Lady Snowblood (1973)

A strikingly beautiful young woman is raised from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.

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:

childbirth | revenge | prison | female protagonist | female warrior | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #790.

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Goofs

This film is set in the late 19th Century, however, during the masquerade party there are various modern day flags on display including but not limited to: Pakistan (created in 1947), Australia (created in 1901), and the 50-star flag of the United States (introduced in 1960).

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Referenced in Rewind This! (2013)

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Soundtracks

The Blue Danube
(uncredited)
Music by Johann Strauss

User Reviews

Blood and vengeance

This is one of those movies that have an all Japanese motivation. A girl is trained from childhood to avenge the death of her father and the brutal rape of her mother. Then she does it. Lots of blood and lots of sword fighting. Well, she does most of it, everybody else pretty much dies.

The movie is well done, although I think it is hard to watch for most of the people nowadays, since it has that 60's-70's feel to it. I can see how this could have been an inspiration for Kill Bill. If you liked Kill Bill for other reasons than that it had Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in it, then you will love this film.

If you watch the movie, you will probably have fun, but if you look at the whole picture (pun intended) there isn't much to it other than the actual revenge and death of everyone. The girl is very nice, the acting is OK, the atmosphere, settings and soundtrack are good, but that's all. No strange twists of the story, nothing unexpected.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

22 March 1974 (USA)

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