Incident at Blood Pass (Machibuse, 1970)
Inagaki Hiroshi
Japan
118 mins, color, Japanese (English subtitles)
Another entry in the YOJIMBO "series" begun by Kurosawa Akira and continued (briefly) by others. Inagaki revisits the legendary character (played by the incomparable Toshiro Mifune) and pairs him (not for the last time) with Shintaro Katsu, better known as Zatoichi, among others. The good news is that Yojimbo has retained some of his great features, like the defining scratch on the (nonexistent in this film) beard and the shoulder twitch. He still has the golden heart under the seemingly rough exterior, but unfortunately not much is left of his sense of humor. INCIDENT AT BLOOD PASS is a humorless film. In fact, it is quite depressing and bleak, with mostly gritty action told in a grim philosophic narration.
Mifune is sent on a mysterious mission and, in his usual way of not getting involved, he rescues the conveniently beautiful Okuni (Ruriko Asaoka), who is married to a wife-beater drunkard and bastard (wow, did I miss anything?) He ends up at a teahouse at the Pass, and waits for something to happen, as per instructions. Others gather at the teahouse, including a wounded cop (Kinnosuke Nakamura) and his quarry, the criminal Tatsu (Ryunosuke Yamazaki). The cop is the one that will be changed by the experience. He starts out blinded by the superiority of his position, unable to tell between a real crook and an innocent, although very stupid, messenger. Other shady characters show up, including the odd doctor on the run Gentetsu (Shintaro Katsu). Things go from bad to worse as Yojimbo finds himself deep in a conspiracy within the conspiracy to steal the Shogunate's gold.
Although not as epic as other Inagaki films, INCIDENT AT BLOOD PASS is a thoroughly enjoyable fare. There aren't many fights, but the little there is, is quite good. The director always chooses lovely leading ladies -- Ruriko and Mika Kitagawa (who plays the chattering brat Oyuki) are no exceptions. If there is some weakness in the story development, it has to be the ultra-fast way these women fall in love. I wish I had luck like that, but then I don't have a shoulder twitch and I haven't rescued any damsels in distress recently, so that probably explains it. Okuni is attracted to Yojimbo almost from the start, and although it takes Oyuki about 10 minutes, she quickly develops feelings for another stranger. Oddly enough, this story is left untold in the end. Anyway, although both men seem to like the women, they cannot take them anywhere (except in trouble). There is something quite dissatisfying with this, but I guess it is the ronin way.
The other problem is with Yojimbo switching sides back and forth. I know he's supposed to be one smart samurai but I lost track of whose side he was one fairly early once the proceedings got confused. It would have been nice if he could answer Gentetsu's own question "WHY?" That's exactly what I want to know too. Oh well, he's Yojimbo, so we're not supposed to ask questions. He just knows.
Inagaki is a very good director, and this film shows it as well. Although his tendency to center images can be somewhat unnerving, he does manage to position everything so the entire widescreen is filled. Very few directors do this properly, most simply waste space, perhaps knowing that their work will be butchered down to full frame for TV addicts. The music is too reminiscent of Westerns to be really good, but is passable. The acting is superb. The biggest plus have to be the English subs, which are simply excellent. All AnimEigo productions I've seen have good subs, and this is no exception. They also use different colors to distinguish speakers during dialogues. The transfer was pretty good, considering the film's age and given the fact that I watched a VHS tape, not the laser disc.
April 29, 2001. BLS