The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Misa Uehara

Mifune was born with a katana in his hand. He emerged fully grown from the womb, performing a c-section from the inside. After severing his umbilical cord, his first action was field surgery to save his mother’s life.

He spent his first years farming. He had a natural ability with the soil. There was a form of communication between them. His crops grew tall and plentiful.

When his mother died, Mifune’s grief became an earthquake that ravaged the farm. The bond between him and the land was broken. He salvaged enough food for a long journey, and picked up his sword.

He encountered no person on the day he left home, but his travels did not go unnoticed. A pack of wolves surrounded him. Mifune bowed and asked for safe passage. The leader of the wolves attacked and became Mifune’s winter coat and a quiver. A snake tried to bite him, and provided Mifune a belt and string for his bow.

On the first night he made camp, a demon visited Mifune by the fire. It was interested to know how Mifune had come by the blade he carried. Mifune answered that he was born with it, and offered no more in the way of conversation. The demon’s presence annoyed him.

The demon told him that the blade was cursed. He could sense the presence of a demon more powerful than himself bound within it. It was this that had drawn him to Mifune’s camp.

This angered Mifune. He called the demon a liar and challenged him, but the demon smiled and refused. He would stand no chance against Mifune’s blade, he said. He then walked into the fire and rode the smoke upwards and was gone.

Mifune did not sleep that night, nor for several nights after.

He did not know how long he had been travelling. His senses were keen, even sharpened, by the lack of sleeping. But the measurement of time had been lost. As dawn broke one morning, he saw the outlines of a town.

The smells of the city were different from those of the farm he had known for most of his life. The concentration of people and the poor living conditions made it a foul place that assaulted and overwhelmed him. He vomited twice before his body could adjust.

Mifune walked from building to building and observed. He carried no money and had little in the way of social skills. The townspeople were clearly frightened by his appearance. Some would skitter away, but just as many adopted defensive postures and kept their eyes on him.

He encountered an older man who had lost his legs and was begging in the street. Mifune asked to sit a while with him and rest. The beggar was glad for the company.

The beggar began telling Mifune things about the town. What it was called, how it began, and who its prominent citizens were. But the travel had taken its toll, and Mifune was soon asleep.

He was awakened when his sword was snatched from his hand. Mifune was on his feet in a second. He barely got a look at the thief before the crowd closed in around him and blocked his view.

Mifune fought them well, but he was only one man, weakened by travel and lack of rest. He was beaten badly and eventually succumbed to unconsciousness when a rock struck his head hard. Mifune had just enough sense to register that the throw had come from the direction of the beggar before everything faded into blood red.

It was some time before he realized his spirit was now walking without his body. He was beside a nearly dry river bed. Only a trickle of dirty water ran past him. A dam built of corpses and manure was blocking the water upstream.

A strong campfire was burning ahead, with a beast Mifune could not identify turning on a spit above it. Stoking the flames was a familiar demon. As Mifune approached, the demon addressed him.

You are brave to visit this world, living man. Without your blade you are powerless against me. And you did not treat me with hospitality when we last met.

Mifune did not reply. Instead he pulled a piece of meat from the roasting creature and ate. It was burnt and rancid.

You will find no nourishment in the flesh of that creature. At one time it was a god, but its name has long since been forgotten, even by itself. It asked me to kill it, and I granted its wish.

What do you wish, living man?

Nothing from you, said Mifune, and started to walk past the demon. The demon grabbed him by the throat and lifted him with one hand.

You are not welcome here. You will return and face me again, and on that day I will destroy you. But you have more demons to face before me.

The demon threw Mifune over the dam of corpses, over the foul reddish-brown lake past it, over the charred remnants of a forest, over a ruined castle, and over the edge of anything Mifune could comprehend. He fell and fell into nothing.

He felt an impact and his body jolted. The sudden movement sent up flares of pain from his broken ribs. An inhuman sound was forced from his lungs, and he began breathing in quick, forced gasps.

It took some time before he was able to stop shaking long enough to stand. When he had regained control of his body, Mifune took in his surroundings. He was at the bottom of a gully in a forest, but it was too dark to determine more than that.

Mifune began gathering material for a small campfire. Morning would come soon. Then he would retrieve his sword.

Sanshiro Sugata Parts I-II (1943/1945)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Tsuneo Tomita (novel)
Starring Susumu Fujita, Takashi Shimura, Ryunosuke Tsukigata

Only my third movie into this thing and Ziggy Jr. picks my first Kurosawa. And a couple of Kurosawa’s earliest movies as a director at that. Not Seven Samurai or Throne of Blood or Yojimbo or Rashomon or Red Beard or Ikiru. Sanshiro Sugata aka Judo Saga. Since there are two parts and the movies are fairly short, I might as well cover them both.

Akira Kurosawa is my favorite director. His peak period is from 1950 to 1965, from Rashomon to Red Beard. He directed thirteen films during that span. All are emotionally gripping and technically terrific films. A small number of these films have notable flaws, but the majority of them are classics.

The Sanshiro Sugata films, released in 1943 and 1945, are Kurosawa’s first and third films as a director. It wasn’t until his seventh film, 1948’s Drunken Angel, that Kurosawa himself felt he was becoming the kind of director he wanted to be.

So far I’ve said nothing much about the movies I am supposed to be writing about. This is only my second time watching them, so I’m not overly familiar with either part. So far, I’m finding the first one compelling enough. The action scenes are awkwardly staged, something which Kurosawa would improve upon tremendously by the time he made Seven Samurai.

Thankfully the rest of the storytelling is solid. It’s a pretty straightforward hero’s journey, from a nobody new in town who goes through trials to become the champion who gets the girl. There’s a villain with a memorable look to him. And some of the scenes and little touches are lovely. It’s clear what Toho studios saw in the young Kurosawa.

It’s also worth noting that Takashi Shimura, veteran actor who would appear in twenty of Kurosawa’s thirty films, was there right from the start. Though it was Toshiro Mifune who would come along a few years later and dominate Kurosawa’s classic period, the always reliable Shimura was excellent in support and even better in his leading roles in Ikiru and Seven Samurai.

Susumu Fujita, the lead actor in both Sanshiro Sugata films, has an affable quality but lacks the fire of Kurosawa’s later leading men, Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai. Because of this and the fact that the story is so well-worn, and also because Kurosawa’s style had not yet developed, the films don’t make as much impression today as they did upon their original release. The first part was a hit for Toho. The second part is not only the lesser film in terms of story and craftsmanship, but had the misfortune of being released at a time when Japan was pretty ravaged by the effects of World War II.

Sanshiro Sugata is a modest success as a great director’s first film. Its sequel lacks most of the original film’s charm, and frankly is a disappointing continuation. Ultimately the audience for both films is limited to Kurosawa completists.

Interesting Facts

-- Akira Kurosawa was considered to be the Japanese John Ford. He did have great respect for Ford’s films and learned a few things from him. But Kurosawa generally preferred to be known as the Japanese Rita Hayworth, for reasons that have never been made entirely clear.

-- Susumu Fujita, who appeared in several of Kurosawa’s early films, was largely absent during the director’s peak period. This was not because of any kind of creative fallout, but because Fujita led a secret Japanese task force to find and rescue Japanese P.O.W.’s who had been left on foreign soil after WWII. These heroic efforts gave him a reputation as the Japanese Rambo.

-- Takashi Shimura was the Japanese Buddy Holly. Go figure.