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Sanshiro Sugata
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 姿三四郎 Sanshiro Sugata |
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| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Produced by | Keiji Matsuzaki |
| Written by | Akira Kurosawa Tomita Tsuneo |
| Starring | Denjirô Ôkôchi Susumu Fujita Yukiko Todoroki Takashi Shimura |
| Music by | Seiichi Suzuki |
| Cinematography | Akira Mimura |
| Distributed by | Toho Company Ltd. |
| Release date(s) |  Mar 25, 1943 |
| Running time | 80 min 97 min (orig.) |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Followed by | Sanshiro Sugata Part II |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Sanshiro Sugata (姿三四郎 Sugata Sanshirō?, aka Judo Saga) was the directorial debut of the Oscar-winning Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. It was first released in Japan on 25 March 1943 by Toho film studios, eventually being released in the United States on 28 April 1974 and is based on the novel of the same name by Tsuneo Tomita. It follows the story of Sanshiro, a strong stubborn youth, who travels into the city in order to learn Jujutsu. However, upon his arrival he discovers a new form of self-defence: Judo
Although not the most famous entry in Kurosawa's canon, the film is seen as an early example of Kurosawa's immediate grasp of the film-making process, and includes many of his directorial trademarks, such as the use of wipes. The film itself was quite influential at the time, and has been remade on no less than five occasions. It was successful enough to spawn a sequel, Sanshiro Sugata Part II, which was released in 1945.
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Following 5 years of second unit director work on films such as Uma and Roppa's Honeymoon, Kurosawa was finally given the go-ahead to direct his first film, even though he himself claimed that, in films like Uma, "I had been so much in charge of production I had felt like the director". After hearing of a new novel from the writer Tomita Tsuneo, Kurosawa decided the project was for him and asked film producer Iwao Mori to buy the rights for him. According to renowned Kurosawa scholar Donald Ritchie, the reason Kurosawa was allowed to direct the film was because he had had two film scripts printed, including one of which had won the education minister's prize. However, his work was too far away from the government requirements for a wartime film. Tomita's novel, on the other hand, was considered "safe", dealing, as it did, with a Japanese subject such as the rivalry between judo and jujitsu, was a period piece, and was a popularist subject. Kurosawa deliberately went out to make a "movie-like movie", as he knew he would not be able to insert any particularly didactic qualities in the film.
The central theme of the film is the education and initiation of Sugata and the way in which, whilst learning the ways of Judo, he also learns about himself. The film's central scene concerning this theme is when, after being accosted by Yano for getting involved in a streetfight, Sugata leaps into the cold waters near Yano's temple and stays there in order to show his master his dedication, and the fact that he is neither afraid to live nor to die.
- Denjirô Ôkôchi… Shogoro Yano
- Susumu Fujita… Sanshiro Sugata
- Yukiko Todoroki… Sayo Murai
- Ryunosuke Tsukigata… Gennosuke Higaki
- Takashi Shimura… Hansuke Murai
- Ranko Hanai… Osumi Kodana
- Sugisaku Aoyama… Tsunetami Iimura
- Ichirô Sugai… Police Chief Mishima
- Yoshio Kosugi… Master Saburo Kodama
- Kokuten Kodo… Buddhist Priest
- Michisaburo Segawa… Wada
- Akitake Kôno… Yoshima Dan
- Shôji Kiyokawa… Yujiro Toda
- Kunio Mita… Kohei Tsuzaki
- Akira Nakamura… Toranosuki Niiseki
- Eisaburo Sakauchi… Nemeto
- Hajime Hikari… Torakichi
This was the first film on which Kurosawa worked with Takashi Shimura, the actor with whom he is most readily associated after Toshiro Mifune. The Kurosawa-Shimura partnership lasted 16 films in all, including classics such as Rashomon, Ikiru and Seven Samurai.
Sanshiro Sugata was originally released with a length of 97 minutes in Japan in 1943. However, on its post-war reissue in 1952 (by which time Kurosawa had become a world renowned director), it was issued as a slightly shorter 80 minute version, which saw some slight changes to the film's structure as well as its running time[1].
Although available on DVD in China and Australia, Sanhiro Sugata is currently unavailable on the format in Europe and America, with their currently being no plans to release it. It can, however, be found on auction sites such as ebay on its VHS format quite cheaply. It is also available to stream for free from the internet after a Japanese Court ruling in July 2006 that all films produced prior to 1953 were to be made available to the public domain[2].
Sanshiro Sugata has been remade five times since it was initially released, although these versions are even harder to find in the West than the original. The 1955 and 1965 versions share the script of the original versions, whereas the subsequent three releases are all based on the novel rather than Kurosawa's screenplay.
- Sugata Sanshiro (1955) - Directed by Shigeo Tanaka
- Sugata Sanshiro (1965) - Directed by Seiichiro Uchikawa
- Ninkyô yawara ichidai [A Brave Generous Era] (1966) - Directed by Sadao Nakajima
- Sugata Sanshiro (1970) - Directed by Kunio Watanabe
- Sugata Sanshiro (1977) - Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Sanshiro Sugata Part II aka Judo Saga II
- Segata Sanshiro (a play on the names Sega and Sugata Sanshiro) was Sega's advertisement tool for the Sega Saturn games console. He is portrayed as a superhuman judoka who would appear out of nowhere, hold up a Sega Saturn, and then mercilessly beat people (often young children) for not playing it.
- ^ accessdate=July 1st Sanshiro Sugata Alternate Versions. IMDB.com.
- ^ Japanese Court Rules Pre-1953 Movies In Public Domain. contract music.
- [1] Full Movie for Download with English subs
- Full movie online without subtitles at Google Video
- Full Movie Online with subtitles at Google Video
- Sanshiro Sugata at the Internet Movie Database
- Sanshiro Sugata at All Movie Guide.
- Review of Sanshiro Sugata
- Review of Sanshiro Sugata with stills
- 姿三四郎 (Sugata Sanshiro) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
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