Samurai Rebellion (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Samurai Rebellion is one of those classic films you have to view at least once. If you like to collect Mifune as a Samurai; this is a film to add to your collection.Toshiro Mifune plays Isaburo Sasahara. Lord of a house and considered one of the best swordsmen around. Looking towards retirement, he is ordered to take in the clan lords mistress and marry her off to Sasahara’s son. The two actually fall in love. Something which surprises Sasahara and his wife. Things are looking up until the lord decides he wants her back.It is decided to refuse the request. Isaburo admits to admiring the love between them; something he did not have in his marriage. The refusal is a dangerous choice as it could end up with the destruction of his family and relatives. As expected; it is not received well. A series of threats, demands, offers follow and they are all refused. Of course there is a final showdown.Do not expect armies fighting as the title would suggest. There are sword fights and even a dual with one who is considered Isaburo’s equal. It was odd watching that. Two men about to fight to the death and taking time to make sure a baby is secure and fed. Isaburo is even warned not to take the baby to a set of houses as there are venomous men waiting. It was an honorable fight and his opponent was simply doing his duty. Isaburo was actually sad.The ending is of course a Japanese ending. Not the typical American happy endings.The DVD is a cleaned up version of the original film. There is even a short interview with the director who seems to have ignored such requests for decades. He talks about Mifune and tells a funny little story about working with him.I like this film and have watched it a couple times.

This 1967 Masaki Kobayashi film is only tangentially about samurai. In notes which accompany the Criterion Collection edition Japanese film expert Donald Richie tells us that the title was designed to attract a Western audience. For domestic consumption a title far more descriptive of the actual story was employed: Rebellion - Receive the Wife, which Mr. Richie concedes is his own loose translation. Samurai action occurs only at the very beginning of the picture and at the end. In between is a story of family, power, love, cowardice, conviction, and rebellion.Set in the mid-1720s, well into the 250-year Tokugawa shogunate era of peace, the story develops in the domain of an aging daimyo, or warlord. The daimyo takes a beautiful young mistress named Ichi who, upon returning to the castle one day discovers she has a rival. Ichi lets loose on the rival, beating her up - and later expresses her displeasure by repeatedly slapping the daimyo in the face. Rather than have her killed for this affront (the two have had a child together), the daimyo orders that she be married off to the son of one of his vassals, a young samurai named Yogoro. At first Yogoro's parents are offended by the daimyo's abuse of power in making this demand. But the daimyo's steward makes it clear that the family must obey, which they do.Happily Yogoro and Ichi fall in love and produce a child, and the father (played by the great Toshiro Mifune) comes to admire and love his new daughter-in-law. But just as Ichi begins to feel herself an integral part of her new family, the daimyo decides he wants her back with him at the castle. Orders come from on high, and Yogoro and his father must decide whether to obey - or stand on principle and love. To find out what happens next, see the film. But here's a small hint: there's good reason this film was released in the late 1960s rather than much earlier.One reason I like these period pieces so much is that they allow us to visualize history. Here you get a few tantalizing glimpses of beautiful Kano School scrolls and screens. You also see the shoguns' famous control over travel from one domain to another. A border gate at the boundary of adjacent domains plays an important role in the story's ending. I highly recommend this film.The film runs 2 hours.

Really this is more like a three and a half star film. It drags and goes on about how a woman disgraced a clan for the sake of love and a child, and because of a difference in social rank this causes all kinds of chaos among the men. Honor, pride and shame are brought to the fore and pitted against the love between parents their love for their child. The result is a clash of medieval Japanese social clan politics and social order clashing against human nature.I guess the thing that gets me is that there weren't examples of the parents being parents, just a lot of talk about how social convention in 1700s Japan was challenged. No examples of how these two philosophies collide against one another. As such you have a very Noh like presentation of the politics for much of the film, and some classic samurai sword play towards the end.It's an exceptionally well staged film in terms of shot composition and design, and the acting is typical A-grade as can be expected from the Japanese samurai genre, but the story was a bit confining, and could have been a bit more open. That, and for all of the noire lensing, one can't help but think that a color version with some more shots of the parents being parents, would make for a stronger film. At least I think so.As it stands now this is a decent film, but is a bit static at times in order to emphasize the drama and stern conviction of the characters.Check it out if you're into high drama in samurai films.

this is the best film kurosawa did not make,but should have. great plot and characters. masaki kobayashi,s films are next on my wish list.

I saw this film more then 30 years ago and it made a wonderful impression on me at that time because of its superb qualities: the almost classic-Shakespearian screen-play, director's 'tempos', lighting/cameraman work, fine actors.Now, after all those should-be-discounted "globalised" productions, it now appears to be a truly great film

What a storyline,elegant and pure mastery.The cast and director have given the viewer a journey to remember

The class of Toshiro Mifune shines through this excellent tale. The treatment is almost as good as Kurosawa and builds slowly to an inevitable and superb climax.

Very pleased with this item. Bought as a gift and thoroughly enjoyed.