SHINOBI: BAND OF ASSASSINS (1962) RADIANCE FILMS BLU-RAY SCREENSHOTS
Read the full reviiew for the SHINOBI: THREE FILMS BY SATSUO YAMAMOTO & KAZUO MORI (1962-1963) here: https://mcbastardsmausoleum.blogspot....
SHINOBI: BAND OF ASSASSINS (1962)
aka SHINOBI NO MONO
Label: Radiance Films
Region Code: A, B
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 104 Minutes 27 Seconds
Audio: Japanese 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.43:1)
Director: Satsuo Yamamoto
Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Shiho Fujimura, Yûnosuke Itô, Kyôko Kishida, Saburo Date
In the first film in the Shinobi series, directed by Satsuo Yamamoto, tyrannical warlord Oda Nobunaga (Tomisaburô Wakayama, Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance) is dead-set on unting the territories under his rule, in the process wiping out any provincial warlords and ninja-clans that might get in his way. One such threat is Sandayû Momochi (Yûnosuke Itô, Ikiru), whois no angel himself, a duplicitous leader secretly manipulating multiple ninja-clans from the shadows to secure his own power in the district. When Momocho discovers that one of his ninjas, Ishikawa Goemon (Raizō Ichikawa, Sleepy Eyes of Death), is having an affair with his wife, uh-oh, he murders his own wife with a well-placed poison dart to her neck, framing her lover Goemon for the murder, then holding the crime over the ninja's head, coercing him into assassinating the corrupt samurai warlord, as well as forcing him to become a thief to fund his master's warchest. Nobunaga proves to be almost supernaturally lucky in avoiding death, even surviving the "Tranquil Cessation" attack, wherein Goemon drills a hole in the ceiling above the sleeping Nobunaga and drips a lethal poison down a thread lowered from the ceiling into the warlord's mouth, which was later cribbed by the 007 series with You Only Live Twice. The film offers an interesting look into the inner-life of the fabled ninja, keeping things mostly human-based and realistic, the black-pajama assassins showing incredible stealth and skill using a variety of ninja weaponry, almost like like proto-007 spies. I was a bit surprised just how gruesome it gets in spots, with the warlord taking great pleasure in slicing off the ears of a captured ninja prisoner during an interrogation, and later when that same ninja frees himself, but realizing escape is impossible, he chooses to mutilate his own face with finger blades to make identification difficult before leaping from a high wall to his death. The film does good work setting up Goemon as a manipulated hero with a code of honor in his pursuit of the tyrannical warlord Nobunaga. There's also a love interest for the ninja by way of Maki (Shiho Fujimura, The Snow Woman) whom he rescues from a brothel. Well-shot with plenty of nighttime ninja action as well as larger more traditional battlefield sequences, this entry is a terrific start to thee series, setting up the warring factions of samurai warlords and competing ninja factions, with plenty of palace intrigue and in-fighting present on both sides, plus a terrific assault on the ninja stronghold during the finale as Nobunaga sends his well-armored samurai troops to eradicate the ninjas.