Lady Snowblood (1973)
"Shurayukihime" (original title)

A young girl is born and raised to be an instrument of revenge.

Director:

Toshiya Fujita

Writers:

Kazuo Kamimura (story), Kazuo Koike (story),

Stars:

Meiko Kaji, Toshio Kurosawa, Masaaki Daimon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meiko Kaji	...	Yuki Kashima (Shurayuki-hime)
Toshio Kurosawa	...	Ryûrei Ashio
Masaaki Daimon	...	Gô Kashima
Miyoko Akaza	...	Sayo Kashima
Shinichi Uchida	...	Shirô Kashima
Takeo Chii	...	Tokuichi Shôkei
Noboru Nakaya	...	Banzô Takemura
Yoshiko Nakada	...	Kobue Takemura
Akemi Negishi	...	Tajire no Okiku
Kaoru Kusuda	...	Otora Mikazuki
Sanae Nakahara	...	Kitahama, Okono
Hôsei Komatsu	...	Genzô Shibayama
Makoto Matsuzaki	...	Daikashi
Hiroshi Hasegawa	...	Daihachi Kachime
Takehiko Ono	...	(as Susumu Kuroki)

Storyline

Yuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive. She creates an instrument for this revenge by purposefully getting pregnant. Though she dies in childbirth, she makes sure that the child will be raised as an assassin to kill the criminals who destroyed her family. Young Yuki never knows the love of a family but only killing and revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

revenge | prison | childbirth | sword | prostitute | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

1 December 1973 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Lady Snowblood

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Along with its sequel, this movie served as one of the main inspirations for Quentin Tarantino's movies Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2.

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Goofs

The revolver that Gishiro fires at Yuki is a Webley, which is capable of holding but six rounds. Gishiro fired 7 rounds without reloading.

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Quotes

Yuki Kashima: Look at med closely. Do I look like someone you raped?

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Connections

Remade as Po jie (1977)

User Reviews

opera, with blood instead of music

A big thing that strikes me about 70s Japanese trash cinema is how, well, cinematic it is. No cheap films from Hong Kong or even America looked or sounded much like this. It's like an opera of blood, complete with extremely broadly drawn characters, a mix of great locations and unnatural, painted setpieces, eerie pink lighting, baroque chapter titles and a symphonic pop theme song. If you're looking for literary substance you're in the wrong place, but as an exercise in style that juggles many different genres & moods (from noir to chambara) and flirts with the portrayal of Japan on the cusp of Western imperialist influence, there's a lot of meat here.

At times it's hard to tell if the film's trying to be serious or fun & over the top, and that's a certain ambiguity you won't get with Tarantino's stuff (yeah, I'm pretty sure I know why you're here). Obviously this was the main inspiration for Kill Bill, and while that movie's fairly fun for cheap pastiche, it should be regarded as the piece of curio to see after this rather than vice-versa.