The Black Trademark

1963 1h 19m JA

DramaCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Ide of the Kokusai Rayon Company visits a supermarket and finds cheap shirts being passed off as his company's products. But a closer look reveals that the last letter of "Kokusai" has been changed to "n" and reads "Kokusan." The buyers, however, are all under the impression that they are buying Kokusai shirts. Ide begins an investigation to find out where the shirts are being made, but before he is able to uncover anything, he is killed on a train and his little black book, filled with secret data, is stolen. Sugino then starts a one-man search for both the killer and the factory turning out the cheap shirts.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Ken Utsui
Koji Sugino
Yukiko Fuji
Yukiko Tago
Hideo Takamatsu
Akio Kakiuchi
Kyōko Enami
Junko Hamanaka
Jun Hamamura
Kazunori Tago
Masao Mishima
Ryuichi Terasawa
Yūzō Hayakawa
Machiko Horikawa
Nurse

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Tarō Yuge
Writers: Kimiyuki Hasegawa
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 79-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

63 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Black Series" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Tarō Yuge, shot by Hiroshi Ishida. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Ken Utsui and Yukiko Fuji and Hideo Takamatsu carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt31972814 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Tarō Yuge directs. Hiroshi Ishida behind the camera. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 79-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
263 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Part of the "Black Series" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Directed by Tarō Yuge, shot by Hiroshi Ishida. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Ken Utsui and Yukiko Fuji and Hideo Takamatsu carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt31972814 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.