The Black Lizard (Kurotakage) takes place in the sub rosa world of organized crime in Japan. Famed female impersonator Akihiro Maruyama stars as a Dragon Lady type called the Lizard. In this guise, she (he?) masterminds all illegal activities in Tokyo. The Lizard jeopardizes her power when she falls in love with detective Isao Kimura. The grotesquery of the storyline and characters is emphasized by the cameo appearance of playwright Yukio Mishima, playing a "Human Statue"-that is, an embalmed corpse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cast
Akihiro Maruyama - Black Lizard
Yukio Mishima - Human statue
Ko (Isao) Kimura
Credit
Kinji Fukasaku - Director, Masashige Narusawa - Screenwriter, Edogawa Rampo - Book Author, Yukio Mishima - Play Author
Black Lizard (黒蜥蝪 Kurotokage) is a 1968 Japanese detective film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The film is based on a 1934 novel by Edogawa Rampo and its theatrical adaptation by Yukio Mishima, who, at the time, was the lover of Akihiro Maruyama, the actor who plays the notorious female criminal "Black Lizard" in drag.
The film's protagonist is Kogoro Akechi, a brilliant detective patterned on Sherlock Holmes who appears in several stories by Edogawa Rampo and is a fixture in Japanese popular culture.
The film currently has no official DVD release, and copies of the film are extremely difficult to find, but it has gained a cult following and is highly regarded by devotees of "kitch" and "campy" films.
The novel Black Lizard has been published in English by Kurodahan Press in a dual edition with The Beast in the Shadow (aka Inju) [1].
Cast
Akihiro Maruyama as “Black Lizard,” disguised as Mrs. Midorikawa
