The Black Test Car (1962)

"You can't get hung up on morals, you'll just feel remorse"

Corporate espionage handled with all the finesse of the yakuza took place in The Black Test Car. Not lovers, families, or morals were more important than the mission to bring the Pioneer sports car into production and beat the competition. “It’s all about winning.”

Onoda leads the team to get the Pioneer sports car produced and keep its identity a secret. Much time and money has been invested in it, but he discovers that their larger rival, Yamato, may have placed a spy in their midst. His trusty sidekick, Asahina, is equally ambitious and loyal to the company. Their nemesis is Mawatari, an ex-spy who worked for the Imperial Army in Manchuria. Both companies employ dirty methods to steal information-bribery, blackmail, intimidation, prostitution, and outright theft. Nothing seems to be too low or too devious in their efforts to come out on top.

Rank capitalism and devotion to duty brought out the worst in all of the characters. Onoda made it clear from the beginning, that he would sacrifice anything or anyone for the Pioneer. Asahina started out much like his boss, even pressuring his girlfriend to prostitute herself to glean information from the duplicitous Mawatari. Takamatsu Hideo glided Onoda easily between devilishly charming and ruthlessly frightening. Tamiya Jiro’s Asahina walked the fine line between being blindly selfish to conflicted as he realized the harm he’d done to someone he loved. Asahina’s girlfriend, Masako, was poorly written. She was there for Asahina’s character growth and as a sexual object rather than a woman with any consistent actions.

Director Masumura Yasuzo made a stylish film with aggressive music reminiscent of Godzilla’s Ifukube Akira. The acting was stellar. My problem was that I had no one to root for. Both teams were reprehensible in their espionage and sabotage efforts. Asahina took steps to distance himself from the gangster methods that ruined and ended lives, yet I disliked him the most for his efforts to manipulate and pimp out the woman he claimed to love. The competition between the industrial spies may have been all about winning, but in the end, they were all losers to me.

"It's a rock, but it has more warmth than you."

25 February 2025
Trigger warnings: Sexual scenes, though no overt nudity, and one bordering on assault

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