Dojo Challengers / Samurai from Nowhere* / Dojo Yaburi (1964)

The sixties chanbara is so rich that a fascinating movie like Samurai from Nowhere, without a famous director or star, undeservedly falls through the cracks. While there is plenty of swordplay, it provides one of the most realistic looks at the life and the desperation of the ronin since Humanity and Paper Balloons. Ihei is …

Samurai Assassin / Samurai (1965)

Based on a famous incident in Japanese history, Samurai Assassin assumes a certain amount of historical knowledge on the part of its audience, but don't let that put you off. Most of the movie is fiction. After the Americans arrived, the new Tokugawa Shogun was a child, so Chief Elder Ii actually ran the country …

Drunken Sword / Yoi-dore musoken (1962)

Of the great pre-war chanbara stars, the least well-known outside of Japan is Utaemon Ichikawa because almost all his movies were star vehicles that were dependably entertaining but never wandered into unusual territories that might draw the attention of Euro/American distributors. He was a giant in his field, rather like Randolph Scott in the Western …

Scarlet Camellia / Goben no tsubaki (1965)

Sometimes you come across a movie that is far more interesting in concept than in practice, and Scarlet Camellia is a good example. It is a highly unusual movie because it is about a serial killer, a very rare occurrence in Japanese society or films, and even more unusually, the killer is a woman. But …