Daily Archives: January 10, 2018

Daisan no kagemusha (1963)

Daisan no kagemusha (The Third Shadow Warrior)
Directed by Umetsugo Inoue
Written by Seiji Hoshikawa and Norio Nanjo
1963/Japan
Daiei Kyoto
First viewing/FilmStruck

 

Nobukado Takeda: The shadow of a man can never stand up and walk on its own. (From Kagemusha (1980) directed by Akira Kurosawa

A bloodier take on the Kagemusha source story also made by Akira Kurosawa in 1980.

A humble farmer longs to be a samurai.  A warlord’s retainers promise him a job but it turns out to be to serve as a double and decoy for the warlord.  Much bloody fighting and maiming ensues.

This was well-made but too gruesome for my taste.

Clip