1954 Winner, Gate of Hell

Gate of Hell

Director:  Teinosuke Kinugasa

Distributed by:  Daiei Film

Released:  October 1953

Country:  Japan

“He soon felt that the fulfillment of his desires gave him only one grain of the mountain of happiness he had expected. This fulfillment showed him the eternal error men make in imagining that their happiness depends on the realization of their desires.”

― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Gate of Hell is a title that sounds like a horror movie, but it isn’t, unless you consider Man’s quick willingness to abandon his morality to be horrific.  Gate of Hell is about love, or rather, about one thinks love is rather than what it actually is.

Two stories came to mind when I watched this film.  One is of Salome in the New Testament, who after doing a strip tease of some sort, was promised by her creepy stepfather Herod anything up to half the kingdom.  He was so heated up by her gyrations that just stuffing a few shekels down her skivvies wouldn’t do, and it cost John the Baptist his head.  The other story I thought of was Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, a tale about a married woman who falls in love at a ball with a military man named Count Vronsky.  They are so into each other that they abandon all they care for just to be with each other, thinking love will conquer all.  Spoiler alert:  It doesn’t.

Kazuo Hasegawa as Morito

In 1954’s Best Foreign Film, Gate of Hell, centers around a Japanese samurai named Morito, who at first appears to be the embodiment of loyalty.  His brother is a leader of an uprising against a 13^th century Japanese emperor.  Morito refuses to join the rebellion and is aghast at his brother’s behavior.  While the fighting rages, Morito is assigned to protect and move a lovely royal miss named Lady Kesa.  Morito sees her and reacts like Herod and Vronsky did to their respective lust-at-first-sights.

The battle ends and the royal family’s forces come out on top.  For his loyalty and bravery, especially for siding against his own brother, the emperor tells Morito he can ask for anything he wants and his wish will be granted.  Morito ponders this offer for about three seconds and says the prize he wants is none other than Lady Kesa.  The ruler confers with his pals and chucklingly says to Morito, “Well, you are a little late to the party—didn’t you see the rock on her finger?  She’s married.”  Morito’s response is pretty simple:  “So?” 

Lady Kesa, the object of Morito's desires

Morito makes a pest of himself and eventually he is given permission by the ruler to discuss the issue with Lady Kesa, but if she is not interested in leaving her man, a nice enough guy named Waturu, he has to take a cold shower or find a more available lady to exact his urges upon.  Morito doesn’t really seem to care what Lady Keso thinks; all he knows is she will be his—oh, yes—she will be his.  The problem is, Lady Keso kind of likes her husband.  Morito meets him and frankly he seems like a pretty good guy, but he is in the way and so he decides something has to be done about the "Waturu Problem."

Gate of Hell is a pretty film, full of color and movement.  It’s a fairly short film, clocking in at 86 minutes, but that underscores the tightness of the story—there is no time wasted on subplots or characters that don’t mean much.  Both main players do their jobs well-- Kazuo Hasegawa as Morito certainly isn’t a good-looking fellow, and you get the feeling it would indeed take the granting of a wish by an emperor for him to get a lovely woman for a wife.  Machiko Kyō, who also plays an important role in Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (winner of the 1952 Best Foreign Film award), plays Lady Keso, a woman who didn’t ask for this attention.  The movie is a simple tale of a man allowing his weaknesses to get the best of him—his personal quality of loyalty gets chucked in a hurry the second he sees a pretty face.  Morito isn’t the first to make that choice and he certainly will not be the last.

Asking the Emperor for Lady Keso

The Title:  地獄門, also called Jigokumon.  It’s a physical place in the film to be protected, but Morito’s letting his passions dictate his behavior is what will lead him to be willing to go through the proverbial gate into the dark side.

The culture:  This is Japan’s first color film export and it’s a treat to look at.  With Rashomon winning Best Foreign Film a few years earlier and Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto winning the following year, this truly was a golden age of Japanese cinema.  Also important during this period are directors Kenji Mizoguchi (who directed the classics Ugetsu [1953] and Sansho the Bailiff [1954]) and Yasujirō Ozu (1953’s Tokyo Story).

Agenda danger:  Certainly there is a message here, and unfortunately and tragically, Morito doesn’t learn it until the end of the film.

Best Picture that year:  On the Waterfront.

Rating:  The aforementioned films by Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu certainly are more noteworthy and important when it comes to Japanese cinema.  But Gate of Hell is well-directed, with great performances and a succinct story.  It’s a cautionary tale about subject matter that will apply to any culture and time, as long as there are people who confuse love and lust.  And there always will be.