Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Adventure

If a most important milestone in the history of chambara exists, that is probably Kurosawa's release of Yojimbo and its sardonic fatalist central character played by Toshiro Mifune. It is Yojimbo that practically divides the earlier traditional samurai films of Mizoguchi or Inagaki from stuff like Nemuri Kyoshiro that sprung in the early 60's. The first two releases that followed in Yojimbo/Sanjuro's wake were the Sleepy Eyes of Death series and the TV series of Three Outlaw Samurai which were later adapted for a feature film that started Hideo Gosha's career.

The second installment in one of the most popular chambara series along with Zatoichi is directed by Kenji Misumi, a contractor for Daiei studios at the time, who would later go on to achieve orgasmic levels of comic-book violence with Lone Wolf and Cub. Playing the titular character is Raizo Ichikawa who collaborated with Misumi in his Daibosatsu Toge trilogy from 1961, Satan's Sword.

Nemuri Kyoshiro is a shady figure, as much an outcast of society as his genre antecedent (Sanjuro) but with a different and darker mentality. In Sword of Adventure he tries to protect a financial adviser working for the Shogunate, whose strict policies have incurred the wrath of one of the Shogun's daughters and rich merchants. An assortment of murderers, bribed, paid or blackmailed for the cause, assemble and take their shots at Nemuri. This is a genre film with a serialized character so there is little doubt to the outcome of the duels. Those are nicely stylized and executed and the cinematography and camera-work are all an improvement on Satan's Sword, as is Raizo Ichikawa's performance. I'm not a big fan of his work, his look and mannerisms somehow effeminate and not as scruffy and savage looking as those of Mifune or Wakayama, but he brings a sardonic joy to his character that works within the context of the movie.

You begin to understand how the personality of Nemury work. He was a lucid ronin who talk too much. Even when he is in big trouble, he just can't shut his mouth.

You begin to understand too Nemury have inner demons. But it's not clear.

Lovable characters and some good action scene... Fair movie. But the better are to come.

This second Kyoshiro Nemuri film improves on the first film in several ways. The series is still finding its footing, but Sword Of Adventure stands out in a way that Chinese Jade did not.

First off the story is better. In this one, Nemuri befriends a financial counselor to the shogun. This well meaning old man is trying to help the poor during a time of hardship. The counselor wants to limit the profits the (rich) rice merchants can charge for their product. In addition, the old man has made an enemy out of one of the shogun's illegitimate daughters by suggesting that this high living princess should have her allowance cut. She (and the rich merchants) want the financial counselor dead. It is up to Nemuri to protect the old man, regardless of whether or not he wants Nemuri's protection.

I found this plotline interesting throughout. The shogun's daughter ("Princess Pig" Nemuri calls her) is the series's first villainess. In fact, the film features three tricky females, the princess, a pickpocket in the opening scene, and a woman trying to free her imprisoned Christian missionary husband by setting up Nemuri. This last one provides the film's emotional core since she likes Nemuri and does not really want to see him dead.

Oddly enough, this film probably has less action throughout than the first film did, but Sword of Adventure delivers at the end with an exciting many-against-Nemuri climax. Speaking of the ending, there is a wonderful coda after the battle. Nemuri must give bad news to a character. The two meet in a field at sunset. No dialogue is spoken, yet everything is revealed through a couple of looks. It is a powerful ending, that is the one thing I had remembered from my one viewing (without subtitles) twenty years ago.

Sword of Adventure is not up there with the best of chanbara cinema. The film is a little slow in spots, although the ending more than makes up for it. Also, the actor who is the financial counselor plays his role broadly at times. These are minor complaints considering that Sword of Adventure stands as the first film in the series that I can recommend to non-fans.