User reviews

I saw this film on the big screen when it was screened at a local theatre last summer. Needless to say, I went alone for this 3h40min marathon - I could not coax my wife to come! The "47 Ronin" is an epic film about this legendary Japanese story about how 47 masterless samurai plot to avenge their Lord's death. I won't expand on the plot here, but if you Google the topic or go to Wikipedia, it's a really fascinating story.

That this film is not for everyone is an understatement. It is slow moving, monumentally long and requires a lot of patience. But, the viewer is rewarded with incredibly genuine acting, beautiful and poetically shot scenes, and in the context of when the film was made, a window into WWII-era Japan. Telling to the wartime era this film was made in, the credits at the beginning of each Part give credit to the "Propaganda Department" (English translation).

Also poignant and disturbing, is the very serious and thoughtful portrayal of the Japanese practice of seppuku, or ritual suicide by slicing the stomach until the bowels spill out, then decapitation by a skilled swordsman.

Overall, I'm very glad I saw it - and would recommend it to others interested in this story. It's one of those movies that you only need to see once though.

"Genroku Chûshingura" (The 47 Ronin, 1941) is a massive undertaking. Both from the filmmakers and the audience. The film is perhaps the most ambitious adaptation of the oft-filmed kabuki play that it is based on. Shochiku produced the film as a two-parter, with the total film clocking in at almost four hours. It was wartime and studio heads considered it a matter of great importance that this classic tale of feudal loyalty would be brought to screen, for people's fighting spirit to grow higher.

The film starts in 1701. Lord Asano attacks Lord Kira, but doesn't manage to kill him, and he is then forced to commit harakiri by the shogunate. News of this reach Asano's men, loyal to him until the very end, who start planning their revenge.

The motivations for the actions are slowly revealed in the dialogue, although it isn't a mystery narrative like Kobayashi's later "Harakiri" (1962). Although this is an ambitious film, I have several problems with it. Like in most pre-war or war-time period films, the characters aren't psychologically fleshed out, even if there is attempt to accomplish this. The propaganda is such a major element within these characters, that they cease to feel realistic. The film is very serious, as Mizoguchi is known to be, but this time he isn't passionate. The director preferred to do films about fallen women, and this narrative does not really give him much to do. His famous mise-en-scène is also not at all memorable in this film, as the film mostly takes place in the same, lifeless sets.

Unlike later versions, this film really avoids action and violence, although these are part of the narrative. Mizoguchi was never keen on doing action scenes. I can complement this film for the detailed look it gives of the period, but I did not find it interesting as a narrative. The four-hour length felt crushing because there was not an emotional attachment to the characters.

So all in all, as a piece of wartime propaganda, society's attempt to control the contemporary life by subjecting people to a vision of history, that supports the current regime and politics, this is an interesting piece of 20th century history. As a Mizoguchi film, it is lackluster, and feels like something he was forced to make.

In 1701, Lord Takuminokami Asano (Yoshizaburo Arashi) has a feud with Lord Kira and he tries to kill Kira in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Lord Asano to commit suppuku and deprives the palace and lands from his clan, but does not punish Lod Kira. Lord Asano's vassals leave the land and his samurais become ronin and want to seek revenge against the dishonor of their Lord. But their leader Kuranosuke Oishi (Chôjûrô Kawarasaki) asks the Shogun to restore the Asano clan with his brother Daigaku Asano. One year later, the Shogun refuses his request and Oishi and forty-six ronin revenge their Lord.

"Genroku Chûshingura" is a Japanese classic movie based on a true story. Kenji Mizoguchi made a too long movie with four hours running time that is actually a slow-paced immersion in an ancient and different culture and code of honor. Unfortunately this beautiful movie is only for very specific Western audiences since it is in Japanese language, shows a different culture, most of the characters are alike (clothing, haircut, biotype) and unusual names that you need to keep in mind. But the movie is worthwhile watching and delights fans of this genre. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Vingança dos 47 Ronins" ("The Revenge of the 47 Ronin")

Mizoguchi's Genroku CHUSHINGURA: originally written for the Japanese Hokubei Mainichi, San Francisco, November 5, 1976

Chushingura, the story of the 47 Loyal Ronin of Ako, the unofficial national epic of Japan, has been filmed probably more times than any other subject in Japanese film history. Starting in the silent days (first version a filmed Kabuki performance in 1913) there have been well over a dozen editions of this perennial favorite over the years, including a feature length cartoon about 47 dogs entitled "Wan-Wan Chushingura". ( N.B. wan-wan ="bow wow" in Japanese.)

Of these various film treatments the only one which can be said to be fairly well known in this country is the relatively popular 1963 Toho all-star edition by Hiroshima Inagaki. In the Bay Area the Inagaki Chushingura has been so over promoted (since It happens to be owned by a Berkeley distributor) that most people around here are not even aware that other versions of the film exist. Another, and in the opinion of this writer, far more interesting treatment of the Chushingura story, directed by Kenji MIzoguchi in 1942, just after Pearl Harbor, is now on view for a weeks run at the Telegraph Repertory Cinema in Berkeley near the campus.

This film, a landmark of the forties and a landmark of the MIzoguchi repertoire as well, did receive limited exposure earlier this year before small museum audiences at the Pacific Film Archive during the course of a MIzoguchi retrospective held there in April. The current run at the Tel-Rep is, however, to the best of my knowledge, the first real commercial exposure this remarkable film has ever had in this country.

It is well known that fidelity is one of the cardinal Japanese virtues, and adherence to an established code of behavior another. As the ultimate dramatic exemplification of these fundamental Japanese values the Chushingura story is unrivaled.

In the spring of the year 1702 at the height of the Genroku period the idealistic young Lord Asano of Ako castle (present day Hyogo Prefecture near Kobe) refusing to pay a bribe in return for instruction in courtly protocol, is baited into drawing his sword against the sleazy corrupt Master of Ceremonies, Lord Kira at the Shogun's palace. For this unpardonable breach of the courtly code he is forced to commit Harakiri, the Asano clan is disbanded, and all his retainers are reduced to outcast Ronin -- wandering masterless Samurai -- the lowest of the low in the strict Samurai social order.

Responsibility for restoring the honor of the Aano clan now falls upon the shoulders of the chamberlain and chief retainer, Oishi Kuranosuke. The only way to achieve this is by a blood vendetta against Kira, but Kira is, of course, expecting this and goes into hiding.

in order to lull Kira into a false sense of security Oishi In turn himself goes underground abandoning his family and pretending to lead a dissolute life devoted to pleasure. So determined is Oishi in maintaining this pretense to ensure the ultimate success of his mission that even the widow of Lord Asano is convinced that he has lost his nerve and she refuses to permit him to offer incense on the anniversary of Asano's death.

on Christmas Day, 1703, after enduring more than a year if public shame and private deprivation, finally surfaces and leads the 47 Samurai who have remained loyal throughout (although many have not and have dropped out) in the famous attack in the snow on the Kira estate. Kira's head is taken as vowed and the loyal 47 march solemnly to Asano's grave to pay their last respects.

The inescapable penalty for this act of defiance against the Shogunate was, of course, Seppuku for all involved --the ultimate example of Death before Dishonor and and all forty- seven Ronin accepted their fate of mass suicide by disembowelment -- the excising of ones own intestines without benefit of anesthetic -- with great dignity, upholding thus their collective code of honor to the last.

The 47 Ronin became a latter day legend and their tomb a national shrine at which many Japanese spend a quiet moment of contemplation each year. (The tomb of the Forty Seven is located a few minutes walk from Mita station in Tokyo).

Where the Inagaki version of this story is all color, pageantry, and swordplay, a typical TOHO spectacular, the Mizo version, in subtle shadings of black and white, is a far more penetrating study of the psychology and morality involved. It must be pointed out that the film was commissioned by the wartime Japanese government to foster the jingoistic Samurai spirit and it is much to Mizoguchi's credit that even under such pressure he was able to make a picture in which not a single sword fight is actually shown. All violent action, including the final assault on the Kira house, takes place off screen and is merely reported.

MIzoguchi was concerned not with action itself, but with the psychological effect of violent action on people not directly involved. {Talk about contemporary relevance to a place called Ferguson, 2014!} This indirect psychological approach to violence coupled with the famous Mizoguchi floating camera Style and his uncanny sense of pictorial composition combine to make this four hour film a lasting experience. If you approach this film looking for the usual Samurai chambara clichés you will be disappointed. The First Time I saw it a couple of years ago I must admit I was a little bored. Seeing it for the fourth time the other night, the flashier Inagaki version began to pale by comparison. But then MIzoguchi was a genius whereas Inagaki was merely a competent contract director. Give this a BIG FAT **********

Can we be honest?

This is WAY TOO LONG.

I'm a fan of japanese cinema and especially samurai films, but this 1941 flick was considered too long even by 1941 Japanese viewers.

There is no action the first two hours of this four-hour sanity test. It's just talking among courtiers with occasional nice cinematographic visuals of the grounds. Be forewarned: the ronin samurai are a dim afterthought here. This is almost exclusively about "government" bureaucrats scheming and infighting. In other words, this 4 hours is almost non-stop talking in medium shots.

Yes, the pace is slow, yes the movie is long; especially to our eyes used to modern (?) movie-making of the recent years that knows only two rhythms, ultra-fast and ultra-ultra-fast. Yet the story of those 47 ronins, at least for those of us patient enough to enter it, to let themselves flow into it, is all in all very interesting and says a lot about 18th-century Japan. This movie is remarkably well constructed and acted and while the rhythm is slow, it is also implacable : the good side of having a slow rhythm is that you can eventually accelerate, something that ultra-fast doesn't allow.

But most of all, I notice this : for a film that was supposed to take place into a war-propaganda effort, I do find this tribute to the traditional virtues of the Japanese warrior to be remarkably sober in tone and almost completely devoid of any rhetoric. So, I am not at all surprised to learn that it was a commercial insuccess when it was released in 1941 Japan : for the spirit and inspiration of 'The 47 Ronins' are much too elevated to fit the ultranationalist hysteria of the times.

Nearly four hours long, this film can task even the most dedicated samurai viewer. It has some really good acting, but that is lost for most in the pace.

It is a tale of the famous Ako Vendetta of 1702. I do not know how historically accurate it is, but it does give a glimpse into Japan's history.

It also gives a glimpse of hara-kiri; the ritual suicide by slicing the stomach until the bowels spill out, then decapitation by a skilled swordsman.

You are better served in seeing director Kenji Mizoguchi in the classic Sansho the Bailiff.

Though stately, impressive, and vaguely powerful at times, it nonetheless demands more patience than this viewer had. It's well filmed, but rather static and aloof. None of this is aided by its nearly 4 hour length.

The glacial pace of this film is part of what makes it special. The script/dialogue is dense, and there are seemingly countless characters. Some will find it boring, others, like myself, will like it for that very reason. (Barry Lyndon fans unite.)

It's also a unique window into the grim aspects of samurai culture and how the Imperial government of Japan parleyed and exploited those sentiments into the war effort.

One needs to see a fair amount of Japanese film to realize that so much of it is cerebral. The talkiness of this film, and most of the Kurosawa films, is to be savored. What this one misses is a modicum of action. I am as patient as anyone, but after three-and-a-half hours of discussion, as a Westerner, I expect something visual. While the close-ups and the tight scene making are fine, we are made to wait so long for an event that we know is coming from the outset. It will be interesting to see what the new film with Keanu Reeves, set to come out in December of 2013, does with the same event. This film is about honor and an ancient code. It is the sunset of the Samurai and they are dealing with the only way to do what they must do and suffer the consequence. Apparently this was a commissioned work, produced during World War II. It is spars and simple. There are some shots outside, and these become so welcome, but we are quickly brought back into the discussion to the interior. Most critical events take place off-screen. I'm sure to a Japanese viewer, the breadth of the ultimate sacrifice is part of legend and they are a willing part of the experience.

One Japanese lord takes offense at another Japanese Lord's remarks, attempts to kill him, gets sentenced to death, and his samuria vow revenge. Pretty decent plot outline for a movie.

However, if you're going to make a four-hour movie about samurai, you better mix in some decent swordplay. Because if you don't, all you've managed is to create an over-long education film. With a lot of talk, talk, talk, talk and more talk.

Did the Imperial Japanese War Department actually think this was going to convince the peasants to sign up to dive-bomb U. S. aircraft carriers? At least Hollywood propaganda efforts involved action while trying to convince Iowa farm boys to sign up and get themselves killed on some beach in France, African desert, or windswept Pacific island.

I wouldn't even call this a samurai movie, to be honest. It's more of a movie about manners, like The Remains of the Day. To be honest, the latter movie had more dramatic tension.

If someone recommends this movie to you, they don't like you very much.

Genroku chûshingura or The 47 Ronin is for sure not a movie for those who just want some samurai and ninja action, a Eastern swashbuckler so to say. It's a rather slow evolving drama that draws us back to those times, its society, its code of honor. No doubt, if you like such kind of movies, you will enjoy this long ride, I put this on my plate and watched it in two tours - the running time of the version I watched is around 220 minutes. Production is fine, the acting rock solid, the story too. But be warned - it's very different from the movie (2013) starring Keanu Reeves, which is far more focused on action, but if you want to drown yourself in some epic drama set in the time of the samurais, this one will provide plenty.

Starting with Makino's silent from 1913 it is probably true to say that this famous incident from the history of early18th Century Japan has been filmed more often than 'The Three Musketeers' and one film historian has noted that whenever a Japanese film studio faced financial difficulties it had only to produce a film of this story to be guaranteed a hit.

Menji Mizoguchi's two part film was not to be so fortunate as it broke one studio and practically bankrupted another. It did not receive a showing in the West until twenty years after the director's death and although not considered one of his greatest it is undeniably one of his most intriguing.

A running time of 220 minutes is guaranteed to test the resolve of even the most devoted viewer but there are few longueurs and it maintains one's attention by its inner rhythm, intense performances, Mizoguchi's superb framing and elegant tracking shots, its magnificent set designs and Shiro Fukai's gorgeous score.

This is very much a Man's world of course but as one would expect from Mizoguchi it is not devoid of sympathetic females and he has drawn touching performances from exquisite actresses Mitsuku Miura and Mieko Takamine.

By opting for suggestion rather than depiction and favouring contemplation over action, Mizoguchi has avoided the excesses to which this genre is prone and has given us what one critic has called 'a poignant and noble ritualistic tragedy'.

Like all countries fighting during World War Two, Japan was no exception producing propagandist films. One prevailing theme in Japanese cinema during this period was the sacrifice its people had to bear for the noble cause its nation was fighting for against its enemies. The Japanese Home Ministry commissioned Shochiku Studio, specifically its director Kenji Mizoguchi, for the two-part December 1941's "The 47 Ronin." The age-old tale of the samurai committing the ultimate sacrifice of seppuku (ritual suicide) coincided with what the Japanese military expected from its troops when facing dire circumstances.

The armed services hierarchy in Japan, involved in the Second Sino-Japanese War against China since 1937 was not happy with what it felt was a lack of support from its film industry, notably Shochiku, one of the country's oldest movie studios, and threatened to shunter its doors. "The 47 Ronin" was the studio's attempt to satisfy the country's all-powerful military high ranking officials. Director Mizoguchi, just off his big hit 1939's "The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums," selected a more cerebral approach to the famous 1703 story by Seika Mayama rather than a literal retelling of a feudal lord who attacks a prominent court official. The unsuccessful assault forces the lord to commit hari-kari. His forty-seven followers spend the next year seeking revenge by killing that official, knowing to do so was to destine them to death.

Mizoguchi wasn't exactly excited about producing such a brutal story showing the bloody ritual of suicide. Instead, he decided to have all the violence take place off-camera. The first suicide by the master, Lord Asano, focuses on his wife getting her hair cut as he pierces unseen the fatal sword into him. Mizoguchi is deliberate in unfolding the story, taking over three-and-one-half hours in two parts to reveal the denouement. His trademark camera in motion is showcased from "The 47 Ronin's" opening with long scenes slowly unfolding. The director also has a unique style of filming the most crucial events furthest away from his camera. Rather than demonstrating the Japanese code of honor, he fills his picture with his characters discussing and dissecting such a fatalistic ritual.

The Home Ministry was satisfied with Mizoguchi's Part One of "The 47 Ronin," highlighting Japanese nationalism. The ministry rewarded Shochiku studio a special honor, despite the military somewhat disappointed with the movie's lack of a warmongering messaging. The first portion was released a week before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The studio soon found moviegoers weren't in the mood to sit through a long dramatic film. But its executives felt the topic was too important to leave it in limbo. They decided to finish editing the concluding second part and release it shortly after the first one. Film critic Robin Syversen on "The 47 Ronin" admits it's "an excruciating watch. It crawls along at a snail-pace with little to no action. The story develops as much off- as on-screen, yet, there is something hypnotizing about the film." The reviewer adds the movie adheres "closer to Japanese art traditions than anyone before, or after. The film style took after Kabuki and Japanese screen paintings and seemed to celebrate Japanese art traditions while downplaying support for Japan's war effort." Whether the Japanese found parallel with the 47 Ronins fighting and dying in an ultimately futile war to their own modern conflict was difficult to gage. But the government instructed the viewers in the film's preface to "Defend the Home of Those Who Fight for a Greater Asia." The motion picture was unavailable in the United States until the 1970s.

(1941) The 47 Ronin Part 2 (In Japanese with English subtitles) HISTORICAL PERIOD PIECE

The second part of a series that was divided into two movies directed by critically acclaimed director, Kenji Mizoguchi, adapted from a play written by Seika Mayama, centering on samurai customs during the 17th century Japan. This is the continuation of the so-called forty-seven Ronin's swearing vengeance over the suicide of their master, Lord Asano's death by means of 'hara kiri' which is 'suicide by ritual' for a grudge. Released during WWII which can be labelled as a propaganda picture but you can't tell by watching it since it's all very talky and that much of the events are implied instead of shown. It's still a fascinating piece of Japanese history even though almost the entire movie is nothing but dialogue exchanges, and is unlike any other Kenji Mizoguchi's other films.

After their Lord is unjustly forced to commit hara-kiri, his loyal counsellor Kuranosuke Ooishi (Chojuro Kawarasaki) and 46 of his samurai retainers struggle with conflicting issues of honour and obedience after swearing to avenge his death by murdering the Lord that they feel is responsible. The film was commissioned by the Imperial Government in the early days of WW2 (shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor) as a morale builder and a reminder of the importance of loyalty, obedience and sacrifice (the film opens with a message translated as "Defend the homes of those who fight for a greater Asia"), although oddly the Shogunate, the government at the time the story takes place, is implied to be vindictive and nepotistic, and the heroic samurai seem to be more honour-bound vigilantes than loyal agents sacrificing themselves for the state. The two-part B/W film is very long, quite 'talky', and there is very little of the 'action' (ie swordplay) that is the usual highlight of chanbara films, but the story is compelling, the cinematography interesting, and the actors/characters quite good (I watched a well English-subtitled version of moderate visual quality). While the story of the 47 Ronin seems to be a Japanese classic of 'honourable men doing the right thing', I find some of the discussions about how their behaviour was not in truly keeping with the strict 'bushido code' of the samurai to be interesting reading. Likely not the most exciting version of the venerable vendetta epic but watchable for anyone with four hours to spare, especially anyone with a litre of good sake on hand.

Not an easy watch and not the kind of film I can see myself revisiting anytime soon, but as a subversive film which broke just about every rule I expected it to follow when I first discovered it, I found it pretty fascinating. Reading the plot summaries for the film, one may find potential for it to predate "Seven Samurai" in terms of scope, but what you instead get is practically no action and nearly four hours of conversations about what's either going to happen or what has already happened offscreen. Reading this, you've likely already written the film off, but while I wasn't always engaged by the unrelenting theatrical conversations, I still enjoyed witnessing the breadth of details discussed in the film, like the numerous characters both directly and indirectly involved in the plot, the intricacies of them planning their revenge, or the way their plan conflicts with their code of honor. This manages to give the sense that the environment is fully formed, even if you don't get to see much of it. Which is a rather impressive feat given this is essentially an action-less action film. If you're still baffled by the film's tone though, reading up on the historical background provides some additional context to its uncompromising style. During WWII, Mizoguchi was forced to create this film by the government. They wanted it to be a propagandistic film which would double as a morale booster and as justification for the expansionism and imperialism Japan was involved in during the war. Given this background, completely omitting action from the film could be read as a subversive move by Mizoguchi so that he could simultaneously comply and disobey his orders by the government. This also gives a double meaning to the opening preface of "Defend the Homes of Those Who Fight for a Greater Asia" in the opening, in the sense it's referencing the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (GEACPS), a pan-Asian union which was formed in an attempt to resist the threat of imperialism during WWII. So, while I'd still put this film in the "I enjoyed thinking about it later more than actually watching it" pile, I would still recommend it if you think you're up for the task.

If there's one Japanese film produced before Kurosawa became a director, that movie buffs are aware of, it's this one. I first saw it some time in the 1970s, but I have not looked at it for twenty or twenty-five years. This weekend, TCM broadcast it. Given that I spent the weekend with a terrible sore throat, cough and general malaise, I could not give it the concentration that it demanded until this evening.

It's clearly a beautifully mounted production of the Japanese flag-waver, funded in part by the Japanese government. Mizoguchi attempts to open it up with a huge set that requires a large number of long shots, as well as a gracefully moving camera under the helm of Kohei Sugiyama (perhaps better remembered for his work on Gate of Hell). That said, it's clear to me why it was not a box office hit; all the action sequences take place offscreen. In terms of suspense, that's not a bad thing; as Hitchcock noted, suspense is waiting for the bomb to explode, not the explosion -- something modern film makers might do well to learn. The final, mass suicide of the ronin is calmly and brilliantly staged -- again, off camera, except for one.

One goes to these big movies for the big scene. All too frequently, they're disappointments. The dead-guy-on-a-horse scene in El Cid doesn't work for me. The calm, stoic manner in which everyone does his duty works here, as do the occasional emotional outbursts to vary the tempo.

It's not a short movie. It was released in two parts and lasts over two hundred minutes; the print was good, although there were occasional flaws and it could use a super-duper restoration. Still, it's great. If you haven't seen it already, give yourself a treat. In fact, if you haven't seen it recently, you'll enjoy looking at it again.

I'd seen the 1960s version of The 47 Ronin, which was more conventionally entertaining than this 1941 version. You'd have to pay me to watch the Keanu Reeves version, though (not because of Reeves; I just heard it was bad).

This 1941 take on the story might well be the best of the two I've seen. It is dry, it is a long sit, and it is very, very slow. But I think the quality of the filmmaking was pretty great for its time, with lots of long shots and skilled camerawork that gives everything an interesting flow. I think it's possible to get sucked in fairly well, so long as you approach the film knowing that it's going to feel like a stageplay.

Thankfully, it's like a good stageplay. The story does involve revenge, planning an attack, and death, but The 47 Ronin is not interested in action scenes by any means. Most of the film involves people talking; all very well shot, and I thought the acting was pretty strong across the board, too, but I can't lie and say it's entertaining, necessarily. There's a lot to respect and appreciate, but not a ton to find exciting. I was happy I knew going in there'd be no real action - I think otherwise, I would've been disappointed.

If 3.5+ hours of technically sound yet somewhat dry samurai/historical drama sounds like your thing, then The 47 Ronin is probably worth watching. It is really well-made; that does have to be stressed. But it is long and more than a bit slow in places... that also has to be stressed to some extent.