Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima (1956)

Director:

Hiroshi Inagaki

Writers:

Hideji Hôjô (play)
Hiroshi Inagaki (writer)

Release Date:

November 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun...

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Jidai Geki | Third Part | 17th Century | Part Of Trilogy

Cast

Koji Tsuruta	...	Kojiro Sasaki
Toshirô Mifune	...	Musashi Miyamoto (Takezo)
Kaoru Yachigusa	...	Otsu
Michiko Saga	...	Omitsu
Mariko Okada	...	Akemi
Takashi Shimura	...	Sado Nagaoka the court official
Minoru Chiaki	...	Sasuke the boatman
Takamaru Sasaki	...	Omitsu's father
Daisuke Katô	...	Toji Gion
Haruo Tanaka	...	Kumagoro the horse thief
Kichijiro Ueda	...	Priest Ogon
Kokuten Kodo	...	Old Priest Nikkan (as Kuninori Kodo)
Ikio Sawamura	...	Innkeeper
Nakajiro Tomita
Sonosuke Sawamura

Also Known As:

Bushido (USA)
Duel on Ganryu Island
Kettô Ganryû-jima
Musashi Miyamoto Conclusion: Ganryu Island Duel (literal English title)
Musashi and Kojiro
Samurai 3: Ketto Ganryujima
Samurai III: Duel on Ganryu Island (USA)

Runtime:

105 min | Spain:115 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Toho Company

Goofs:

Continuity: When Okaya is fighting Sasaki, the position of his spear when he removes the covering changes between the close and the long shots.

Quotes:

Otsu: Brace up, Akemi.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Karate Kid (1984)

Best cinematography of the trilogy

Samurai III boasts far superior color and composition to the first installment. The opener includes a beautiful scene of Kojiro and Akemi by a magnificent waterfall. This sets the stylistically polished tone of the film, a nice attempt to revive our interest in the sometimes-stalling narrative (Will Kojiro fight the indestructible Musashi? Is Otsu going to get her man after spurning his inviting advances?)

In terms of eye candy, this finale gives the most exotic colors (some may complain as "un-Japanese"), the best lighting, and the most skin of Mifune's Musashi! The story continues with the intellectual and spiritual education of Musashi. Even though the final duel is set up to be his moment of self-realisation, it is preceded by a tad-curious sequence of Musashi's farmlife. Very reminiscent of the samurai-villager relationship in Seven Samurai, Musashi becomes their protector against bandits. The result is formulaic but does what the story intends: return Musashi to a life of the earth - a humanist existence preached by his Buddhist education - and to his humble origin.

P.S. Although Miyamoto Musashi/Samurai I is crucial to understanding the rise of our hero, it probably got Best Foreign film for 1955 Academy Awards during the sudden "discovery" of Japanese films starting with Rashomon.

And if you're looking for a female figure with as much spunk as Musashi himself, note the courtesan in Samurai II. Her chastisement of Musashi, that he lacks humanly affection and thinks of women as weaklings, almost makes up for the overall iffy portrayal of "romantic heroines" in the trilogy!