Back to Zatoichi again. I still have a third of the series to watch on the Criterion DVD set.
Shintaro Katsu plays Zatoichi in the 17th film of the series, Zatoichi Challenged, which was the third film released in 1967. It was written by Ryozo Kasahara and directed by Kenji Misumi. It was Misumi's 4th Zatoichi film, out of 6, in the original series of 25. He directed the 1st of the series and he's one of my favorite of the directors. He seems to have more little moments of beauty in his films. He likes shooting through objects in the scene.
On the road Zatoichi stops at an Inn where he has to share a room with a woman and her small son. She dies in the night, after asking Zatoichi to bring her son to his father in a nearby town. Reluctantly he takes the child in tow.
The boy gets them a ride with a troupe of actors. They're going to play a festival as guests of a nice local Boss. A rival Boss, a much eviler man, has designs on the troupe but they don't want to have anything to do with him. The nicer Boss is murdered and the troupe moves on.
People tell Zatoichi that the boy's father hasn't been around for a year or so. We find out, before Zatoichi, that the man has been kidnapped by the evil Boss and forced to draw pictures to be used for naughty plates. The erotic subject matter and the use of gold finish is illegal in the late Edo Period. There's a special agent looking into the matter for the government and anyone involved will be killed so that the story ends with no loose lips left to embarrass the officials. It was much easier to cover up a story in the past, just kill everyone, go about your business.
There's plenty of sword work, people just can't leave Zatoichi alone. The son and father eventually get united. The kid doesn't want Zatoichi to go but the blind masseur is better off without that annoying brat. Another good story, well told, from a great bunch of film makers.
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