DVD- The First Films of Akira Kurosawa

[Saionji Shonagon]

I received a 4 DVD boxed set for Christmas, Criterion's
Eclipse Series 23: The First Films of Akira Kurosawa

I just finished watching The Men Who Tread on The Tiger's Tail, Kurosawa's 1945 movie about Minamoto no Yoshitsune's escape through territory held by his brother Yoritomo. Deemed too "Western" by Japanese censors and too "feudal" by censors during the American occupation after WWII, this movie didn't get released until 1952. Yoshitsune's character spends most of the film in silence and in disguise as a porter for a group of yamabushi, led by Benkei, powerfully played by Denjirô Ôkôchi. Kenichi Enomoto provides comic relief and drunken dancing as the real porter. Definitely a harbinger of Kurosawa films to come and well worth your time.

[Saionji Shonagon]

"Sanshiro Sugata," the first film directed by Kurosawa in 1943, will be appreciated by the martial artists. Schools of judo and jujitsu are in conflict, young Sanshiro (played appealingly enough by Susumu Fujita) is strong and has talent, if stubborn. The DVD opens with an apology from Toho Studios that chunks of the film were cut by censors after the original release and lost.

Kurosawa's already using the sky, the wind and rushing vistas of grass for atmosphere in this one. There's a very sweet scene between Sanshiro and a pretty girl whose geta has blown a thong on a path in the rain. The fight scenes are full of the requisite drama.

There's a "Sanshiro II" in the set, which I'll probably have a look at tomorrow.

[konrad]

Sanshiro Sugata II was a bit disjointed for me. It had some interesting parts but really didn't seem quite as complete of a film that the first one was.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Jan 1, 2011 14:16:15 GMT -5 konrad said:

Sanshiro Sugata II was a bit disjointed for me. It had some interesting parts but really didn't seem quite as complete of a film that the first one was.

Having just finished watching it, I agree it's a bit uneven and the plot is entirely predictable.* The print they mastered the DVD from was in pretty pitiful condition too, most notably during the climactic fight in the snow.*

*The film was released not long after the first part at the government's "suggestion," in 1945. The opening scene involves an American sailor beating up a hapless ricksha-man, with Sanshiro intervening. Sanshiro ends up in a match with an American boxer, proving the superiority of Japanese martial arts to the barbaric Western "show." Context, as they say, is everything.

Still, as I glanced up quickly between stitches, I found myself admiring the composition of certain shots and smiling at the scene where he's leaving and keeps looking back and Sayo is STILL there, bowing each time he turns around.

*Additional reading on my part reveals due to the war, Toho Studios had limited resources in terms of film stock by the time this was shot. Evidently the fight in the snow was hard to see at the time Kurosawa was in the editing room with it!

[Saionji Shonagon]

Then there's "The Most Beautiful," Kurosawa's obligatory 1944 contribution to the Japanese war effort, about the Flower of Japanese Womanhood doing their bit to Destroy America and Great Britain (it says so in the script) by grinding lenses and building gunsights and other military optics, complete with morning speeches by the company director, daily band practices and parades featuring a song about the Mongol Invasion, and girls hiding illnesses so they can keep production going, letters from home saying, "Your mother is very sick but she wants you to keep working." The team leader staying up to calibrate two days' production worth of lenses all night because she misplaced one and doesn't want some brave Japanese soldier to die because of it. Kurosawa uses a documentary approach to much of the action and the young women's performances get under your skin even if they seem a little too good to be true. Definitely interesting on a number of levels, and presumably struck the right notes for its intended audience.

(Ironically, woman who posed for the famous "We Can Do It" poster associated with Rosie the Riveter passed on this weekend.)