Here is where Akira Kurosawas legendary career began, with four films.... Sanshiro Sugata (1943): One of the reasons I despise censorship. On a visual level, this film is very impressive for a first-time directing job, and the acting is good. But there was so much footage yanked out of the picture, giving it a shapeless, incomplete feel and sapping any potential character development. In this truncated version, its an interesting curiosity piece, but nothing special. Hopefully, someday in the world, the original version will be found. The Most Beautiful (1944): Leave it to Kurosawa to make a tolerable propaganda film. Save for one line that is especially anti-U.S., the film is more concerned about the sense of conformism that was present in wartime Japan. Unlike most propaganda films, the characters have personality, and you do end up caring for them. Beautifully acted and directed. Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945): Quite possibly the worst film Akira Kurosawa ever made. All the problems with the chopped-up version of the first Sanshiro Sugata are manifested and amplified here. The characters are even rougher and less interesting than before, theres only a handful of visually interesting scenes, story lines become dropped left and right, and featuring some of the laziest propaganda I can remember. Its evident, quite literally from the first scene, that Kurosawa didnt put his heart into this one. The Men Who Tread on the Tigers Tail (1945): Rapid-paced, oftentimes funny (deliberately so), and very entertaining, particularly a long middle sequence with suspense that would have made Hitchcock proud. It feels like The Hidden Fortress mixed with a kabuki play.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 02:22:54 +0000
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