Word: samurai
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...clues to the Japanese taste and popular spirit. In one scene, for instance, a sort of Japanese Bobby Clark (Shunji Sakai) muddles interminably with some chicken droppings in the baron's parlor; in Japan this was a sure laugh-getter. And then at the end, when the slamming samurai has foiled the villain and won his lady love (Kuniko Ikawa), do they leap into each other's arms? Not at all. The hero rides sadly away, and the sound track sings to the heroine: "Your hawk has flown away . . ./ The bold, dark bird that dare not dwell...
Koryusai, a contemporary of Shunsho, was among the few high-born Ukiyo-e artists. The samurai generally thought printmaking and even print buying beneath their dignity. Famed for his woodcuts of Yoshiwara girls, Koryusai did equally well with more imaginative pictures of birds and animals. His Phoenix Bird (above at right) is notable for its delicacy and restraint, makes elaborate use of embossing, i.e., printing without ink, for plumage...
...enemies closed in around the little man in the antique wing collar, their curved samurai swords sharpened for his political execution. "You answer in a strong voice, and you look healthy," a conservative mocked him. "The fact that the Prime Minister is able to appear at all ... is due to our spirit of chivalry," taunted a Socialist. At one point during his long inquisition before the Diet, 76-year-old Shigeru Yoshida, Premier of Japan for seven years, began to defend himself, but lost his way through his notes. "Ah ... ah ... ah," he mumbled, shuffling his papers...
...were scrambling last week to release films for the American market. The export pictures are mostly "sword swingers," Oriental versions of the U.S. horse opera, in which Japan's feudal swordsmen are the heroes. Tokyo's Toho (Eastern Treasure) Co. plans to release its $350,000 Seven Samurai, which won a prize at this year's Venice Festival, early in 1955 as "a Japanese western" (33,000 extras, 2,300 horses). Next month Daiei (Great Pictures), which produced both Rashomon and Ugetsu, will release (through Sam Goldwyn) its latest sword swinger: Jigokumon (Hell's Gate), which...
...Venice, judges at the isth International Film Festival announced the win ners of this year's competition. Grand prize winner: an Italian-British production (in English) of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Four second prize winners: On the Waterfront (U.S.), The Street (Italy), The Seven Samurai and Functionary Sun-sho (both Japan). Best actor: France's Jean Gabin (for his work in L'Air de Paris and Touchez Pas au Grisbi). "Special" prize: MGM's Executive Suite. On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando, walked off with two additional prizes: one from the Italian Motion Picture...