This is one of a series of notes for
A Chronological Biography of Akira Kurosawa.
Keiko, the daughter of the president of a government housing corporation marries her father's secretary, Koichi. A police inquiry into bribery in the corporation starts with Koichi on a vendatta against the murderers of his own father, who had committed 'suicide' 5 years ago.
A corporate revenge tale that twists and turns all the way to its surprising ending. Opening with the wedding of a beautiful, crippled daughter of a powerful business tycoon to an up-and-coming executive. Jaded reporters hover over the ceremony like vultures--they have been tipped off that something unseemly is about to be revealed. The revelation, in the form of a specially sculpted second wedding cake, is the launching pad for a film that reveals layer after layer of intrigue. As the tale unravels along with its characters, the viewer is treated to a box within a box within a box of a puzzle. Somebody is supplying crucial information to the press and police, there are suicides, bodies are missing, money is missing, and some unseen force is in control. The first half of the film is rife with facts, allegations, rumours, and hints of the strange goings-on. We meet the crippled girl devoted to a new husband who is kind but refuses to share her wedding bed. The girl's brother is an alcoholic who is over-protective of his sister and rebels against his father. The bridegroom, disinterest in his new wife, appears to be the perfect addition to the father's corporate family.
Title: The Bad Sleep Well
Original Title in Japanese: Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru
Running Time: 151 min
Year: 1960
Company: Kurosawa Productions - Toho
Writer(s): Hideo Koguni, Eijiro Kusaka, Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima, Shinobu Hashimoto
Director of Photography: Yuzuru Aizawa
Production Designer: Yoshiro Muraki
Music: Masaru Sato
Cast:
Toshiro Mifune (Koichi Nishi), Kyoko Kagawa (Keiko), Masayuki Mori (Iwabuchi), Tatsuya Mihashi (Tatsuo Iwabuchi), Takashi Shimura (Moriyama)