Japan's
best known novel, The Great Bodhisattva Pass (the source material
for SWORD
OF DOOM) comes to life in this legendary masterpiece from famed
director Kenji Misumi (the filmmaker who later directed the BABY
CART FILMS [Lone Wolf And Child]).
This sweeping actioner stars Raizo Ichikawa as Tsukue Ryunosuke, the devil
swordsman with the evil fighting style called Otonashi no Kamae [Slent
Stance].
Tsukue
Ryunosuke is a powerful wandering swordsman who relishes in anonymously
challenging naive opponents and then cruelly cutting them down. He leaves
a trail of corpse across the landscape, but Ryunosuke is a complex character.
Obviously, he has an evil streak coupled with a desire to kill, but he
also operates with a sense of humanity and loyalty to certain people in
his life. Raizo Ichikawa gives one of his best performances here in a
very difficult role. Also, of special note, is Kojiro Hongo as his arch-enemy,
the vengeance seeking Hyoma Utsugi looking for a showdown with Ryunosuke.
Raizo
Ichikawa starred in 100+ films from 1955 until his death from hepatic
metastases of colon cancer in July 1969 at age 37. Director Kenji Misumi,
the illegitimate child of a geisha mother, also died young at age 54 from
a heart attack September 1975, shortly after finished the fifth BABY
CART film.
Adult
Material/Graphic Violence/Sexual Brutality
Recommended for Mature Audiences
Three
Japanese films
with English subtitles; widescreen format, fully uncut versions (105+90+98
minutes),
DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC; on three DVDs