Review: "THE SWORD OF DOOM" is a Thrilling Jidaigeki

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 of 2021 (No. 1762) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

The Sword of Doom (1966)
Dai-bosatsu tôge (original title)
Running time:  119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Kihachi Okamoto
WRITER:  Shinobu Hashimoto (based on the novel by Kaizan Nakazato)
PRODUCERS:  Sanezumi Fujimoto, Konparu Nanri, and Masayuki Satô
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Hiroshi Murai
EDITOR:  Yoshitami Kuroiwa
COMPOSER:  Masaru Satô

MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION/DRAMA

Starring:  Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Yuzo Kayama, Yoko Naito, Kei Sato, Tadao Nakamaru, Ichiro Nakaya, and Toshiro Mifune

Dai-bosatsu Tōge (The Pass of the Great Buddha) is a 1966 Japanese period drama (a “jidaigeki”).  Also known by the titled, The Sword of Doom (the title by which I will refer to this film for this review), the film is directed by Kihachi Okamoto from a screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto and is based on a novel written by Kaizan Nakazato.  The Sword of Doom focuses on a sociopathic samurai who relishes killing people.

The Sword of Doom introduces Ryunosuke Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai), a master swordsman with an unorthodox fighting style.  Amoral and ruthless, Ryunosuke believes that one's sword is one's soul.  We see him kill an elderly pilgrim; needlessly kill a man in a duel; and kill several of that man's clansman who ambush him shortly afterwards.

To make a living, Ryunosuke joins the “Shincho Group,” a rogue band of ronin who take it upon themselves to murder and assassinate for whatever reason they decide.  However, the wanton murders and other unconscionable acts he has committed have created a trail of vendettas that follows Ryunosuke closely.  He has also drawn the notice of two people in particular:  a young man, Hyoma Utsugi (Yuzo Kayama), whose brother Ryunosuke killed, and Shimada Toranosuke (Toshiro Mifune), another master swordsman, whose skill unnerves Ryunosuke.

First, I feel obligated to give you a warning, dear readers.  The Sword of Doom ends abruptly during the middle of a fight between Ryunosuke and dozens of assassins in a burning courtesan house.  It leaves many plot elements and subplots unresolved, including those involving Hyoma Utsugi and Shimada Toranosuke.  Apparently, Kihachi Okamoto, the director of The Sword of Doom, planned to adapt the novel upon which the film is based as a trilogy, but the other films were never made.

That said,  I think that The Sword of Doom is a tremendous samurai film, and, while I have not seen that many samurai films, it is one of the best I have ever seen.  There are three things that draw me to this movie.  First, I like the way the film focuses on Ryunosuke.  It is as if Okamoto points his camera through Ryunosuke's flesh and blood and into his soul.  This film is an examination of an amoral man's interior life; it is an investigation of how such a man lives with and justifies himself.  While Ryunosuke may act as if he does not care about anyone, as the film goes on, he clearly cannot deal with a reckoning – odd for a man who acts as if he is above it all.

The second element that makes me really like this film are the sword duels and group battles.  The battle between Ryunosuke and his victim's clansman at the end of the Spring 1860 segment is bracing, while the duel that initiates this battle is a feast of anticipation.  The fight at the end of the film is just crazy, mad, and crazy-mad-good; seeing Ryunosuke hack, slash, and stab so many of the men trying to kill him made me fell almost delirious or almost sick.  However, I think the best fight in this movie involves the character played by one of my favorite actors.

The late Toshiro Mifune could have made a toilet paper commercial exciting filmed entertainment.  His mere presence in The Sword of Doom elevates the film.  It is as if Mifune first appears in this film to let the viewer know that this movie has a higher purpose than being just another jidaigeki.  When Mifune's Toranosuke kills the perpetrators of a botched assassination attempt, he defines this movie as both a rumination on the evil actions of an evil man and as a tale about the kind of bold men who must fight powerful evil men.

The Sword of Doom is about the struggle of good men of good action against men with evil minds and evil swords.  If not for the abrupt ending, I would say that The Sword of Doom is a perfect film.

8 of 10
A

Sunday, October 22, 2017


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Review: Peter Cushing is Cool in Lame "Island of Terror" (Remembering Peter Cushing)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Island of Terror (1966)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
Running time: 89 minutes - USA (1 hour, 29 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Terence Fisher
WRITERS: Edward Andrew Mann and Alan Ramsen
PRODUCER: Tom Blakeley
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Reginald H. Wyer
EDITOR: Thelma Connell
COMPOSER: Malcolm Lockyer

HORROR/SCI-FI

Starring: Peter Cushing, Edward Judd, Carole Gray, Eddie Byrne, Sam Kydd, Niall MacGinnis, James Caffrey, and Liam Gaffney

The subject of this movie review is Island of Terror, a 1966 British horror film starring Peter Cushing. The film was made and released by Planet Film Productions, but in the U.S., Universal Studios released Island of Terror as a double feature with a 1967 film called The Projected Man. Island of Terror is kind of silly, but being as I am a big fan of the famed British actor, the late Peter Cushing, I found enjoyment in it.

In the manor of a posh English estate on a small island, a group of scientists are engaged in some cancer research that is about to result in live saving cures. However, the research suddenly goes wildly wrong and creates a group of creeping, tentacled blobs. The blobs devour human and animal bone matter and self-divide after each meal. They threaten to overrun the island when Dr. Brian Stanley (Peter Cushing), Dr. David West (Edward Judd), and Dr. Reginald Landers (Eddie Byrne) arrive coincidentally in time to try to save the day. Dr. West’s girlfriend, Toni Merrill (Carole Gray), tags along to swoon and scream whenever the creatures are near.

The real treat in Island of Terror is the wonderful Peter Cushing. I’ll watch anything in which he stars, even something as poor as this. It’s sad, but funny sci-fi horror, and it does have some spooky moments and some rare seconds of suspense and fear. Otherwise, it’s forgettable. Cushing, however, is a trooper, always giving A list work no matter how goofy the material is, and here he makes no exception in giving a good performance. His Dr. Stanley is stoic, calm, scientific and brave even in the face of ridiculous monsters and in light of loosing his left hand at one point in the movie.

Eddie Judd is hilarious as Dr West, the young stud who demands the cooperation of the townsfolk. He uses a firm hand in dealing with his screaming Mimi of a girlfriend Toni. They are definitely a movie couple from another era. Today, Toni would not be so obvious in her histrionics, nor would Dr. West treat her more like a petulant child than an equal in a relationship.

It’s also nice to see such well dressed movie heroes, with jackets and ties nonetheless, and always looking neat and professional enough to walk right into a board meeting moments after fighting off monster-death with only an ax and their British wits.

Quaint and silly, see this one to get another look at the amazing Mr. Cushing, a distinct film star and personality even in this oddly charming banal film.

4 of 10
C

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Review: Elizabeth Taylor Roars in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) – B&W
Running time: 131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Mike Nichols
WRITER/PRODUCER: Ernest Lehman (from the play by Edward Albee)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haskell Wexler
EDITOR: Sam O’Steen
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis

At a New England college, on the serene campus grounds, in their disordered campus home, George (Richard Burton), an emasculated professor, and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), his rancorous emasculating wife, have returned from a faculty party at about two in the morning. Martha is already drunk, and they both start drinking more while their conversations turns to bellows and accusations aimed at each other, a disagreeable autopsy on the corpse that their marriage isn’t… yet. Soon, the couple’s guests arrive – Nick (George Segal), a new junior professor, and his fragile wife, Honey (Sandy Dennis). Before long, the warring duo of George and Martha suck the young couple into their whirlpool of wrenching disclosures, petty name-calling, and endless antagonism, which before long is also starting to open up the dark places in Nick and Honey’s marriage.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is director Mike Nichols adaptation of Edward Albee’s famous play about a couple whose marriage is a maelstrom created by their feelings of anger, guilt, and frustration with each other. Nichols, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton actually used Albee’s original play as the script, retaining only two lines of dialogue from producer/writer Ernest Lehman’s script adaptation of the stage drama, so the audience pretty much gets the full effect of Albee’s original writing.

Simply put: Martha is angry at George’s despairing view of life, and that his ambition was satisfied when he got the job at the university (where her father, whom we never see, is President) and he married her. George, on the other hand, apparently understands, but is not wholly sympathetic with Martha’s struggle to connect with him, especially as they couldn’t have children. Her passive/aggressive way of dealing with what she sees as his shortcomings drive George to contemplate violent harm to Martha. The young couple, Nick and Honey, are simply getting an advance view of where their marriage will be because their problems are similar to George and Martha’s, but still in their infancy stage.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the screen version, is difficult to watch because of the frank and brutal conversations – the vitriol. With only some artifice, Nichols allows the actors to commit to playing this intricate drama that is held together not only by physical acting, but also by concisely delivered lines of dialogue from competing speakers, intertwining and battling. Truthfully, the movie tends to dry up in several spaces, and it is easily a half-hour too long, but where to cut? This, in a sense, is a thriller, and the action is in the build up to every topic of conversation that becomes an argument, confession, or trust betrayed.

The film has excellent production values, from the gorgeous dreamlike Oscar-winning black and white photography of Haskell Wexler to the otherworldly, Oscar-winning set decoration and art direction. The cast is also excellent, and while Richard Burton does a top-notch professional job, Elizabeth Taylor’s turn as the ultimate bitch is a career changer. Some people tend to remember Taylor as a tough woman, best exemplified by her performance as Martha delivering countless verbal body blows to Burton’s George, while he cuts and stabs at her in self-defense.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is not for the feint of heart or people who don’t like films built around conversations and dialogue – all that talk-talk, but if you like that, this is an embarrassment of riches.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1967 Academy Awards: 5 wins: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Elizabeth Taylor), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Sandy Dennis), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White” (Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins), “Best Cinematography, Black-and-White” (Haskell Wexler), “Best Costume Design, Black-and-White” (Irene Sharaff); 8 nominations: “Best Picture” (Ernest Lehman), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Richard Burton), “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (George Segal), “Best Director” (Mike Nichols), “Best Film Editing” (Sam O'Steen), “Best Music, Original Music Score” (Alex North), “Best Sound” George Groves-Warner Bros. SSD), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Ernest Lehman)

1967 BAFTA Awards: 3 wins: “Best British Actor” (Richard Burton), “Best British Actress” (Elizabeth Taylor), and “Best Film from any Source” (Mike Nichols)

1967 Golden Globes: 7 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama. “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Richard Burton), “Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama” (Elizabeth Taylor), “Best Motion Picture Director” (Mike Nichols), “Best Screenplay’ (Ernest Lehman), “Best Supporting Actor” (George Segal), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Sandy Dennis)

Sunday, February 19, 2006

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Review: Michael Caine Made a Star Turn in "Alfie"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 99 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Alfie (1966)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Lewis Gilbert
WRITER: Bill Naughton (based upon his play)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Otto Heller
EDITOR: Thelma Connell
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Shirley Anne Field, Vivien Merchant, Eleanor Bron, Denholm Elliot, Alfie Bass, Graham Stark, and Murray Melvin

Michael Caine earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance in the Oscar® “Best Picture” nominee, Alfie. It’s the tale of Alfie (Michael Caine), a cad and “lady killer” who specializes in loving women and leaving them. However, Alfie’s fortunes take a turn when he impregnates Gilda (Julia Foster). At first, Alfie shows interest in the baby boy, but when Gilda pushes for marriage, Alfie pushes off. Gilda accepts a proposal of marriage from Humphrey (Graham Stark), an old suitor who has been pining after her for ages. Alfie callously brushes aside the entire situation and marches on to new lovers until he gets his comeuppance.

Alfie is one of those pictures where the directing, screenwriting, and lead actor come together so seamlessly that the film comes off as a harmonious enterprise. The script is tightly written, but allows the actors room to breath. The director expertly follows the lead of the writing and the star, and crafts a perfect rhythm to which the performances can move. Of course, the star Michael Caine. He deftly moves back and forth, breaking the fourth wall to explain the film narrative and his situation directly to the movie audience. He smoothly breaks it every time he wants to explain his philosophy of life, his method of operation in matters of lust, and the evolution of the his story. Alfie is a charming rogue, a callous jerk, and a selfish and self-centered boy, but Caine makes him such an engaging and likeable character. He makes him so human and so sympathetic that one can’t see Alfie as evil man, just a man certain that he is the captain of his ship and that he can live with both his conquests and his errors. Alfie is certainly one of those times we find ourselves rooting for the cad/lover boy.

8 of 10
A

June 21, 2005

NOTES:
1967 Academy Awards: 5 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Michael Caine), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Vivien Merchant), “Best Music, Original Song” (Burt Bacharach-music and Hal David-lyrics for the song "Alfie"), “Best Picture” (Lewis Gilbert), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Bill Naughton)

1967 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles” (Vivien Merchant); 5 nominations: “Best British Actor” (Michael Caine), “Best British Cinematography (Colour)” (Otto Heller), “Best British Film” (Lewis Gilbert), “Best British Film Editing” (Thelma Connell), and “Best British Screenplay” (Bill Naughton)

1967 Golden Globes: 1win: “Best English-Language Foreign Film”; 6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Michael Caine), “Best Motion Picture Director” (Lewis Gilbert), “Best Original Song in a Motion Picture” (Burt Bacharach-music and Hal David-lyrics for the song "Alfie"), “Best Screenplay” (Bill Naughton), and 2 “Best Supporting Actress” (Vivien Merchant and Shelley Winters)

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Review: 1966 "Batman" Flick Still Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 100 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Batman (1966)
Running time: 104 minutes
DIRECTOR: Leslie H. Martinson
WRITER: Lorenzo Semple, Jr. (based upon THE BATMAN character created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics)
PRODUCER: William Dozier
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Howard Schwartz
EDITOR: Harry W. Gerstad

SUPERHERO/COMEDY/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Alan Napier, Neil Hamilton, Stafford Repp, Madge Blake, and Reginald Denny

In January 1966, television history was made when the TV show “Batman” debuted. Its blend of camp humor and the large number of celebrities who guest-starred as villains (Roddy McDowall, Milton Berle, Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cliff Robertson, and Vincent Price among many) made the show a huge hit with audiences of all ages. A television show based upon a superhero comic book had never been so popular, and “Batman” spawned one of the biggest pop culture fads of that time which included a slew merchandising and memorabilia. Starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, the series last three seasons (120 episodes) and gave birth to a 1966 feature film, simply titled, Batman, which was released to theatres in between the first and second seasons of the show.

In the feature film, Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) face not one, not two, and not three foes, but four of them combined together as the United Underworld, a quartet of the most diabolical super-villains: the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and the Catwoman (Lee Meriwether). Their plan to hold the world hostage involves using a secret invention that instantly dehydrates people and reduces them to small piles of dust. They need Batman out of the way, so Catwoman disguises herself as “Kitka,” a sly Soviet envoy who ensnares Bruce Wayne (West) as bait to draw the Caped Crusader into their deadly trap. What they don’t know is that Wayne is Batman’s secret identity. Will Bruce Wayne’s emerging attraction to Ms. Kitka lead to the destruction of Batman? Can the Dynamic Duo save the world? Tune in…

Batman the movie is, like “Batman” the television series, campy – a style of comedy known for being outlandishly amusing and theatrical. The film and series are likely parodies or send-ups of Batman & Robin’s first big screen appearance: the 1943, 13-part movie serial, also entitled Batman. The colorful and garish costumes, over-the-top dialogue, sexual innuendo, the farcical plot, and the kooky action scenes are all a tongue-in-cheek ode to an old favorite of serialized fiction and film – the cliffhanger, which often finds the hero or heroes a second away from certain death via some ridiculous invention or mechanical contraption. When the hero is saved or saves himself, it is always by the skin of his teeth via some totally off-the-wall or silly means, but it is all for fun.

In the last two-and-half decades or so, hardcore fans of the Batman comic books and other superhero comic books have come to revile the silliness of the 1960’s Batman, but silliness and big fun were the point of the series. I don’t think this film is nearly as funny or as enjoyable as the TV show, but it’s a nice, cultural oddity worth a few laughs. Personally, I prefer its take on the Batman costumes, as well as its interpretation of most of the characters, compared to most other screen Batman’s. Its importance to film, TV, and pop culture history remains the search to discover why the TV series became so popular at the time it did.

6 of 10
B

June 23, 2005