Yasuzo Masumura's 'Black Test Car' (1962) on R1 USA DVD May 22nd 2007.

Part of Masumura's very personal interest in human nature, the extremeties of it, lies withing what is often said to be one of his most acclaimed films, 'Black Test Car'. A story of industrial espionage, post-war japan being competatively driven through a period of regeneration, that, although positively portrayed in most circles, is of course rife with much darker aspects. In walks Masumura then, working usually within genre cinema, to put his individual socio-political and satirical stamp on a interesting idea, turning it into something which it doesn't at first seem to be, as seems to be his normal approach.

From Eye Weekly's Yasuzo Masumura Series Reviews, "Based around a campaign to protect a new prototype sports car from ruthless industrial spies, the movie clearly charts how the Tiger Company's execs start out as true idealists, but are soon reduced to "hoodlum tactics" -- beating up and blackmailing helpless old men, pimping their girlfriends out to the enemy, even throwing people from windows. It's office politics the John Gotti way, with everyone concerned behaving less like legitimate businessmen than like Mafia soldiers locked in some huge, ongoing gang war. This, Masumura implies, is the true face of economic success: a world in which everything, and everybody, is subordinate to the concerns of the conglomerate... however ridiculous and inhuman those concerns may ultimately prove to be." [Source : Eye Weekly].

As Fantoma's last Masumura release, 'Red Angel' turned out slightly better than the earlier R2 UK DVD of the same film, it's worth noting this DVD of 'Black Test Car' comes with a "New Digital Widescreen Transfer" and is enhanced for 16:9 TV (anamorphic). Yume Pictures release two R2 UK DVDs of Masumura films in the coming months of 2007, 'Kisses' ('Kuchizuke', 1957) and 'Irezumi' ('Tattoo', 1966).

Yasuzo Masumura at Wikipedia.
Fantoma's R1 USA DVD of 'Red Angel' Review by Jon Pais, Review by Logboy.
Article on Yasuzo Masumura at Chicago Reader.
'Blind Beast' Trailer at YouTube.
'Afraid to Die' Trailer at YouTube.
Yasuzo Masumura Article by Joshua Rosenbaum at Chicago Reader.
Yasuzo Masumura Article at Answers.com.