TEMPLE OF SCHLOCK: TOHO

Showing posts with label TOHO. Show all posts

Saturday, February 13, 2021

The Endangered List (Case File #169)

BANDITS ON THE WIND (1961)

a.k.a. YATO KAZE NO NAKA O HASHIRU

Starring

Yôsuke Natsuki (Taro)

Makoto Satô (Gale)

Somegorô Ichikawa (Gen)

Izumi Yukimura (Kayo)

Chishû Ryû (Village Priest)

Akiko Wakabayashi (Sawa)

Kôshirô Matsumoto (Tasaka)

Nami Tamura (Sato)

with

Mannosuke Nakamura

Jun Tatara

Tadao Nakamaru

Chusha Ichikawa

Akira Tani

Directed by

Hiroshi Inagaki

Written by

Masato Ide

Hiroshi Inagaki

Takeshi Kimura

Produced by

Tomoyuki Tanaka

Cinematography by

Kazuo Yamada

Music by

Kan Ishii
Running time: 111 minutes

A Toho production

Honolulu premiere: February 14, 1962
Los Angeles premiere: September 14, 1962
New York premiere: January 14, 1964

The Honolulu Advertiser - February 16, 1962

Los Angeles Times - September 19, 1962

South China Morning Post - October 24, 1963

Daily News - January 15, 1964

New York Times - January 15, 1964

Monday, August 03, 2020

DUEL AT FORT EZO (1970)

An excellent, action-packed adventure from Toho, set in 1864 and centered around a mission to locate a cache of gold and rescue the daughter of the Russian royal family. Both are being held in Fort Ezo by the Takeda Clan, led by a direct descendant of Takeda Shingen and his army of Ainu native followers. To do the job, a government agent posing as a ronin assembles a six-man team consisting of a munitions expert, two thieves, a sleight of hand artist, a real ronin, and an ex-sumo wrestler. At times this feels like a serial that's been condensed to feature length, especially during an exciting chase sequence that leads to an actual cliffhanger. An aerial shot during the climactic battle reveals this to be a fairly large-scale production, despite the presence of the cheapest, worst-looking fake bear I've ever seen. Tatsuya Nakadai is featured prominently on the poster but only appears briefly in two scenes near the beginning.