I watched a handful of Kyoshiro Nemuri films in the late 1990's. All but one of the films were in Japanese without subtitles. Not understanding Japanese, I was a little lost on plots, but I tended to like the colorful Gothic atmosphere and the action scenes. I never did view the first film in the series, The Chinese Jade, because I had heard that it was heavy on plot and light on action. While true, The Chinese Jade still stands as a decent first entry in the series, although probably more of interest to fans than casual viewers.
Kyoshiro Nemuri is a half breed ronin with contempt for humankind. However, in the first film, he is more of a likable scoundrel. After a group of ninjas try to kill him in the pre-credit sequence, he is approached by Chisa, a beautiful woman who wants to hire him as a bodyguard. Her reasons are vague, but Nemuri agrees out of curiosity. Soon after he is approached by Chen Sun, a would-be challenger whose fists are deadly weapons. Chen Sun has aligned himself with a former smuggler who has a jade statue hidden away that contains evidence of a clan leader's involvement in the smuggling operation. This leader is the one who sent Chisa to Nemuri. Thus, Nemuri is caught between corrupt leaders and vicious smugglers. At first it appears that no one is innocent, but gradually Nemuri comes to realize that Chisa is just an unhappy pawn being used by both sides, much like both sides want to use him.
The Chinese Jade is a watchable samurai film. There are a couple of good, but certainly not outstanding, action scenes. Ichikawa Raizo is fine as Nemuri. I liked seeing Tomisaburo Wakayama (Itto Ogami in the Lone Wolf and Cub films) as Chen Sun. Nemrui's impressive signature move (The Full Moon Cut) is used twice. The film has the usual solid production values that were lavished on period films in the early 1960's. However, The Chinese Jade does not stand out enough from other samurai adventures; it is just okay. Those new to the Kyoshiro Nemuri films should probably not start with this entry.
