Samurai films in Japan during the mid-1920s were increasingly popular in the thriving cinema market of the Land of the Rising Sun. Although not laden with multiple sword fights, these movies highlight the noblesse battling evil criminal elements to preserve the Japanese way of living.
Actor-turned-film producer Tsumasaburo "Bantsuma" Bando, in his second independent movie, released an entirely different samurai motion picture, November 1925's "Orochi." In it, the portrayal of a few noble samurai wearing false masks are the actual villains in the film, unique in early Japanese movies. The hero in "Orochi" isn't some rich guy; he's a member of the lower class. Kunitomi (Bantsuma) possesses all the positive traits of a noble, including an underlying sense of loyalty to his master and an expertise in sword fighting. The movie follows him through a series of unfortunate circumstantial incidents, casting him in an unfair villainous light.
The first misfortune occurs to him when he attends his master's birthday party. As the sake flows throughout the partiers' guts (with the exception of Kunitomi), one young samurai offers him a glass. When he refuses, the hot-headed samurai hurls the drink in his face. After the fight, Kunitomi gets blamed for the incident. Another event happens when a group of noble samurai insult his master's daughters, sending Kunitomi into another brawl. He gets banished from his hometown, labeled as a criminal.
Bantsuma's film was originally titled 'The Outlaw.' But an increasingly militance stance by the Japanese government created a hostile atmosphere, forcing him to change the title's name. He settled on "Orochi," meaning serpent. He felt his style of sword play was similar to a fighter slithering like a snake all the while he felt the censors would be happy seeing his hero described in despicable term. Bantsuma was required to cut and reshoot 20% of the film because censors were displeased with his portrayal of the nobles at writ large.
"Orochi's" fame in cinema is the concluding battle, which captures an entirely new style of sword fighting. The fast-paced, quick-edited sequence of Kunitomi battling a group of samurai set a standard in the genre. One unusual aspect of his sword fighting is he doesn't look at the person he's killing. As the weapon enters his victim's body he's already on alert for the next fighter he'll take on. So impressive were the martial sequences in his movie that Bantsuma was given the nickname "The King of Swordfights."
Bantsuma produced and directed a number of films after his landmark "Orochi," well into the early 1950s. But of all the movies he made, there was one that he held in the highest esteem. He kept only one negative print of a movie in his personal library, and that was "Orochi."
