is a 1955 Japanese

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Kaneto Shindo was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include '' Children of Hiroshima'', '' The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', '' Kuroneko'' an ...

Plot

After an opening sequence showing a group of people hijacking a post office truck, a

montage Montage may refer to: Arts and entertainment Filmmaking and films * Montage (filmmaking), a technique in film editing * ''Montage'' (2013 film), a South Korean film Music * Montage (music), or sound collage * ''Montage'' (Block B EP), 201 ...

of press coverage and police investigations, and the arrest of Akiko, one of the gang members, the film switches to a flashback narration covering the preceding events: A group of 5 insurance salesmen and -women are facing dismissal for not accomplishing the company's sales plan, with all of them already living under precarious social conditions. War widows Akika and Fujibayashi have to raise their children on their own, Yoshikawa and Mikawa, one a hapless screenwriter, one a former car factory worker who lost his job after an accident, can hardly feed their families, and Harashima, a bank clerk fired for his

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

activities, lives in an unhappy marriage with a wife who refuses to divorce him without severance. Out of desperation, they decide to rob a post office money transport on its daily route. The coup is successful, but later the members of the group, titled "wolves" in the press, are caught one after another. The last to be arrested is Akiko, who needed the money for an operation on her disfigured son, and is already being expected by the police at the hospital where her son is treated.

Cast

* Nobuko Otowa as Akiko Yano *

Jun Hamamura was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 1995. Selected filmography * ''Wolf'' (1955) * '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) * '' The Hole'' (1957) * ''The Temptress and the Monk'' (1958) * ''Enjō'' (1958) * ''Odd Obs ...

as Harashima *

Ichirō Sugai was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1930 and 1971. Sugai often worked with Kaneto Shindo, Kenji Mizoguchi and Kōzaburō Yoshimura. Selected filmography * '' The Water Magician'' (1933) * '' Spring on Leper's Isla ...

as Fusajirō Yoshikawa * Sanae Takasugi as Tomie Fujibayashi *

Taiji Tonoyama was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company ...

as Yoshiyuki Mikawa * Bokuzen Hidari *

Tanie Kitabayashi was a Japanese actress and voice actress. Born Reiko Ando in Tokyo, she began as a stage actress. Kitabayashi was a founding member of the famed Mingei Theatre Company, founded in 1950. Early in her career, she became well known for portraying o ...

* Masao Mishima *

Tomoko Naraoka is a Japanese actress and narrator. The daughter of a painter, she was born in Komagome, Tokyo, Komagome, Hongō, Tokyo, Hongō (present-day Bunkyō, Tokyo, Bunkyo), in the city of Tokyo City, Tokyo, Japan. She graduated from Joshibi University ...

Eitarō Ozawa , also credited as Sakae Ozawa (小沢栄), was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1988, directed by notable filmmakers such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Kaneto Shindō. Selected fi ...

* Sumie Sasaki *

Masami Shimojō was a Japanese film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 100 films. Career Hoping to become a film director, Shimojō traveled to Tokyo in 1935 but ended up joining a theater troupe, debuting on stage in 1936. He made his film debut in 194 ...

* Tsutomu Shimomoto * Kinzō Shin as Hideo Yamamoto *

Kin Sugai (28 February 1926 – 10 August 2018) was a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 9th Hochi Film Award for '' The Funeral''. Sugai is famous for her role as Sen Nakamura in the jidaigeki drama Hissatsu series. S ...

* Yoshiko Tsubouchi *

Eijirō Tōno was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting more than 50 years, appeared in over 400 television shows, nearly 250 films and numerous stage productions. He is best known in the West for his roles in films by Akira Kurosawa, such as ''Seven Samu ...

Jūkichi Uno (real name ; 27 September 1914 – 9 January 1988) was a Japanese actor. In 1950, he formed the with Osamu Takizawa was a Japanese actor. He was born in Ushigome, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Starting at the Tsukiji Little Theater, Takizawa partici ...

Production

Shindo had based his screenplay for ''Wolf'' on an actual event, the robbing of a truck by a group of five insurance agents, including two women, who had no previous criminal records and acted out of sheer poverty. The film was produced by Shindo's and actor

's own production company

Kindai Eiga Kyōkai is a Japanese independent film studio. It was formed in 1950 by directors Kōzaburō Yoshimura and Kaneto Shindo and actor Taiji Tonoyama, and went on to produce most of Shindo's films, such as ''The Naked Island'' and ''Onibaba''. History Kindai ...

after

Nikkatsu is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...

studios backed out of the project shortly before shooting began. Itō Takerō of the independent company Dokuritsu Eiga helped in funding the production. ''Wolf'' was shown in only a few independent cinemas and was a failure with the audience. Tonoyama, who appeared in many of Shindo's films, said that this was his favourite role of all of the director's films.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf 1955 films 1950s Japanese-language films 1950s crime drama films Japanese crime drama films 1955 drama films Films directed by Kaneto Shindo Films scored by Akira Ifukube Japanese black-and-white films 1950s Japanese films