Crimson Bat
The Crimson Bat is a series of four movies based around the character of the same name. The character was a blind swordswoman. It was made by Shochiku studios, as a response to the hugely successful Zatoichi series. The character, Oichi, was very similar to the Zatoichi character, that is she was a blind sword fighter who roamed and did odd jobs for money. The main difference, apart from being a female, was that her weakness was a stereotyped female tendency to be emotional. Ironically, an official female variation of Zatoichi was released decades later, and entitled Ichi.
The character was played by Yōko Matsuyama.
List of films
- Crimson Bat: The Blind Swordsman (めくらのお市物語 真っ赤な流れ鳥; Mekura no oichi monogatari: Makkana nagaradori) (1969) (IMDB link)
- Trapped, the Crimson Bat/The Blind Swordswoman: Hellish Skin (めくらのお市 地獄肌; Mekurano no Oichi jigokuhada) (1969) (IMDB link)
- Watch Out, Crimson Bat! (めくらのお市 みだれ笠; Mekurano no Oichi midaregasa) (1969) (IMDB link)
- Crimson Bat - Oichi: Wanted, Dead or Alive (めくらのお市 命貰います; Mekurano no Oichi inochi moraimasu) (1970) (IMDB link)
In 1971 Nippon TV ran a Crimson Bat (めくらのお市物語) TV series also starring Yoko Matsuyama with Hiroshi Fujioka. This ran for 25 episodes from April 12, 1971 to September 27 1971.[1]
Yoko Matsuyama also performed in Crimson Bat (紅蝙蝠; Kurenai Kawahori) (1958) though this is not related to the Crimson Bat series.
References
- ↑ "The Crimson Bat Series". Girls With Guns.
- Silver, Alain. The Samurai Film. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1977.
External links
- The Crimson Bat Series on Girls With Guns