"Genroku Chûshingura" (The 47 Ronin, 1941) is a massive undertaking. Both from the filmmakers and the audience. The film is perhaps the most ambitious adaptation of the oft-filmed kabuki play that it is based on. Shochiku produced the film as a two-parter, with the total film clocking in at almost four hours. It was wartime and studio heads considered it a matter of great importance that this classic tale of feudal loyalty would be brought to screen, for people's fighting spirit to grow higher.
The film starts in 1701. Lord Asano attacks Lord Kira, but doesn't manage to kill him, and he is then forced to commit harakiri by the shogunate. News of this reach Asano's men, loyal to him until the very end, who start planning their revenge.
The motivations for the actions are slowly revealed in the dialogue, although it isn't a mystery narrative like Kobayashi's later "Harakiri" (1962). Although this is an ambitious film, I have several problems with it. Like in most pre-war or war-time period films, the characters aren't psychologically fleshed out, even if there is attempt to accomplish this. The propaganda is such a major element within these characters, that they cease to feel realistic. The film is very serious, as Mizoguchi is known to be, but this time he isn't passionate. The director preferred to do films about fallen women, and this narrative does not really give him much to do. His famous mise-en-scène is also not at all memorable in this film, as the film mostly takes place in the same, lifeless sets.
Unlike later versions, this film really avoids action and violence, although these are part of the narrative. Mizoguchi was never keen on doing action scenes. I can complement this film for the detailed look it gives of the period, but I did not find it interesting as a narrative. The four-hour length felt crushing because there was not an emotional attachment to the characters.
So all in all, as a piece of wartime propaganda, society's attempt to control the contemporary life by subjecting people to a vision of history, that supports the current regime and politics, this is an interesting piece of 20th century history. As a Mizoguchi film, it is lackluster, and feels like something he was forced to make.
The film starts in 1701. Lord Asano attacks Lord Kira, but doesn't manage to kill him, and he is then forced to commit harakiri by the shogunate. News of this reach Asano's men, loyal to him until the very end, who start planning their revenge.
The motivations for the actions are slowly revealed in the dialogue, although it isn't a mystery narrative like Kobayashi's later "Harakiri" (1962). Although this is an ambitious film, I have several problems with it. Like in most pre-war or war-time period films, the characters aren't psychologically fleshed out, even if there is attempt to accomplish this. The propaganda is such a major element within these characters, that they cease to feel realistic. The film is very serious, as Mizoguchi is known to be, but this time he isn't passionate. The director preferred to do films about fallen women, and this narrative does not really give him much to do. His famous mise-en-scène is also not at all memorable in this film, as the film mostly takes place in the same, lifeless sets.
Unlike later versions, this film really avoids action and violence, although these are part of the narrative. Mizoguchi was never keen on doing action scenes. I can complement this film for the detailed look it gives of the period, but I did not find it interesting as a narrative. The four-hour length felt crushing because there was not an emotional attachment to the characters.
So all in all, as a piece of wartime propaganda, society's attempt to control the contemporary life by subjecting people to a vision of history, that supports the current regime and politics, this is an interesting piece of 20th century history. As a Mizoguchi film, it is lackluster, and feels like something he was forced to make.