Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Volume 2

Arrow Video's first Nikkatsu Diamond Guys set (review found here) was just the sort of curated film experience home video seems to be headed towards: a selection of categorically-grouped titles highlighting the Nikkatsu studio's top tier of male stars working in some fast, fun genre fare. And the second set follows an even more unexpected path of youth comedies, ensemble farce and flat-out spoofs that are a welcome treat right out of left field.

Tokyo Mighty Guy (1960) leans heavily on the burgeoning generation gap to get most of its laughs. The lithely handsome Akira Kobayashi stars as Jiro, a French-speaking wannabe chef whose family restaurant is nearly destroyed when a famous ex-prime minister crashes his car into the front entrance. This sets off a chain of loosely connected problems including threats from the local "protection" squad who demand payment, a case of mistaken identity at the massage parlor and a shotgun wedding that ends in true love.

Danger Pays (1962) is a sassy little heist film that pits a trio of ambitious thieves (including Diamond Guy Jo Shishido in a refreshing comedic role) out to kidnap a famous counterfeiter who's already been kidnapped once by a powerful gangster looking to use his artistic services in a complicated currency swap. The characters' amusing one-upmanship eventually leads to them joining forces, along with a judo-chopping former secretary (Ruriko Asaoka), to take back the prize and strike it rich.

Murder Unincorporated (1965) is the most off-the-wall of the bunch, taking the humor to almost Airplane! levels of ridiculousness in the story of a team of colorful assassins hired to kill and protect a group of middle-management gangsters who've been targeted by the most famous assassin of all: Joe of Spades. As the body count adds up from an array of creative weaponry - baseball bat rifles, exploding abacuses and shiv shoes among them - a conspiracy is revealed that turns these inept hunters into comedically clueless prey.

Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Volume 2 probably isn't the set those who purchased the first volume were expecting. A more serious-minded collection of yakuza film might have been an easier sell (although Arrow's Outlaw Gangster VIP collection fills that void very nicely) however there's something remarkably palate-cleansing about the light and breezy films included here. In fact, Murder Unincorporated predicts the post-Tarantino assassin craze (2006's Smokin' Aces comes to mind) with wacky astuteness. But ultimately, its most valuable selling point is as a collectible piece of cinema history that the vast majority of collectors would overlook; and their loss is our gain.

Besides hi-def transfers of each film from the original elements, extras on this 3-disc, 3000 copy Blu-ray / DVD limited edition set include trailers, image galleries, another sit-down with Nikkatsu expert Jasper Sharp and a booklet with new writing from Stuart Galbraith IV, Tom Mes and Mark Schilling.