REVIEW: ‘Samurai Spy’ (1965)

Samurai Spy is a refreshingly different take on the Japanese period actioner that combines complex political intrigue set in the turbulent early years of the Tokugawa shogunate with stylized ninja action and direction from Masahiro Shinoda, a member of Japan’s 1960s New Wave, who made a brief return to this subject more recently with Owl’s Castle (1999).

The film and its main hero Sasuke Sarutobi are based on a Meiji-era story entitled Ten Heroes of Sanada that concerns the exploits of fictional followers of Yukimura Sanada, a popular general who died during the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). Koji Takahashi (Sanshiro Sugata) plays Sasuke, a superspy working for the Sanada clan during a Cold War of sorts fourteen years after Sekigahara. The battle put the winning Tokugawa clan in power and the losing Toyotomi clan and its allies on the ropes, but not completely destroyed. The Sanada clan is more or less neutral and Sasuke’s main role as its leading spy is simply to keep an eye on both sides and report back the findings. He’s drawn into the conflict, however, when he’s mistakenly pegged for knowing the whereabouts of Tatewaki Koriyama, a Tokugawa lieutenant attempting to defect to the Toyotomi clan.

Like a feudal-era James Bond cut loose from his moorings, Sasuke forges ahead on his own to figure out who the “good guys” are while being targeted by spies from the Yagyu clan, hunted by a magistrate for murders he didn’t commit and getting involved in a tragically short affair with a beautiful dancer (Jitsuko Yoshimura) caught in the crossfire.

Masahiro Shinoda really pushes the Cold War spy theme to the extreme and may leave anyone not paying close attention in the dust. The chief challenge is in making sense of not only the historical back story, but also the convoluted spy versus spy entanglements, double-crosses and scheming of the film’s fictional plot. There are quite a few characters (thankfully Criterion provides a character breakdown on their DVD release) and several clans, all with different loyalties and motivations, to keep track of. At two different points Sasuke suggests that he’s finally figuring out where he stands in all of this, but viewers may need more convincing than that. Yoshiyuki Fukuda’s script thickens this stew further with a detective angle as Sasuke sets out to uncover a murderer, who happens to be at the heart of this madness. In the film’s final reel, Sasuke confronts the killer like a sword-handling Sherlock Holmes and delivers an explanatory monologue before engaging in the inevitable duel.

The story might make your head spin, but the action and how it’s framed should set it straight. This is one of Masahiro Shinoda’s first chanbara movies and it displays a visual style unlike most at the time or any other time for that matter. Shinoda was one of a number of New Wave directors who came into their own during the 1960s by creating edgy and stylish genre movies that bucked convention. Samurai Spy most definitely fits into this category, although you might not know it from the start. The film opens with conventional samurai warfare depicting the Battle of Sekigahara on a Kurosawa scale. I’d wager it was left over or borrowed from another Shochiku production. One indication is that, while it looks good, it lacks the style of the film’s smaller-scale fights. From here, the look of the action is far more in line with the Hong Kong-styled martial arts that Sonny Chiba would bring to the big screen in the ’70s and ’80s.

As it’s essentially a ninja flick, Samurai Spy is chock full of cool ninja goodness, although pure action fans prone to tire of heavy doses of drama and dialogue may disagree. However, there is an emphasis on a quality and artistic presentation of ninjitsu that is undeniable. Excellent dramatic lighting and framing from cinematographer Masao Kosugi are used to great effect in setting up stylized scenes that wouldn’t look out of place in a modern Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez film. The swordplay and related shuriken tossing and leaping are edited more for dramatic punch and looks than realism. It may not look like anything special when considering today’s CGI and wire-enhanced action, but for a 1960s chanbara movie, this is pretty hot stuff. What sets Shinoda’s work apart is his combination of this new style of action with a classical approach to characterization that keeps the movie from becoming a live-action cartoon as some of Sonny Chiba’s fantasy-tinged films became.

One of Sasuke’s opponents is a white-clad ninja named Sakon Takatani, who looks an awful lot like Hattori Hanzo, as played by Chiba in Shogun’s Samurai. His bright uniform and dramatic appearances do not exactly lend themselves to the art of concealment and subtlety, but who cares? It looks good and suits the slightly exaggerated world that Shinoda has created. Another nice visual touch with regard to costuming is the wearing of traditional Japanese masks by one of the clans whose chief interest is in rescuing the movie’s pivotal character, Tatewaki Koriyama. In a key scene that’s nicely put together, Sasuke stands his ground against Sakon and his fellow ninja as Tatewaki is spirited away by a group of “foxes” amid the chaos of a village festival.

Toru Takemitsu’s score for Samurai Spy is typical of most Western-influenced chanbara movies as it features Western music, both in dramatic orchestration and a Caribbean-themed title theme. It provides a suitable compliment to the movie’s other James Bond influences.

Samurai Spy is truly a unique chanbara movie from and one that is excellently directed by Masahiro Shinoda, one of Japan’s more notable filmmakers. But it may not be to everyone’s liking due to the convoluted spy plot. What keeps this grounded are fine performances led by the steely Koji Takahashi and slick action direction that could be considered a forerunner to the next generation of Japanese movie swordplay and ninjitsu.