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Wave Tossed wrote:

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I just viewed the first, original "Prison Walls of Abashiri" film. This is the one in black-and-white where the Takakura Ken character escapes, chained to another prisoner. This film had loads of atsmosphere, the cold of the snow. The prison was shown to be a harsh place where criminals were being punished. But it didn't overdo the "cruel prison" motive.

I've now seen three of the Abashiri Prison films. All of them are basically morality plays, where bad guys go through changes in their characters and they reform. There is some action in each film, but these films are rather "sweet" in their tone and are not like the "cruel" yakuza films. I still have another Abashiri film (one in the "new" series) that I still haven't seen.

Someone finally posted to the Yakuza Films section! Thanks Wave Tossed!

I like the films I have seen in this series. I have the one you just saw, as well as "Prison Walls of Abashiri 3" (all of these titles are from CK's releases). I think that might be my favorite (in spite of the kid who looks as if she was dipped in black shoe polish). When Takakura Ken finally decides to slice and dice it is truly glorious. Plus the lighter/tattoo scene is pretty cool. I also have a "New Prison Walls of Abashiri" title where Takakura Ken looks for his sister who has a Chinese man friend.

You say you have a 4th title? What is it? Where did you get it?

I agree with your assessment: these films definitely fall more into the the old skool ninkyo eiga "chivalry" films, as opposed to the "dog eat dog" later YE films where most everyone seems to be busy trying to screw over everyone else. Although I also like "cruel" YE, there is nothing wrong with the "chivalry" films as far as I am concerned.