Long Road to Freedom
Inoue Umetsugu had a certain style, a style that predated his time with Shaw Brothers and was one of the main reasons they hired him. His films were usually poppy, colorful, and focused on women and fashion. Black Lizard, from 1962, is not that different in style from something like 1967’s Operation Lipstick. There’s some variation, of course, and some darker themes occasionally pop up, but typically an Umetsugue movie is not a heavy movie.
When Shaws hired him in the mid 60s this style matched well with the studio’s goals when glossy, poppy modern films made up about half of their Modern film output.
But by the late 60s Shaws wanted more of their Modern films to be sleazier crime dramas (see Dark Rendezvous for more on this) and Umetsuge adapted…kind of. His style, which was not at all grimy or sleazy, couldn’t be fully suppressed. So his crime films like The 5 Billion Dollar Legacy tried to merge Shaw Brother’s marketing interests with Umetsugu’s irrepressible style to mixed success.
In 1971 they tried again, making Long Road To Freedom to hop on the recently-hot Women In Prison genre (popular in Japan, but also widely popularized by Jess Franco’s 99 Women). It has all the grime of a women in prison film, but combined awkwardly with Umetsugu’s predilections. All of the women in prison have amazing and modern hair cuts. And after they escape they are thrilled to find a a fashionable clothing shop (complete with powder room and make up supply!), allowing them to change outfits between each scene. Oh, and occasionally they are shot to death or stabbed by vicious heroin smugglers.
It’s a weird mash up of tones, that’s for sure. Umetsugu was not the director to go to for for dark crime themes; his pop sensibilities would not allow it. The lighting is too colorful and lush. The women act like they are on a Goonies-like quest. The heavily disguised villain skulks around in shadows, giving the whole thing a mid-60s Bond Mania spy pastiche feel (the film’s heavy re-use of the same set of James Bond musical stings does not help).
Of the 17 movies Umetsugu made for Shaw Brothers all but two of them are easily available in one format or another. The two exceptions are The Man With Two Wives, which is lost, and this one, which was only ever released on the Ziieagle media player in Singapore. There seems to be no real reason for that beyond general disinterest in this weird mashup of two incompatible styles.
Ian Whitney
Published: 2026-04-26