Packed with dense shadows, oblique camera angles, and low-key lighting, Toshio Masuda’s Akai hatoba (US: Red Pier) is a prime example of the Japanese noir style. Having arrived in Kobe to relax, Tokyo-based hired gun Tominaga Jiro (Yûjirô Ishihara) witnesses a crane “accident” on the waterfront, which the local police suspect was murder and which Jiro later learns may be connected to his own criminal shenanigans. The situation is made more awkward when Jiro finds himself falling in love with the murder victim’s sister Keiko Sugita (Mie Kitahara), much to the chagrin of his current moll, the feisty dancer Mami (a very entertaining Sanae Nakahara), who is happy to divulge any information that stirs up trouble between Jiro and Keiko. Soon, Jiro’s being tailed not only by police detective Noro (Shirô Ôsaka) but by thugs working for the Matsuyama gang, the intensifying threats causing fistfights, gunfights, kidnapping, and murder. Jiro even takes time to sing a song on a rooftop, an unexpected interlude that thankfully doesn’t wear out its welcome. Kimura’s production design is on spectacular display across a variety of settings and sets, including a yakuza gambling den, a crowded port festival, and a very American-looking nightclub where half-naked performers dance to Latin beats. While the score is fairly unmemorable, Himeda’s cinematography shines brilliantly throughout, incorporating high-contrast lighting, both interior and exterior, Venetian blinds, ceiling fans, and flashing bulbs for atmospherics; he makes generous use of Dutch angles, including tilting the camera midway through scenes when action breaks out, tipping the view back and forth like on a ship at sea. Note the beautiful staging of the final arrest scene outside the hospital window as a harmonica whimpers in the distance.