The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen
怪猫 謎の三味線
The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen 123Movies. 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.
- Genre: Horror
- Country: Japan
- Director: Kiyohiko Ushihara
- Cast: 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,
