The Son of the Black Mass returns in this ninth installment in Daiei's longstanding Nemuri Kyoshiro series. This time Raizo Ichikawa as Nemuri is called to see that a gold statuette of the Virgin Mary gets safe passage to Kyoto from the prying hands of a sect of murderous Christian ronin that call themselves the Black Finger Group. As is usual in this type of film, Nemuri first refuses the assignment but finally agrees to it, true to his name, in exchange for the virginity of the contractor's daughter! In the course of the film Nemuri, serving himself as a decoy while the contractor's daughter going incognito carries the statue, has to avoid the scheming, ambushes and traps set on his path by the Christian sect (a "trail of traps" as the title promises). This particular sect happens to be one of the most cheesy and funny things one will encounter in sixties chambara. They consider their pinkies religious symbols and those losing it in combat receive a hearty flagellation (!), sing prayers to Giabo the God of Hell in front of a cross (!!) and are as mean-spirited, sonofoabitchin' villains as it can possibly get. Of course all this provides a very convenient opportunity for Nemuri to indulge his anti-religious side when he confronts their leader in a final duel. Nemuri, perhaps more so than any other film in the series, hands out acerbic one-liners left and right, concluding an inconsequential subplot involving loaded dice in a gambling hall after he chops off a thieving scoundrel's arm with "you can't fight or gamble with one hand but at least you'll be able to make love to your woman", an epic line that perfectly underscores Nemuri's mentality and personal philosophy. That a dark, violent, not particularly chivalrous character who treats women like sex objects (in his own words) like him managed to get a 12-part series of his own and that such a series became immensely popular in 60's Japan, shows how many light-years ahead Japanese genre cinema was compared to its American counterpart.
