Mifune's Transcendent Films

choi

MIke Hale, Mifune's Transcendent Films, With and Without Kurosawa. New York Times, Feb 14, 2022, at page C3 (in Arts section).
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/ ... une-film-forum.html

Note:
(a)
(i) The review is available to non-subscribers.
(ii) Toshirō MIFUNE was his his real name.

en.wikipedia.org under his name: "Toshiro Mifune was born on 1 April 1920 in Qingdao, Shandong, China, which was at the time still under Japanese occupation following their capture of the city from German colonial rule during World War I. Hoping to preserve their control of the region, the Japanese government maintained a large garrison and encouraged Japanese citizens to move there with promises of important and rewarding work. Among the Japanese living there before the Republic of China took over the city in 1922 were Toshiro's parents, who were working as Methodist missionaries. Mifune grew up with his parents and two younger siblings in Dalian, Fengtian, and, from 4 to 19 [in 1939] years of age, in Manchukuo."

(iii) This NYT article is a review on
Mifune: 4 Weeks, 33 Movies. Film Forum, Feb 11- Mar 10, 2022.
https://filmforum.org/
(iv) Film Forum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_Forum

(b)
(i) " 'Seven Samurai [七人の侍; a 1954 film direct Kurosawa]' * * * As a contract player for the Tōhō 東宝 studios * * * Some of them [Mifune's films] were filler * * *

Filler (n): "one that fills: such as a: a substance added to a product (as to increase bulk, weight, viscosity, opacity, or strength)"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/filler
(ii) " 'Snow Trail [銀嶺の果て]'  Mifune’s first feature, a tense and bittersweet 1947 thriller * * * director, Senkichi Taniguchi [谷口 千吉; kichi is Chinese pronunciation of kanji 吉]. The 27-year-old Mifune * * * As the youngest and most ruthless of a group of bank robbers on the lam, he's a tight bundle of angry, nervous energy — you spend the picture waiting for him to explode. (As an older and more conscience-stricken crook, Takashi SHIMURA [志村 喬] makes the first of many appearances alongside Mifune.)


(c) Japanese-English dictionary:
* hate 果て 【はて】 (n): "the end"
* aru ある 《或る; 或(P)》 (adj): "a certain"
* kengō 剣豪 【けんごう】 (n): "great swordsman; master fencer"
* kumo 蜘蛛
   ^ 蜘蛛の巣: (spider's) web
* an-koku-gai 暗黒街 【あんこくがい】 (n): "the underworld"
* jō-i-uchi 上意討ち 【じょういうち】 (n): "(archpaic]) execution (on the command of a feudal lord)"
   ^ jō-i 上意 【じょうい】 (n): "will or decree (esp. of shogun); emperor's wishes"
   ^ utsu 討つ (P[rincipal]); 撃つ; 伐つ 【うつ】 (v): "to attack; to destroy; to defeat; to conquer; to avenge  <警察は空砲を撃った。 The police officer fired a blank.>"
* ha-i-ryō 拝領 【はいりょう】 (n,v): "receiving (from a superior); bestowed"
* shi-matsu 始末 【しまつ】 (n): "course of events; circumstances"
* jōken 条件 【じょうけん】 (n): "condition; term; requirement; qualification; prerequisite  <そちらの条件を受け入れましょう。 We will accept your conditions [demands].>"
* gyoku-on or gyoku-in 玉音 【ぎょくおん; ぎょくいん】 (n): "(1) the Emperor's voice; (n) (2) beautiful voice; beautiful sound"  (Kanji 音 has two, and only two Chinese pronunciations: on and in.)
* Kyūjō 宮城 (n): "(hist[orical)) (See 皇居 [that is what the same place is called nowadays; pronunciation: kōkyo) Imperial Palace (esp. from 1888 to 1946)"
* shubō 首謀 (P); 主謀 【しゅぼう】 (n): "(See 首謀者) ringleader; mastermind; leader (of a plot)"
* shidan 師団 【しだん】 (n): "(army) division"
* rentai 連隊 【れんたい】 (n): "regiment"

choi

(d) " 'Samurai Saga'   Mifune's Macbeth in 'Throne of Blood' is widely celebrated, but fewer people know that he is also an excellent Cyrano in [稲垣 浩 Hiroshi] Inagaki's 1959 adaptation of 'Cyrano de Bergerac.' It’s a kick to see Mifune in a role in which his mastery of language is more important than his looks and just as important as his fighting ability (though swordplay is crucial to the story, of course). French 19th-century romance transfers well to the 17th-century Shogunate; Inagaki stages the famous first-act poetry duel on a Kabuki stage, with Mifune dealing sword blows between verses to an entire company of attackers. And Mifune's ability to play the alpha male with notes of humor and abashment suits him perfectly when it comes to the ultimate rom-com [short for romantic comedy] hero."
(i) For Samurai Saga, see Life of an Expert Swordsman  或る剣豪の生涯
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_an_Expert_Swordsman
(ii) Adapted from Shakespeare's Macbeth (published in 1623, seven years after his death), Throne of Blood 蜘蛛巣城 was a 1957 film directed by Kurosawa. In the Japanese film, 蜘蛛巣城 is the name of the castle where events happened. So the castle name did not have a hidden meaning.  
(iii) The (A) is about a person, and (B) is about a play, with that person as the title character.
(A) Cyrano de Bergerac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac
(1619 – 1655; French; homosexual; section 3 In fiction, section 3.1 Rostand)

For pronunciations (both English and French), see Cyrano de Bergerac
https://www.collinsdictionary.co ... /cyrano-de-bergerac
(B) Cyrano de Bergerac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac_(play)
(section 1 Plot summary, section 1.1 Act I: "Cyrano * * * is confronted by [Vicount] Valvert and duels with him [Valvert] while composing a ballade, wounding (and possibly killing) him [Valvert] as he [Cyrano] ends the refrain")
(C) The duel/composing occurred in Act 1, Scene 4 of the play.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/lite ... /act-i-8212-scene-4
(D) Cyrano Duel Scene. Youtube.com, uploaded by Michael Philip O'Shaughnessy on May 4, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZPsl5_bbIA

In maroon costume, Cyrano has a humongous nose (in the play). Valvert was not harmed in video clips I viewed.
(iv) The "abashment" is simply wrong. It should be the opposite, I guess the right word is "unabashedness." See unabashed (adj)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unabashed
("The Difference Between Abashed and Unabashed: * * * When you are unabashed you make no apologies for your behavior")  (emphasis original)

choi

(e) " 'The Last Gunfight'   This is one of seven films in the series directed by Kihachi Okamoto [岡本 喜八] * * * Here he [director] gives a sardonic gloss to a colorfully violent 1960 yakuza story, with a good script by writers[:] Haruhiko Oyabu ('Cruel Gun Story') and Shin'ichi Sekizawa ('Take Aim at the Police Van'). Mifune stars as a disgraced cop who goes undercover in the middle of a gang war over guns and gravel concessions; in his white suits, he's the cool center of the psychedelic action, underplaying the stereotypical tough guy and giving a wry spin to his punch lines, like his kiss-off to an overanxious bar hostess: 'Easy, a bed won't run away [in the entire Web, this NYT article is the only one with this translation. I fail to find out the Japanese original].' "
(i) The Last Gunfight 暗黒街の対決 was a 1960 film where Mifune played Detective Saburō FUJIOKA 藤丘 三郎 刑事.  en.wikipedia.org for Toshiro Mifune.

(f) " 'Samurai Saga'   The highlight of the series's non-Kurosawa films, this 1967 revenge drama has the classical feeling — the deliberate pacing, the stark, high-contrast black-and-white images, the harshly delineated emotions — that its director, Kobayashi, brought to his masterpieces in the 'Human Condition' trilogy. Mifune plays Isaburo"
(i) Samurai Rebellion 上意討ち 拝領妻始末 was directed by Masaki KOBAYASHI 小林 正樹, where Mifune played Isaburō SASAHARA 笹原 伊三郎 (sabu for 三 appears in names only).
(ii)
(A) ササ 笹、篠
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ササ
grows to 2 to 3 feet tall. Its English name is Sasa (from Japanese), which is the genus name.
(B) list of bamboo species
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bamboo_species
includes the genus Sasa.
(iii) Samurai Saga was not part of
The Human Condition (film series)  人間の條件
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Condition_(film_series)
, but all four films were shot black and white.

In Japanese, 人間 = 人, different from 人間 in Chinese, which I interpret as meaning the world, such as 人間有公理嗎？
(iv) But what the the meaning of The Human Condition>  The Japanese trilogy, which was set in Manchukuo (ja.wikpedia.org: "旧満州帝国を舞台としている") was based on a 6-volume fiction of the same title published by Junpei GOMIKAWA 五味川 純平 in 1955. Born in 大連 in 1916, 五味川  was conscripted in 1943, fought in Manchuria; In August 1945 hus unit was attached by Soviet army and almost annihilated, with himself among the few survivors and captured (ja.wikpedia.org: "1943年召集を受け、満州東部国境各地を転々とした。1945年8月のソ連軍の満州侵攻時には、所属部隊はソ連軍部隊の攻撃を受けて全滅に近く、生存者は五味川以下数名で、捕虜となる").
(v) However, a fiction, in French, of the English title The Human Condition (French title: La Condition humaine) had been published in 1933 by a Frenchman about the 1927 communist uprisings in Shanghai. The en.wikipedia.org has a page for "Human Fate," which the cn.wikipedia shortened under the page name 人的命运
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/人的命运     
(characters: Chen Ta Erh (surname spelled Tchen in the French original) 陈大儿; Kyo GISORS 吉索尔 (起义领袖; Chinese); Katow 加托夫 and Baron Clappique 克拉皮克.

So you kind of know the meaning of The Human Condition, be it book or film title.

choi

(g) " 'Japan's Longest Day [日本のいちばん長い日]'   Okamoto directed this * * * 1967 drama * * * perhaps with some inspiration from 'Seven Days in May,' which had come out a few years before. It counts down the 24 hours before Emperor Hirohito's August 1945 radio broadcast announcing Japan's surrender in World War II, during which an attempted coup by young army and air force officers comes uncomfortably close to success. Mifune is part of the requisite all-star cast, along with other Japanese idols like Shimura and Chishū RYŪ [笠 智衆]. Mifune lends considerable dignity and quiet anguish to the role of General Anami, the war minister [should be army minister 陸軍大臣; Japan had 海軍大臣 1885-1945], who must try to negotiate a peace he can live with during marathon cabinet meetings while dealing with the agitated (and wildly overacting) hotheads who keep demanding that Japan fight on.

(i) Seven Days in May
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_in_May
(ii) Hirohito surrender broadcast  玉音放送
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirohito_surrender_broadcast
, whose reference 2 is The coup against the Emperor's broadcast that never was. Kyodo, date unknown -- republished in Japan Times (a separate entity) that demands payment in order to read it. See next.
(iii) Kyūjō incident  宮城事件
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyūjō_incident
("The coup was attempted by the [General] Staff Office of the Ministry of War [陸軍省・参謀本部 (Dec 5, 1878 - Oct 15, 1945)] of Japan and many from the Imperial Guard to stop the move to surrender.  The officers murdered Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori [森 赳 中将（師団長)] of the First Imperial Guards Division [近衛第１師団] and attempted to counterfeit an order [from and by 師団長] to the effect of occupying the Tokyo Imperial Palace (Kyūjō). They attempted to place Emperor Hirohito under house arrest, using the 2nd Brigade Imperial Guard Infantry [近衛歩兵第２連隊]. They failed to persuade the Eastern District Army [東部軍管区] and the high command of the Imperial Japanese Army to move forward with the action.")

photo caption: "Major Kenji Hatanaka, leader of the coup"  畑中 健二 少佐 (首謀)  (There are three ranks in that level: 大佐, 中佐, 少佐.)
(iv) Korechika ANAMI  阿南 惟幾
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/阿南惟幾   
(1987-Aug 15, 1945; "太平洋戦争（大東亜戦争）末期に降伏への賛否を巡り混乱する政府で本土決戦への戦争継続を主張したが、昭和天皇の聖断によるポツダム宣言受諾が決定され、同年8月15日に割腹自決。日本の内閣制度発足後、現職閣僚が自殺したのはこれが初であった")

my translation: At the end of 太平洋戦争, the government was in disarray revolving 巡 whether to surrender [and he- advocated fighting on. But the emperor made a wise decision and decoded to accept Potsdam Declaration. He committed suicide on Aug 15, the first sitting cabinet member to do so since the start of [Japan's] cabinet.

The ja.wikipedoia.org says that on Aug 12, 1945 Anami decided to commit suicide should Japan surrender, and informed his family so. On the 13th, a plotter showed Anami the plan/ Anami did not approve or disapprove, but said he could not disobey the emperor.

choi

(h) " 'Red Lion'   Mifune was 49 and running his own large production company [Mifune Productions Co, Ltd 三船プロダクション (katakana pronounced same as production] by the time he made this rambunctious, satirical, eventually tragic period piece with Okamoto in 1969. He was already starring in big international productions that made little use of his talents, and he was about to start in on the television work that would occupy much of the last two decades of his career. But he could still bring tremendous comic energy to the part of Gonzo, an excitable peasant soldier who gets to return to his home village and pretend to be an officer in the army fighting to restore the Japanese monarchy. His exuberance carries the picture as Gonzo pulls together a coalition of prostitutes, students and children to battle the corrupt minions of the shogun."
(i) Red Lion (film)  赤毛
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lion_(film)
("Gonzo (権三, Toshiro Mifune) * * * Wanting to pose as a military officer, he dons a peculiar officer's wig")

Search images.google.com with ("red lion" wig mifune).
(ii) "he was about to start in on the television work that would occupy much of the last two decades of his career"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiro_Mifune
(section 6 Filmography, section 7.2 Television)