Detective Hibari - Paper Crane Palanquin
                    
Director: Eiichi Kudo
Year: 1960
Rating: 7.0
Aka - Hibari torimonochô: orizuru kago

This is the fourth and as best as I can tell the final film in the Detective Hibari series. It is too bad if that is the case as Hibari Misora's character of Oshichi is both endearing and great fun. Oshichi is a Princess but prefers the life of a commoner, entertainer, neighborhood do-gooder and detective. Not a detective in the modern day sense but simply one who can't stay out of trouble and intrigue. She often takes on disguises to infiltrate the enemy, but when called upon resorts to using her Princess status to get her way. Two other characters appear in all four films - the samurai Hyomi (Chiyonosuke Azuma) who works for her brother, the Lord, and has a prickly relationship with Oshichi that is an unadmitted affection. And then there is her young loyal assistant Gorohachi (Kin'ichi Hanabusa).



In the third film Oshichi uncovers a plot to rebel against the Shogun and does the same here. Yui played by the perennial villain Isao Yamagata is enlisting displaced samurai and building up a supply of weapons for his plot to overthrow the Shogun. When four samurai from the House of Kishu show up dead in mysterious circumstances, Oshichi becomes interested - even more so when a large group of thugs try to kill her and Gorohachi. She is saved by a man in one of those straw basket hats who was annoyed to have his fishing interrupted. He says of her "you are quite the manly one". Later, she discovers that he is a high-ranking samurai named Marubashi (Jushiro Konoe) a master of the lance. He though is one of the plotters, but a principled one. Hyoma gets in on the show as well and he and Oshichi team up for a few good action scenes. By the standards of a few years later they are fairly tame with no blood to be seen.



The finale is terrific and surprisingly tragic. They keep the musical numbers to two as best as I can recall - one when she gets into Yui's home as dancer and somehow manages to pull off a Vegas like number in a matter of minutes and then later a lion dance. Less music and more action is a good formula and this is very satisfying. Seeing it in a very high-quality format with a lovely color palette is a plus and I hope that means that someone somewhere is restoring Hibari's films.