Cinema
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
宮本武蔵
Hiroshi Inagaki · 1954
Synopsis
Takezō, a village boy of humble origin, dreams of becoming a samurai, according to Turner Classic Movies, and leaves with his friend Matahachi; defeated at Sekigahara, in 1600, they become fugitives. They find refuge with Oko and her daughter Akemi, tied to bandits whom Takezō drives off. Matahachi leaves with them and abandons his fiancée Otsū; Takezō returns to the village, where he escapes the traps set to catch him, until the monk Takuan intervenes.
Context
The film adapts a novel serialised in a daily newspaper from 1935 to 1939, by way of the adaptation Hōjō Hideji made of it, according to the Turner heritage cinema channel. It was Tōhō's first film in Eastmancolor, released on 26 September 1954; the shoot, mostly on location, lasted six months and involved more than a thousand extras. The director was returning to a trilogy he had made during the war. Two sequels appeared in 1955 and 1956.
Who it is for
Ninety-three minutes, in colour, and it is a beginning: the two sequels complete the story.
Prizes and reception
Honorary Academy Award for best foreign film, it was the fourth Japanese film distributed in the United States.