Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Hiroshi Inakagi

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentaro Mikuni, Kuroemon Onoe, Kaoru Yachigusa

From: Toho

A movie that I saw due to a young lady... long story but I don't know this young lady “that way”, regrettably. I needed to see some more Toshiro Mifune anyhow and instead of one of his efforts with Kurosawa, why not the first part of a trilogy that was a loose retelling of a legendary samurai master?

In a lovely rural area of Japan circa early 17th century-the color cinematography is one of the highlights-we are introduced to Miyamoto, known at the time as Takezo and his buddy Matahachi. They join a war but unfortunately are on the losing side so they flee. Things happen, the duo are both not as honorable as you both think, and the future Miyamoti is such a wild character, an entire village wishes to capture him-it takes a Buddhist priest to try & tame him. That character was a real life figure-Takuan Soho-although in real life he and Miyamoto never actually interacted w/ each other.

To be frank, I did not love every story beat. The fact that multiple women are not treated well and practically every male character had at least one A-hole moment was unfortunate. Yet otherwise this was a high-quality production. When there's music it fits the film; when there's action it is exciting. And as expected, Mifune's performance was the best when it came to acting craft. Whenever I get to the two sequels, they may actually be preferable to me as they will be more focused on the samurai action & drama. Still, no regrets in checking this out... even if Mifune here did not compare to his character in The Seven Samurai, which came out about 5 months beforehand.