Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (Miyamoto Musashi)
Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
Written by Hiroshi Inagaki and Tokuhei Wakao from a play by Hideji Hôjô and a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa
1954/Japan
Toho Company
Repeat viewing/Hulu
[box] “Fighting isn’t all there is to the Art of War. The men who think that way, and are satisfied to have food to eat and a place to sleep, are mere vagabonds. A serious student is much more concerned with training his mind and disciplining his spirit than with developing martial skills.” ― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi[/box]
The Samurai Trilogy of films about the legendary hero Miyamoto Musashi is excellent. This first one is mostly background.
Takezo (Toshiro Mifune) is a boy with a dream. He sets off for the war vowing to make a name for himself. His friend Matahashi impulsively decides to join him, abandoning his fiance Otsu and his aged mother in the process. The two young men are immediately set to work digging ditches. They, in their rags, are clearly not thought of as samurai material. Then the side they have been working for loses the war.
The two are at lose ends and starving to death when they come upon a lonely cottage occupied by a mother and teenage daughter. The two nurse the men back to health. Both of the women are smitten with the brave Takezo but he repels their advances. After he defeats some bandits, he departs. The mother seduces the cowardly Matahashi and later marries him.
Takezo returns to his village to bring news of Matahashi to his relatives. They believe him really to be dead and from here on out Takezo is on the run. He is finally captured by a Buddhist priest who is Otsu’s guardian. He has a spiritual awakening and begins a long period of training as the samurai Musashi Miyamoto.
This is a solid picture. It is mostly story with minimal fighting. The trilogy builds gradually to some classic sword duels. I am already looking forward to seeing Part II for 1955 and, especially, Part III for 1956.
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto won an Honorary Oscar as the best foreign language film released in the United States in 1955.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdegfJaSG-4
Clip with awful dark print
Fan trailer (extraneous music inserted and in black-and-white)
