Kurotokage (Black Lizard)

Original post date: 23 May 1987
Rating: ✭✭✰✰

 This Japanese movie was made in 1968, and it is reminiscent of the Cinemascope Technicolor spy capers of that era. (The main theme music sounds an awful lot like Charade.) But this movie veers into high camp. The title character, a master femme fatale criminal, is played by Japan’s leading fernale impersonator. He/she goes through more hair-do and clothing changes in two hours than Joan Collins went through all last season. The evil Black Lizard has a weak spot: she is in love with Japan’s No. 1 detective, who has sworn to arrest her. A lot of fun. I won’t go out on a limb and say that this film has an appeal for a very specific audience, but I did notice that I was the only guy in the audience not wearing lavender.

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