Ankokugai No Bijo (aka Underworld Beauty) (1958)

After serving three years for robbery, a man (Michitaro Mizushima) recovers the diamonds he hid after the theft. His intention is to give the diamonds to a cohort (Toru Abe) who was wounded in the robbery and lost the use of a leg. But the rapacious Yakuza boss (Shinshuke Ashida) who oversaw the original robbery has other ideas about those diamonds. Like many of the Japanese gangster movies, this tough crime thriller owes a big debt to the American films that influenced them. But this isn't just a homage , director Seijun Suzuki has a real feel for the genre and his original vision gives us an uncommon take on the genre. The underworld beauty of the title is a tough little cookie (Mari Shiraki), the rebellious younger sister of the crippled man and the focus of much of the narrative. It was Suzuki's first film in the scope format and he uses the wide screen frame like a veteran. The cinematography is credited to one Wataro Nakao whose only film credit this is so that I can't help musing that it might be a pseudonym (for Suzuki?). With Hideaki Nitani.