Kiganjô no bôken

At the Chinese end of the Silk Road, Buddhist priest Tadao Nakamaru buys and frees enslaved Toshiro Mifune. Nakamaru is searching for Buddist relics, so Mifune decides to help him. After they locate some inthe middle of the desert, they wind up at Kigan, where the king is thoroughly paranoid, and sentences Mifune to be burnt at the stake. He asks for three days to deliver the relics to his brother, which the King grants; if however, he is not back within that period, Nakamaru will be burnt.

It's a thoroughly kiddified version of a fairy tale, with some of the exteriors shot in Iran, and the rest on Toho sets. There are witches and magical hermits, and a beautiful queen (Yumi Shirakawa) under a death sentence, as well as an evil chamberlain. When Mifune remarked that of all the movies he made, he was only proud of the ones he had done with Kurosawa, he had films like this in mind. Nevertheless, if you go inexpecting a movie for children, it's easy on the eyes.

This film stars actor Toshiro Mifune as a sword-wielding Japanese student named Osami. Here, a monk journeys down the Silk Road to find the relics of Buddha, where he meets Osami. The two travelers stumbled upon a conspiracy to overthrow the King in the Castle of Kigan. From there, it is an epic battle between Mifune & the local citizens against the evil rebels.

This movie is very colorful. The King's castle is full of beautiful designs, serene-looking scenery nice furniture and a vibrant atmosphere. The characters' costumes were gorgeous. The special effects were a little campy, but good all together. Godzilla producer Tomoyuki Tanaka returns to helm this film, as well as composer Akira Ifukube, who provided another haunting score. We get to hear strands of music reworked or reused by Ifukube from past monster movies in this film. The story is refreshing and the characters gave solid performances. The plot of how Mifune's character would go to any lengths and heights to help the monk demonstrates true human nature of goodness. This film also arouses the sympathy of the King, who has lost his trust on mankind, and suppresses his own Queen and the local villagers. Therefore, we get to see if the student and the monk can turn the King around with their acts of commitment and friendship.

This film also echos elements from an earlier Toho film, "The Lost World of Sinbad," which also stars Mifune. Both movies consist of a daring rescue-the-castle mission, and both movies portray a woman-loving wizard and an evil witch played by actors Ichiro Arishima and Eisei Amamoto. The two add magic and intriguing fun in this film, delivering an epic scene of good vs. evil. And, this movie features an all-star cast. In addition to Mifune, Arishima and Amamoto, it also stars Tadao Nakamaru, Akihiko Hirata, Tatsuya Mihasi, Makato Sato, Jun Tazaki, Yumi Shirakawa, Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi.

The only problems I have with this movie are that the wizard and witch did not use their magic on screen enough, and the villagers and female leads were not emphasized enough. Other than that, this film is a good mixture of drama and comedy: the breathtaking journey of the monk trying to find Buddha's relics while avoiding rebel attacks, the daring rescue-the-castle mission, the wizardry magic and the action-packed climax all blend in to provide us a very entertaining feature.

Grade A-