Movielogr
Samurai Banners (1969)
Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda’s realm, advance the claim of Yu’s son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?
Length 165 minutes
Actors
Toshirō Mifune | Yoshiko Sakuma | Kinnosuke Nakamura | Yûjirô Ishihara | Katsuo Nakamura | Umenosuke Nakamura | Masakazu Tamura | Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII | Ken Ogata | Mayumi Ôzora | Masumi Harukawa | Haruko Tôgô | Keiko Sawai | Yoshiko Kuga | Akihiko Hirata | Yoshio Tsuchiya | Akira Kubo | Ichirô Nakatani | Sachio Sakai | Nakajirô Tomita | Tetsurô Sagawa | Jun'ichirô Mukai | Kitijiro Murata | Ryunosuke Yamazaki | Ryôsuke Kagawa | Masao Shimizu | Jotaro Togami | Kôji Nanbara | Takashi Shimura | Ryûnosuke Tsukigata | Kan'emon Nakamura
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/03/2020 | TV | DVD | Library | 7 stars |
| (Average) 7 stars |
Viewing Notes
Quite an epic yet loose retelling of this particular period of 1560s feudal Japan. First half before the intermission is much stronger and more interesting than the second half. This was made under Mifune’s own production company and Toho handled the distribution. Lots of great actors including Takashi Shimura in a small supporting role. Mifune, however, is the standout and gets the majority of screentime.
Just noticed upon logging this that a good chunk of the actors in this aren’t listed. Worth noting that this film features some large scale battles, maybe not the biggest I’ve seen but still involve hundreds of suited actors half on horses.
No comments yet. Log in and be the first!