2002 interview with Noboru Ando conducted by Mark Schilling.
While not extensive, the release offers a nice complement to Radiance’s other Kato releases, such as By a Man’s Face… and I, the Executioner.
Closing
The presentation is modest, with just a few special features, but each is well done and informative.
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