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{{Short description|1954 film}}
{{Infobox film {{Infobox film
| name = Sansho the Bailiff | name = Sansho the Bailiff
| image = Sansho Dayu poster.jpg | image = Sansho Dayu poster.jpg
| caption = Japanese theatrical release poster | caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = ] | director = ]
| producer = ] | producer = ]
| writer = ]<br />]<br />] (story) | screenplay = ]<br />]
| based_on = "Sansho the Bailiff" by ]
| narrator = | narrator =
| starring = ]<br />]<br />]<br />] | starring = ]<br />]<br />]<br />]
| music = | music = ]<br>Tamekichi Mochizuki<br>Kinshichi Kodera
| cinematography = ] | cinematography = ]
| editing = | editing = Mitsuzo Miyata
| distributor = ] | distributor = ]
| released = March 31, 1954 | released = {{Film date|1954|03|31}}
| runtime = 124 minutes | runtime = 124 minutes
| country = Japan | country = Japan
Line 18: Line 20:
| budget = | budget =
| gross = | gross =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}} }}
{{Nihongo|'''''Sansho the Bailiff'''''|山椒大夫|Sanshō Dayū|known by its Japanese title in the ] and ]<ref name="Eureka">{{cite web |url=http://eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/sansho-dayu/ |title=''Sansho Dayu'' page on the online "Masters of Cinema" catalogue of the distributor |publisher=Eureka |access-date=16 January 2013}}</ref>|lead=yes}} is a 1954 ] ] directed by ] based on a 1915 short story of the same name by ] (translated as "Sanshō the Steward" in English), which in turn was based on a {{illm|sekkyō-bushi|ja|説経節|lt=''sekkyō-bushi''}} (oral lore) appearing in written form in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Friedrich |first=Lee |date=2006-03-01 |title=In the Voice of a Modern-day Miko: Hiromi Itō's Retelling of the Sanshō Dayū Legend |url=https://studiesonasia.scholasticahq.com/article/14320-in-the-voice-of-a-modern-day-miko-hiromi-ito-s-retelling-of-the-sansho-dayu-legend |journal=Studies on Asia |language=en |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=1–20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Question for the Modern Age: Sansho the Steward : Opinion : Chuo Online : YOMIURI ONLINE |url=https://yab.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/chuo/dy/opinion/20120709.html |access-date=2023-09-16 |website=yab.yomiuri.co.jp}}</ref> It follows two aristocratic children who are sold into slavery.
{{nihongo|'''''Sansho the Bailiff'''''|山椒大夫|Sanshō Dayū}} is a ] by ] ] ]. Based on a short story of the same name by ], it tells the story of two aristocratic children sold into slavery. It is often considered{{whom|date=January 2013}} one of Mizoguchi's finest films, along with '']'' and '']''.{{cn|date=January 2013}} It bears his trademark interest in freedom, poverty and woman's place in society, and features beautiful images and long and complicated shots. The director of photography for this film was Mizoguchi's regular collaborator ].


''Sansho the Bailiff'' bears many of Mizoguchi's hallmarks, such as portrayals of poverty and elaborately choreographed ]s. Today, the film is often ranked alongside '']'' (1953) as one of Mizoguchi's finest works.<ref name="Mark Le Fanu">{{cite web|last=Le Fanu|first=Mark|title=Sansho the Bailiff: The Lessons of Sansho|url=http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2678-sansho-the-bailiff-the-lessons-of-sansho|work=Currents|publisher=The Criterion Collection|access-date=12 October 2013}}</ref>
In the ] and ], it is known by its Japanese title '''''Sanshō Dayū'''''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/sansho-dayu/ |title=''Sansho Dayu'' page on the online "Masters of Cinema" catalogue of the distributor |publisher=Eureka |accessdate=16 January 2013}}</ref>


==Plot== ==Plot==
''Sansho the Bailiff'' is a '']'' set in the latter part of the eleventh century, during the ] of ].
''Sansho the Bailiff'' is a '']'', or historical film, set in the ] of ]. A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife and children are sent to live with her brother. Several years later, the wife, Tamaki (]), and children, Zushio and Anju, journey to his exiled land, but are tricked on the journey by a hypocritical priestess and sold into slavery and prostitution. The mother is sold to ]. The children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized, working under horrific conditions and are branded whenever they try to escape. The estate, protected under the ], is administered by the eponymous Sansho (]), a ] (or ]). Sansho's son Taro (]), the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master, and he convinces the two they must survive in the manor before they can escape to find their father.


A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife, Tamaki, and children, Zushiō and Anju, are sent to live with her brother. Just before they are separated, Zushiō's father tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others." He urges his son to remember his words and gives him a statuette of ], the Goddess of Mercy.
The children grow to young adulthood at the slave camp. Anju (]) still believes in the teachings of her father, which advocate treating others with humanity, but Zushio (]) has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the overseers who punishes other slaves, in the belief that this is the only way to survive.


Years later, the wife and children journey to his exiled land but are tricked on the journey by a treacherous priestess. The mother is sold into prostitution in ] and the children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized and branded when they try to escape. The estate, protected under the ], is administered by the eponymous Sanshō. Sanshō's son Tarō, the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master and convinces the children to survive before they can escape to find their mother.
Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics. This leads her to believe their mother is still alive. She tries to convince Zushio to escape, but he refuses, citing the difficulty and their lack of money.


The children grow to young adulthood at the slave camp. Anju still believes in the teachings of her father but Zushiō has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the brutal overseers, believing that this is the only way to survive. At work, Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics, leading her to believe their mother is still alive. She tries to convince Zushiō to escape but he refuses, citing the difficulty and their lack of money.
Zushio is ordered to take Namiji, an older woman, out of the slave camp to be left to die in the wilderness due to her sickness. Anju accompanies them, and while they break branches to provide covering for the dying woman they recall their earlier childhood memories. At this point Zushio changes his mind and asks Anju to escape with him to find their mother. Anju asks him to take Namiji with him, convincing her brother she will stay behind to distract the guards. Zushio promises to return for Anju. However, after Zushio's escape, Anju commits suicide by walking into a lake, drowning herself so that she will not be tortured and forced to reveal her brother's whereabouts.


Zushiō is ordered to take Namiji, an older woman who is acutely ill, out of the slave camp to die in the wilderness. Anju accompanies them and while they break branches to provide covering for the dying woman, they recall a similar act from their earlier childhood. Zushiō changes his mind and asks Anju to escape with him to find their mother. Anju asks him to take Namiji with him, convincing her brother she will stay behind to distract the guards. Zushiō promises to return for Anju. However, after Zushiō's escape, Anju commits suicide by walking into a lake, drowning herself so that she will not be tortured and forced to reveal her brother's whereabouts.
After Zushio escapes in the wilderness, he finds his old mentor, Taro - Sansho’s son - at an Imperial temple. Zushio asks Taro to take care of Namiji, who is recovering after being given medicine, so that he can go to ] to appeal to the Chief Advisor on the appalling conditions of slaves. Taro writes him a letter as proof of who he is.


Although initially rejecting to see him, the Chief Advisor realizes the truth after seeing a statuette from Zushio. He then tells Zushio that his exiled father died the year before and offers Zushio the post of the governor of Tango, the very province where Sansho's manor is situated in. After Zushiō escapes, he finds Tarō at an Imperial temple. Zushiō asks him to care for Namiji so that he can go to ] to appeal to the Chief Advisor regarding the appalling slave conditions. Although initially refusing to see him, the Chief Advisor realizes who Zushiō is after seeing his statuette of ]. He then tells Zushiō that his exiled father died the year before and offers him the post of the governor of Tango, the province where Sanshō's manor is situated.


As Governor of Tango the first thing Zushio does is to order an edict forbidding slavery both on public and private grounds. No one believes he can do this, since Governors have no command over private grounds; although Sansho offers initial resistance (having his men destroy the signs which state the edict), Zushio orders him and his minions arrested, thus freeing the slaves. When he looks for Anju among Sansho's slaves, he finds out his sister has sacrificed herself for his freedom. The manor is burned down by the ex-slaves, while Sansho and his family are exiled. To appease the Ministry for doing something so radical, Zushio resigns immediately afterwards, stating that he has done exactly what he aims to do. As Governor of Tango, Zushiō issues an edict forbidding slavery on both public and private grounds. No one believes he can do this since governors have no power over private grounds. Although Sanshō offers initial resistance, Zushiō orders him and his men arrested, freeing the slaves. When he looks for Anju among Sanshō's slaves, he learns that his sister sacrificed herself for his freedom. The manor is burned down by the ex-slaves while Sanshō and his family are exiled. Zushiō resigns immediately afterwards, stating that he has done what he intended to do.


Zushio leaves for Sado where he searches for his aged mother, who he believes is still a courtesan. After hearing a man state that she has died in a ], he goes to the very beach she is supposed to have died. He finds a nearly blind, decrepit old woman sitting at the beach singing the same song he heard years before. Realizing she is his mother, he reveals to her his identity, but Tamaki assumes he is a trickster until he gives her their statuette. Zushio tells her both Anju and their father have died, and apologizes for not coming for her in the pomp of his governor's post. Instead he followed his father's proverb and chose mercy toward others (rather than the temporal glories of the world) by freeing the slaves held by Sansho, among other kind deeds. He tells his mother he has been true to his father's teachings. The film ends with her poignant acknowledgement. Zushiō goes to Sado for his aged mother, whom he believes is still a courtesan. After hearing a man state that she died in a ], he goes to the beach she is supposed to have died on. He finds a decrepit old woman sitting on the beach singing the same song he heard years before. Realizing she is his mother, he reveals his identity to her, but Tamaki, who has gone blind, assumes he is a trickster until he gives her the statuette of Kannon, which she recognizes by touch. Zushiō tells her that both Anju and their father have died and apologizes for not coming for her in the pomp of his governor's post. Instead he followed his father's proverb, choosing mercy toward others by freeing Sanshō's slaves. He tells his mother he has been true to his father's teachings, which she acknowledges poignantly.


== Cast == == Cast ==
{| class="wikitable"
]
|+
*] - Tamaki
!Actor
*] - Anju
!Role
*] - Sansho
|-
*] - Zushio
|]
*] - Minister of Justice
|Tamaki
*] - Prime Minister Morozane Fujiwara
|-
*] - Zushio as a Boy
|]
*] - Masauji Taira
|Anju
*] - Ubatake
|-
*] - Priestess
|]
*] - Taro
|Sanshō
*] - Ritsushi Kumotake
|-
|]
|Zushiō
|-
|]
|Minister of Justice Niō
|-
|]
|]
|-
|]
|Zushiō as a Boy
|-
|]
|Taira no Masauji
|-
|]
|Ubatake
|-
|]
|Priestess
|-
|]
|Tarō
|-
|]
|Donmyō Ritsushi
|}


==Reception== ==Reception==
''Sansho'' won the ] for best direction in the ], which once again brought Mizoguchi to the attention of Western critics and film-makers, after '']'' (International Award, 1952) and '']'' (Silver Lion, 1953).
''Sansho'' was the last of Mizoguchi's films to win an award at the ], which brought him to the attention of Western critics and film-makers. It is greatly revered by many critics; '']'' film critic ] wrote in his September, 2006 profile on Mizoguchi, "I have seen ''Sansho'' only once, a decade ago, emerging from the cinema a broken man but calm in my conviction that I had never seen anything better; I have not dared watch it again, reluctant to ruin the spell, but also because the human heart was not designed to weather such an ordeal."<ref>{{cite web|publisher='']''|date=September 11, 2006|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/09/11/060911crci_cinema|title=Supermen: “Hollywoodland” and the films of Kenji Mizoguchi|last=Lane|first=Anthony|authorlink=Anthony Lane}}</ref>

In the ]'s 2012 '']'' polls, ''Sansho the Bailiff'' came in at 59th in the critics' poll, with 25 critics having voted for the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b50a0d5/sightandsoundpoll2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127090833/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b50a0d5/sightandsoundpoll2012 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 27, 2016 |title=Votes for Sansho Dayu (1954) |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=March 13, 2016}}</ref> The Sight & Sound is regarded as one of the most important of the "greatest ever film" polls. In 2022, ''Sight and Sound'' repeated the poll, and ''Sansho the Bailiff'' came in joint 75th place, tied with '']'' and '']''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time |title=The Greatest Films of All Time |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref>

'']'' film critic ] wrote in his September 2006 profile on Mizoguchi, "I have seen ''Sansho'' only once, a decade ago, emerging from the cinema a broken man but calm in my conviction that I had never seen anything better; I have not dared watch it again, reluctant to ruin the spell, but also because the human heart was not designed to weather such an ordeal."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=]|date=September 11, 2006|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/09/11/060911crci_cinema|title=Supermen: "Hollywoodland" and the films of Kenji Mizoguchi|last=Lane|first=Anthony|author-link=Anthony Lane}}</ref>

Writing for ], Jim Emerson extolled the movie: "I don't believe there's ever been a greater motion picture in any language. This one sees life and memory as a creek flowing into a lake out into a river and to the sea."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/scanners/elected-100-must-see-foreign-films |title=Elected: 100 Must-See Foreign Films |website=rogerebert.com |date=19 September 2007 |access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>

Fred Camper, writing in ''The Little Black Book of Movies'' (edited by Chris Fujiwara), calls ''Sansho'' "one of the most devastatingly moving of films".

] included ''Sansho'' on his list of "39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/10/scorseses-list-of-39-essential-foreign-films.html |title=Martin Scorsese Creates a List of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker |publisher=Open Culture |date=15 October 2014 |access-date=1 February 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207201938/http://www.openculture.com/2014/10/scorseses-list-of-39-essential-foreign-films.html |archive-date=February 7, 2015 }}</ref>

Film critic ], asked to make a Top 10 list for the website of The Criterion Collection, listed ''Sansho'' at number 1, calling it " strong candidate for Greatest Film Ever Made. A perfect and profound masterpiece, rivaled only by its near companion '']''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/current/top-10-lists/56-robin-wood-s-top-10 |title=Robin Wood's Top 10 |website=criterion.com |date=21 November 2008 |access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>

Professor ] (]), in his entry for ''Sansho'' in ''1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die'', calls ''Sansho'' "one of the great emotional and philosophical journeys ever made for the cinema", and "ossibly the high point in an unbroken string of masterpieces made by Kenji Mizoguchi shortly before his death".


==Stage production== ==Stage production==
In 1990 producers Robert Michael Geisler and John Roberdeau ('']'', '']'') commissioned director ] to write a stage play based on ''Sansho the Bailiff''. A private workshop of the play was undertaken in fall 1993 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It was directed by ] with sets and costumes by ], lighting by ], sound by Hans Peter Kuhn, choreography by Suzushi Hanayagi, and a large all-Asian cast. A smaller-scale workshop was mounted by Geisler-Roberdeau under Malick's own direction in Los Angeles in spring 1994. Plans to produce the play on Broadway were postponed indefinitely. In 1990 producers Robert Michael Geisler and John Roberdeau ('']'', '']'') commissioned director ] to write a stage play based on ''Sansho the Bailiff''. A private workshop of the play was undertaken in fall 1993 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It was directed by ] with sets and costumes by ], lighting by ], sound by Hans Peter Kuhn, choreography by Suzushi Hanayagi, and a large all-Asian cast, including ]. A smaller-scale workshop was mounted by Geisler-Roberdeau under Malick's own direction in Los Angeles in spring 1994. Plans to produce the play on Broadway were postponed indefinitely.

==Anime film==
A separate animated film, ''Anju and Zushiomaru'', was produced in 1961 by Toei, directed by Taiji Yabushita and Yuugo Serikawa. It featured many supernatural anthropomorphic elements such as talking animals like Toei's other anime movies of that time.


==Release== ==Release==

===Home media=== ===Home media===
''Sansho'' was unavailable on DVD in the ] until 2007, when it was released by ] in ], while the ] released it in ] under the title ''Sanshō Dayū'' in a double DVD twinpack with '']''. ] re-released the single film in Blu-Ray and DVD in a Dual Format combo in April 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/sansho-dayu/ |title=''Sansho Dayu'' page on the online "Masters of Cinema" catalogue of the distributor |publisher=Eureka |accessdate=16 January 2013}}</ref> ''Sansho'' was unavailable on DVD in the ] until 2007, when it was released by ] in ], while the ] released it in ] under the title ''Sanshō Dayū'' in a double DVD twinpack with '']''. ] re-released the single film in Blu-ray and DVD in a Dual Format combo in April 2012.<ref name="Eureka"/> ''Sansho'' was released by The Criterion Collection in Blu-ray in Region A on February 26, 2013.


==References== ==References==
Line 79: Line 125:
| year = 2000 | year = 2000
| title = Sanshō dayū | title = Sanshō dayū
| url = https://archive.org/details/sanshodayu00andr
| url-access = registration
| publisher = British Film Institute | publisher = British Film Institute
| isbn = 0-85170-541-3 | isbn = 0-85170-541-3
Line 84: Line 132:


==External links== ==External links==
* {{imdb title|id=0047445|title=Sansho the Bailiff}} * {{IMDb title|0047445}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|sansho_the_bailiff}}
* {{Amg movie|42826|Sansho the Bailiff}}
* {{jmdb title|1954|cd000910}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|id=sansho_the_bailiff|title=Sansho the Bailiff}}
* '''' {{ja icon}} at the ] * —an essay by Mark Le Fanu at the ]
*
* and ] trailer
* essay by Mark Le Fanu


{{Kenji Mizoguchi}} {{Kenji Mizoguchi}}
{{Silver Lion (1953–1994)}}
{{Authority control}}


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] ]
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Latest revision as of 05:21, 22 December 2024

1954 film
Sansho the Bailiff
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKenji Mizoguchi
Screenplay byFuji Yahiro
Yoshikata Yoda
Based on"Sansho the Bailiff" by Mori Ōgai
Produced byMasaichi Nagata
StarringKinuyo Tanaka
Yoshiaki Hanayagi
Kyōko Kagawa
Eitarō Shindō
CinematographyKazuo Miyagawa
Edited byMitsuzo Miyata
Music byFumio Hayasaka
Tamekichi Mochizuki
Kinshichi Kodera
Distributed byDaiei Film
Release date
  • March 31, 1954 (1954-03-31)
Running time124 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Sansho the Bailiff (Japanese: 山椒大夫, Hepburn: Sanshō Dayū, known by its Japanese title in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is a 1954 Japanese period film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi based on a 1915 short story of the same name by Mori Ōgai (translated as "Sanshō the Steward" in English), which in turn was based on a sekkyō-bushi [ja] (oral lore) appearing in written form in the 17th century. It follows two aristocratic children who are sold into slavery.

Sansho the Bailiff bears many of Mizoguchi's hallmarks, such as portrayals of poverty and elaborately choreographed long takes. Today, the film is often ranked alongside Ugetsu (1953) as one of Mizoguchi's finest works.

Plot

Sansho the Bailiff is a jidai-geki set in the latter part of the eleventh century, during the Heian period of feudal Japan.

A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife, Tamaki, and children, Zushiō and Anju, are sent to live with her brother. Just before they are separated, Zushiō's father tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others." He urges his son to remember his words and gives him a statuette of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy.

Years later, the wife and children journey to his exiled land but are tricked on the journey by a treacherous priestess. The mother is sold into prostitution in Sado and the children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized and branded when they try to escape. The estate, protected under the Minister of the Right, is administered by the eponymous Sanshō. Sanshō's son Tarō, the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master and convinces the children to survive before they can escape to find their mother.

The children grow to young adulthood at the slave camp. Anju still believes in the teachings of her father but Zushiō has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the brutal overseers, believing that this is the only way to survive. At work, Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics, leading her to believe their mother is still alive. She tries to convince Zushiō to escape but he refuses, citing the difficulty and their lack of money.

Zushiō is ordered to take Namiji, an older woman who is acutely ill, out of the slave camp to die in the wilderness. Anju accompanies them and while they break branches to provide covering for the dying woman, they recall a similar act from their earlier childhood. Zushiō changes his mind and asks Anju to escape with him to find their mother. Anju asks him to take Namiji with him, convincing her brother she will stay behind to distract the guards. Zushiō promises to return for Anju. However, after Zushiō's escape, Anju commits suicide by walking into a lake, drowning herself so that she will not be tortured and forced to reveal her brother's whereabouts.

After Zushiō escapes, he finds Tarō at an Imperial temple. Zushiō asks him to care for Namiji so that he can go to Kyoto to appeal to the Chief Advisor regarding the appalling slave conditions. Although initially refusing to see him, the Chief Advisor realizes who Zushiō is after seeing his statuette of Kannon. He then tells Zushiō that his exiled father died the year before and offers him the post of the governor of Tango, the province where Sanshō's manor is situated.

As Governor of Tango, Zushiō issues an edict forbidding slavery on both public and private grounds. No one believes he can do this since governors have no power over private grounds. Although Sanshō offers initial resistance, Zushiō orders him and his men arrested, freeing the slaves. When he looks for Anju among Sanshō's slaves, he learns that his sister sacrificed herself for his freedom. The manor is burned down by the ex-slaves while Sanshō and his family are exiled. Zushiō resigns immediately afterwards, stating that he has done what he intended to do.

Zushiō goes to Sado for his aged mother, whom he believes is still a courtesan. After hearing a man state that she died in a tsunami, he goes to the beach she is supposed to have died on. He finds a decrepit old woman sitting on the beach singing the same song he heard years before. Realizing she is his mother, he reveals his identity to her, but Tamaki, who has gone blind, assumes he is a trickster until he gives her the statuette of Kannon, which she recognizes by touch. Zushiō tells her that both Anju and their father have died and apologizes for not coming for her in the pomp of his governor's post. Instead he followed his father's proverb, choosing mercy toward others by freeing Sanshō's slaves. He tells his mother he has been true to his father's teachings, which she acknowledges poignantly.

Cast

Actor Role
Kinuyo Tanaka Tamaki
Kyōko Kagawa Anju
Eitarō Shindō Sanshō
Yoshiaki Hanayagi Zushiō
Ichirō Sugai Minister of Justice Niō
Ken Mitsuda Fujiwara no Morozane
Masahiko Tsugawa Zushiō as a Boy
Masao Shimizu Taira no Masauji
Chieko Naniwa Ubatake
Kikue Mori Priestess
Akitake Kōno Tarō
Ryōsuke Kagawa Donmyō Ritsushi

Reception

Sansho won the Silver Lion for best direction in the 15th Venice International Film Festival, which once again brought Mizoguchi to the attention of Western critics and film-makers, after The Life of Oharu (International Award, 1952) and Ugetsu (Silver Lion, 1953).

In the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound polls, Sansho the Bailiff came in at 59th in the critics' poll, with 25 critics having voted for the film. The Sight & Sound is regarded as one of the most important of the "greatest ever film" polls. In 2022, Sight and Sound repeated the poll, and Sansho the Bailiff came in joint 75th place, tied with Spirited Away and Imitation of Life.

The New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote in his September 2006 profile on Mizoguchi, "I have seen Sansho only once, a decade ago, emerging from the cinema a broken man but calm in my conviction that I had never seen anything better; I have not dared watch it again, reluctant to ruin the spell, but also because the human heart was not designed to weather such an ordeal."

Writing for RogerEbert.com, Jim Emerson extolled the movie: "I don't believe there's ever been a greater motion picture in any language. This one sees life and memory as a creek flowing into a lake out into a river and to the sea."

Fred Camper, writing in The Little Black Book of Movies (edited by Chris Fujiwara), calls Sansho "one of the most devastatingly moving of films".

Martin Scorsese included Sansho on his list of "39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker."

Film critic Robin Wood, asked to make a Top 10 list for the website of The Criterion Collection, listed Sansho at number 1, calling it " strong candidate for Greatest Film Ever Made. A perfect and profound masterpiece, rivaled only by its near companion Ugetsu.

Professor Richard Peña (Columbia University), in his entry for Sansho in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, calls Sansho "one of the great emotional and philosophical journeys ever made for the cinema", and "ossibly the high point in an unbroken string of masterpieces made by Kenji Mizoguchi shortly before his death".

Stage production

In 1990 producers Robert Michael Geisler and John Roberdeau (Streamers, The Thin Red Line) commissioned director Terrence Malick to write a stage play based on Sansho the Bailiff. A private workshop of the play was undertaken in fall 1993 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It was directed by Andrzej Wajda with sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, lighting by Jennifer Tipton, sound by Hans Peter Kuhn, choreography by Suzushi Hanayagi, and a large all-Asian cast, including Bai Ling. A smaller-scale workshop was mounted by Geisler-Roberdeau under Malick's own direction in Los Angeles in spring 1994. Plans to produce the play on Broadway were postponed indefinitely.

Anime film

A separate animated film, Anju and Zushiomaru, was produced in 1961 by Toei, directed by Taiji Yabushita and Yuugo Serikawa. It featured many supernatural anthropomorphic elements such as talking animals like Toei's other anime movies of that time.

Release

Home media

Sansho was unavailable on DVD in the English-speaking world until 2007, when it was released by The Criterion Collection in Region 1, while the Masters of Cinema released it in Region 2 under the title Sanshō Dayū in a double DVD twinpack with Gion Bayashi. Masters of Cinema re-released the single film in Blu-ray and DVD in a Dual Format combo in April 2012. Sansho was released by The Criterion Collection in Blu-ray in Region A on February 26, 2013.

References

  1. ^ "Sansho Dayu page on the online "Masters of Cinema" catalogue of the distributor". Eureka. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  2. Friedrich, Lee (2006-03-01). "In the Voice of a Modern-day Miko: Hiromi Itō's Retelling of the Sanshō Dayū Legend". Studies on Asia. 3 (3): 1–20.
  3. "A Question for the Modern Age: Sansho the Steward : Opinion : Chuo Online : YOMIURI ONLINE". yab.yomiuri.co.jp. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
  4. Le Fanu, Mark. "Sansho the Bailiff: The Lessons of Sansho". Currents. The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  5. "Votes for Sansho Dayu (1954)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on November 27, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  6. "The Greatest Films of All Time". British Film Institute. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  7. Lane, Anthony (September 11, 2006). "Supermen: "Hollywoodland" and the films of Kenji Mizoguchi". The New Yorker.
  8. "Elected: 100 Must-See Foreign Films". rogerebert.com. 19 September 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  9. "Martin Scorsese Creates a List of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker". Open Culture. 15 October 2014. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  10. "Robin Wood's Top 10". criterion.com. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2021.

Further reading

External links

Films directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Venice Film Festival Silver Lion (1953–1994)
1953–1957
1988–1994
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