A quintessential example of the period "ghost cat" (bakeneko or kaibyo) movie, this was one of at least six such titles released by the studio Shinko Kinema between 1937-40 featuring Japan's first scream queen, Sumiko Suzuki. Here she plays Mitsue, the possessive onna-kabuki actress betrothed to apprentice shamisen player Seijiro. When one day Okiyo, a beautiful young girl of samurai class, is led to Seijiro's house by his lost cat Kuro, she becomes besotted with him. Dark jealous passions are invoked in Mitsue, which are intensified when Seijiro gifts Okiyo his precious shamisen. The cat is the first to suffer at the end of Mitsue's hairpin, but returns from the grave to assist Okiyo's younger sister Onui avenge her sister's murder.
Sumiko Suzuki
Mitsuko Mori
Kinue Utagawa
Shinpachirō Asaka
Eigorō Onoe
Mitsugu Terashima
Hiroko Takayama
Tokusaburo Arashi
Yaeko Asano
Yuriko Asano
Junzaburō Ban
Mitsuko Gun
Matsuko Hidaka
Yasumasa Jitsukawa
Taisuke Matsumoto
Matsuko Miho
Yukiko Miyagawa
Shizuko Mori
Shōzō Nanbu
Fujiko Suwa
Masako Takamatsu
Yoshiko Tomei
Yōko Umemura
Eiko Wakaba