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The 47 Ronin (1941 film)

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = The 47 Ronin

| image = 47ronin lefilm.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Scene with Chjuro Kawarasaki

| director = Kenji Mizoguchi

| producer = Shintar Shirai

| screenplay = Kenichir Hara
Yoshikata Yoda

| based_on = the kabuki play by Mayama Seika

| narrator =

| starring = Chjuro Kawarasaki
Kanemon Nakamura
Kunitar Kawarazaki
Utaemon Ichikawa

| music = Shir Fukai

| cinematography = Khei Sugiyama

| editing = Takako Kuji

| studio = Shochiku

| distributor = Shochiku Kinema Kenkyu-jo

| released =

| runtime = 223 min.
112 min. (part 1)
111 min. (part 2)

| country = Japan

| language = Japanese

| budget =

}}

is a black-and-white two-part jidaigeki Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, adapted from a play by Seika Mayama. The first part was released on December 1, 1941 with the second part being released on February 11 of the following year. The film depicts the legendary forty-seven Ronin and their plot to avenge the death of their lord, Asano Naganori, by killing Kira Yoshinaka, a shogunate official responsible for Asano being forced to commit seppuku.

Plot



The plot revolves around the consequences of an attack by Lord Asano Naganori on Lord Kira Yoshinaka, an influential court official in the Tokugawa Shogunate. After overhearing Kira insult him in public, Asano strikes Kira with a sword in the corridors of Edo Castle, but succeeds only in wounding him. As attacking a Shogunate official is a grave offense, Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi sentences Asano to commit seppuku and issues an edict stripping the Asano Clan of their lands and wealth. Kira, meanwhile, is not punished by the Shogun because, it is thought, of family connections. As a result of the Shogun's judgement, all samurai loyal to the Asano Clan become rnin while the late Lord Asano's family is ruined. Many of the rnin wish to seek revenge against Kira for the dishonor of their Lord, but their leader, ishi Kuranosuke, convinces them to wait while he first petitions the Shogun to restore the Asano Clan. When the Shogun refuses his request, ishi and the other forty-six rnin begin planning their revenge. But because Kira has surrounded himself with warriors in his residence, ishi first disarms suspicion by posing as a drunkard and womanizer, to his own dishonor, and goes to the length of divorcing his wife.

Almost two years after the death of Asano, the forty-seven assemble in Edo and stage an attack on Kira's residence, resulting in Kira and several of his followers being killed. This is not shown on the screen but is reported in a letter to Asano's wife, who has returned to her father. After laying Kira's head on Asano's grave and formally making a report of their actions before it, the forty-seven turn themselves in to the authorities. There is sympathy for the rnin for their faithfulness and sacrifice in such difficult circumstances and the forty-seven are granted the honorable death of committing seppuku despite their act of defiance. This comes at the end of some months' deliberation and is greeted with singing and dancing by the warriors. Each is then summoned down the corridors of the castle to enact the sentence; ishi is left until last and courteously excuses himself to the visitor to his room when his turn comes.

Cast



Actors in the film include:

* Chjuro Kawarasaki as

* Kanemon Nakamura as

* Kunitar Kawarazaki as

* Chemon Band as

* Sukez Sukedakaya as

* Kikunojo Segawa as

* Utaemon Ichikawa as

* Yoshizabur Arashi as

* Kazutoyo Mimasu as

* Tokusabur Arashi as

* Masao Shimizu as

* Mitsuko Miura as , Asano's wife

Uncredited

* Seizabur Kawazu as

* Mieko Takamine as , Isogai's fiance

Inception



During the war, Kenji Mizoguchi was forced to make artistic compromises, producing propaganda for the military government. In 1941, the Japanese military commissioned him to make 'Genroku Chshingura'. They wanted a ferocious morale booster based on the familiar 'rekishi geki' ("historical drama") of 'The Loyal 47 Ronin'. Instead, Mizoguchi chose for his source 'Mayama Chshingura', a cerebral play dealing with the story. The government foisted the project on the director as a wartime morale booster, and as justification for the expansionist, nationalistic, and ultimately suicidal world war that Japan was embroiled in during the middle of the 20th century.

Reception



Part One was a commercial failure at a cost of 530,000, having been released in Japan one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese military and most audiences found the first part to be too serious, but the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part Two was put into production, despite lukewarm reception for Part One. The film wasn't shown in America until the 1970s.

See also



* 'The Loyal 47 Ronin' ( Chushingura) 1958 film by Kunio Watanabe, Daiei star-studded cast

* 'Ak Rshi' 1961 film by Sadatsugu Matsuda, Toei star-studded cast

* 'Chushingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki' 1962 color film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, Toho star-studded cast

* 'Daichshingura' (, Daichshingura) 1971 television dramatization

* 'The Fall of Ako Castle' (, Ak-j danzetsu) (aka Swords Of Vengeance) 1978 film by Kinji Fukasaku

* Matsu no rka

*List of historical drama films of Asia

References




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