Rebel Samurai: Sixties Swordplay Classics DVD Review:

The samurai film was very popular in Japan, showing heroic characters who exemplified honor and noble virtues. The samurai was held to very high standards, but with the turmoil of the sixties, these classic heroes began to see a change. The samurai is supposed to sacrifice for the good of the larger group, but a lone hero emerged in the sixties samurai film. Many of these characters were actual antiheroes, questioning the way that society is run.

A collection of four of these films has been placed together in a box set, Rebel Samurai, each directed by great directors. All of the four films were made between 1965 and 1968, and feature some of the most dramatic statements and fighting in cinema at the time. The four films each have individual cases, and all of them are set in a cardboard cover wit simple cover art of brown and brick red. It is a fairly simple box set, but the films speak for themselves.

Samurai Rebellion (1967)

Directed by: Masaki Kobayashi
Executive Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Screenplay by: Shinobu Hashimoto
Original Story by: Yasuhiko Takiguchi
Cinematography: Kazuo Yamada
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Yoku Tsukasa, Go Kato, Shigeru Koyama

Running Time: 121 minutes

Most samurai films begin and end with swordplay action, but Samurai Rebellion is entirely different. It is a slow and calculated story about the right and wrong of a very specific situation during peacetime. There is one scene at the very beginning in which a samurai is testing a sword against a straw dummy, but other than that hardly a sword is seen and none are unsheathed until the final act of the film. This makes for a fairly slow moving human drama tale, until the fighting finally begins.

Isaburo Sasahara is an aging swordsman who only raises a sword in order to test them for the clan. Isaburo and his son, Yogoro, are confronted with a moral dilemma when practically forced to accept the clan lord’s mistress, Lady Ichi. She is presented to Yogoro for marriage as a way of getting rid of her, which is difficult at first, but over time their feelings grow for each other. Soon after Ichi has given birth to Yogoro’s child, the lord demands her return to his home. When they refuse to return her it soon becomes evident that the situation will end in bloodshed.

As slow as the first ¾ of the film may be, the last half-hour is filled with incredible action, and a few unconventional surprises as well. The film builds with such intensity, using human drama, that it is almost painful waiting for the fight to begin. Once it begins, the fighting makes the remainder of the film fly by with incredible intensity.

The DVD has a great essay by Japanese film historian Donald Richie. There is also an excerpt from a 1993 interview with director Masaki Kobayashi, an original theatrical trailer, and a restored high-definition digital transfer of the film.

Sword of the Beast (1965)

Directed by: Hideo Gosha
Screenplay by: Hideo Gosha, Elizaburo Shiba
Cinematography: Toshitada Tsuchiya
Art Direction: Mamoru Abe
Cast: Mikijiro Hira, Go Kato, Shima Iwashita

Running Time: 85 minutes

In an attempt to reform his clan, Gennosuke is talked into killing his clan’s counselor. It is implied by one of his superiors that he will rise up from his low-level position with this act of rebellion, but instead he is turned into an outcast as many seek him out for revenge. As a way of escaping, Gennosuke decides that he will retreat to the jungle as a beast. Always on the run, he decides to help illegally mine gold off of the mountain and he finds himself running into another swordsman and his wife in the hills. By helping these strangers, Gennosuke may be able to regain the honor he feels that he has lost.

Sword of the Beast features great swordplay action, but it doesn’t stop there. The story is filled with great drama and character dilemmas. Each of the characters have choices they must make which determine the outcome of everyone else. Taking place primarily on the mountainside, the scenery is breathtaking and the fights are remarkably original.

Sword of the Beast is shown in a new, restored high-definition digital transfer. It is also the first time that Sword of the Beast is available on home video in The United States. The insert in the DVD case features a new essay on the film by Japanese film and pop-culture authority.

Samurai Spy (1965)

Directed by: Masahiro Shinoda
Screenplay by: Yoshiyuki Fukuda
Based on the novel by: Koji Nakada
Cinematography: Masao Kosugi
Cast: Koji Takahashi, Shintaro Ishihara

Running Time: 100 minutes

Many samurai films take patience. They are very much about honor and character, so that fighting is the last resort. This may be weary to some viewers who simply want to see really great fight choreography. For those sort of people Samurai Spy will prove very pleasing. Although the story is often difficult to follow because of all of the clans and different characters, some of which are not even exposed until near the end of the film, there is more action in this film than nearly any other Samurai film I have seen. It is also not a subtle form of violence. There are limbs removed and daggers placed in the heads of enemies. Many people die and it is done in the same artistic yet violent beauty of samurai tradition.

In a time where spies are sent out despite the fact that it is peacetime, a lone samurai, Sasuke Sarutobi, longs for peace. He travels to escape the constant fighting, but is drawn into a conflict when he meets a man on the road and is brought into battle. He faces a samurai in all white and is forced to set out on a journey when he is framed for murder as well. It is a journey filled with double-crossing and endless swordplay.

The DVD has a new 16-minute video interview with director Masahiro Shinoda and a gallery of the main characters in the film. As with the other films there is an essay in the insert. It is written by film scholar Alain Silver.

Kill! (1968)

Directed by: Kihachi Okamoto
Executive Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Screenplay by: Akira Murao, Kihachi Okamoto
Original Story by: Shugoro Yamamoto
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Etsushi Takahashi, Atsuo Nakamura

Running Time: 114 minutes

Kill! Is another untraditional samurai film, mixing humor with many of the same themes. Most of the action towards the beginning of the film is handled with a slapstick style, but as the story turns into something more serious, so follows the action. There are two loner characters in this film, allowing for something of a buddy film as well.

When Genta and Hanjiro arrive in a dusty and seemingly abandoned town looking for work, they run into each other in a search for food. One is a former samurai while the other is a farmer with the hopes of becoming a samurai. In search for work they both manage to stumble upon the wrongdoings of the clan leader which will be detrimental to a group of men hiding at the top of a mountain.

The interesting thing about the two main characters is that neither of them are perfect heroes. One is seemingly indifferent, and when he does take action there is a point at which he is brutally beaten, something which doesn’t often happen to the heroes in samurai films. The other hero is somewhat of a bumbling fool, despite his incredible strength.

The DVD has an original theatrical trailer and teaser for special features. There is a new essay by film and culture critic Howard Hampton in the insert, along with the chapter stops and cast and credits. This is the first time that Kill! Is available on DVD in the United States.



Ryan Izay