Samurai Assassin (1965)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C- Film: B+
Imagine a lush snowy terrain in Japan where Toshiro Mifune
(of Kurosawa fame) is standing with a sword in hand and a look of vengeance on
his face. You know when the rusty gates
of Endo Castle open up to unearth an unseen enemy that something EPIC is going
to happen. Which is exactly what Samurai
Assassin (aka Samurai) is: one epic scene after the next that
compliments not only the brilliant filmmakers that were involved, but also the
extreme talent that went into making this film. Based on a true historical event is the story of Niiro Tsuruchiyo
and book “Samurai Nippon” by Gunji Jiromasa, a ronin desperate to gain a high
position with one of the great houses and big on his dream to fulfill samurai
status. Knowing that by getting into
the houses he can identify his Father, Nirro joins a thick assassination plot
against a Shogunate Elder, who is suspected of being a traitor. Waiting outside the gates of Endo Castle,
Niiro waits to deal with his last revelation, sword in hand…
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto (The Sword of Doom,
which happens to be getting issued by The Criterion Collection at about the
same time), was actually the second film for Okamoto in 1965, the other being Chi
to suna (The Fort Graveyard).
Samurai Assassin offers us some extreme ahead-of-its-time camera
movements, ideas, and fight scene choreography. The film is violent when it needs be so whenever the violence
kicks in it’s very effective. If you’re
as big of a Kurosawa fan as I am, then you will be satisfied with the epic long
shots and thought provoking scenes that really grip you into the ideas and
personalities of the characters that Okamoto is presenting to us. The most impressive scene of the film is its
climax at the gates of Endo Castle where we are bombarded by fast cuts, quick
violence, and fierce combat.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image shows its age,
despite the restoration efforts of Toho and AnimEigo of the original TohoScope
footage. The problem is that the
monochrome does not look like real black and white, but the kind of grayer
commercial black and white that does not have much silver content, used so
effectively in Schindler’s List.
That puts the gray scale off a bit since the older monochrome would have
had richer, more solid blacks. Too bad
the telecine operator did not use an older guide for the transfer. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also aged,
despite some work done to fix it. This
plays well enough, but do not expect what the company achieved on later color
films they recently repaired and reissued on DVD.
Extras include theatrical trailers for the Lone Wolf
& Cub series (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and a few other classic
Japanese titles, filmographies, program notes, and the most intriguing – the
“Character Biographies” feature, which provides detailed backgrounds for every
character in the film. The motion menu
screens can be a tad bit annoying, especially the opening one which was
obviously made quickly on an apple computer.
With a non-special edition release of a rare title such as this one
though, I’m fortunate to have the film itself and am not too concerned with the
varied extras. The oddest thing about
this release is all of the Japanese names listed on the back of the cover are
put first name last. Either way, Samurai
Assassin is early in a long cycle of films that have become popular again
and is excellent.
- Jamie Lockhart
