SWORD OF VENGEANCE

SWORD OF VENGEANCE is the first film in the world-renowned LONE WOLF & CUB series. If you've never heard of these films, then you've missed out on one of the greatest cinematic series of all time. Actually, if you haven't ever seen these films then that isn't really surprising - they've never been available in the UK... until now, that is. Artsmagic, a new UK DVD label, has already released the series on VHS in the UK, and now they're releasing them to DVD too, through their 'Warrior' label. The first two episodes in the six part series are available now.

Ogami Itto is the Shogun's official executioner. He has killed many men for the Shogun, and is a powerful figure, regarded with much jealousy by other clans, especially the 'Shadow Yagyu' clan. One night, ninja assassins are dispatched to kill Itto, but they get his wife instead. He finds her dying, and vows to avenge her. However, men arrive from the Shogun and ask to see Itto's private shrine. It turns out that he has been framed by the Shadow Yagyu and Itto is ordered to prepare to commit 'seppuku' (suicide, by cutting a gash across one's stomach). Itto offers his child, Daigoro, the choice between a ball and a sword, fully intending to kill him should he make the wrong (right?) choice. He chooses the sword, meaning that he must join Itto on the Road to Hell. When the day of his judgement arrives, Itto attacks the men sent to force him to commit seppuku. It quickly becomes obvious that it will take more than a few men to harm Ogami Itto. He fights lots more men, killing them all, blood spurting everywhere. Eventually, the Yagyu's best swordsman, Bizen, attacks Itto, but is killed by Itto's "suiouryu" technique. Lord Retsudo, the chief of the Shadow Yagyu, challenges Itto to a duel with his 'sentinel'. If Itto wins, he goes free. If he loses, then he will be dead. The duel takes place in a cornfield, the sun high in the sky. Lord Retsudo thinks that his man will win, since Itto has the sun in his eyes. However, at the last moment, Itto ducks, revealing his son behind him. His son is wearing a reflective plate on his head, which directs the sun into the sentinel's eyes. Itto decapitiates him, and blood spurts high into the blue sky from the neck of the dead man, Itto framed in the background.
All of the above is told in flashback during the first part of the film, but is very necessary to follow the rest of the film, and indeed the rest of the series. The film actually opens with an assassin attacking Itto on the road. He runs towards Itto, who slams his sword into the assassin's forehead. However, the assassin holds it there, leaving Itto unarmed. "Daizen" shouts the assassin. Another assassin appears from behind the first, leaping over him into the air. Itto quickly pulls a spear out of the 'baby cart' and impales the second assassin on it.
The rest of the film consists of Itto travelling along the Nikko Road, having being hired to go to 'Gounomori' where a clan's leader, Lord Noriyuki, is attending a meeting. A rival clan, led by Chamberlain Sugito is lying in ambush there, with the 'Oyamada Three', who are great assassins. In the end, Itto fights about 50 men, killing them all! However, the most important aspect of this first episode is in setting the scene for the rest of the series, explaining why Itto is banished, and why the Shadow Yagyu clan are so intent on killing him. These elements will be brought into the plot again and again as the series develops, in a surprisingly coherent fashion, almost as if they had been planned (which they surely hadn't been - the series only continued when the first parts were very successful).

This series has a fascinating history; in 1972, Shintaro Katsu (Katsu was the star of the very famous, very successful and very long run (1962-1972) 'Zaitoichi the Blind Swordsman' series) decided to produce a new series of 'chambara' (violent samurai films) which would star his brother, Tomisaburo Wakayama. Kenji Misumi, a fairly famous Japanese director (he did some of the Zaitoichi films amongst other things) was brought on board, and Kazuo Koike, a famous Japanese scriptwriter, was hired to write the screenplay. The first film made was 'Kozure Ookami - Shinikaze ni Mukau Ubagurama' (AKA 'Baby Cart to Hades', AKA 'Lupine Wolf'). However, the film was held up by censorship problems, so in the mean time the team went ahead and made two further episodes in what would come to be known as the 'Lone Wolf & Cub' (or sometimes 'Baby Cart') series; 'Kosure Ookami - Kowokashi Udekashi Tsukamatsuru' (AKA 'Sword of Vengeance', AKA 'Lightning Swords of Death') and 'Kosure Ookami - Sanzu no Kawa no Ubagurama' (AKA 'Baby Cart to the River Styx'). These two films, released within months of each other, were an enormous success and the first part was released as part 3 in the series. Part IV - 'Kosure Ookami - Oya no Kokoro Kono Kokooro' (AKA 'Baby Cart in Peril', AKA 'Heart of a Parent, Heart of a Child') was directed by Buichi Saito, Part V - 'Kosure Ookami - Meifu Mado' (AKA 'Baby Cart in the Land of Demons', AKA 'Tread Lightly On the Path to Hell', AKA 'The Crossroads to Hell') saw Misumi return to the series, and Part VI - 'Kosure Ookami - Jigoku e Iku Zo! Daigoro!' (AKA 'White Heaven in Hell', AKA 'Daigoro! We're Going to Hell!') was directed by Yoshiyuki Kuroda. As the series progressed the films got more and more violent, and more and more outlandish! The Baby Cart got guns, and Lone Wolf fought whole armies of men! However, nothing could beat Part II of the series, which stands as one of the great achievements of Samurai cinema, Japanese cinema, and violent film in general. The whole series was released in only three years (1972-1974), and was followed by other similar chambara series involving the Lone Wolf collaborators, most notably the two 'Shurayukihime' ('Lady Snowblood') films and the 'Goyoukiba' ('Hanzo the Razor') series (starring Katsu), as well as some unofficial follow-up films many years later ('Lone Wolf & Cub: Final Conflict', 'Fugitive Samurai' and 'Lone Wolf Cop: Sex Doll Case'). In 1980, Americans Robert Houston and David Weisman bought the US rights to the first two films in the series (Parts I and II) through Roger Corman's New World film company. They took about 12 minutes of footage from Part I ('Sword of Vengeance') and about 68 minutes of footage from Part II ('Baby Cart to the River Styx'), re-edited it, partly re-wrote the story, dubbed the voices and added an electronic 'synthesiser' soundtrack by Mark Lindsay. The resulting film was re-titled 'Shogun Assassin' and released theatrically to some success. This later became an unofficial 'video nasty', but has now been re-released on DVD in the UK by VIPCO, uncut.

The most surprising thing about the Lone Wolf & Cub series is the sheer level of violence. As mentioned above, there are many excellent chambara series from the 60's and 70's, but none come close to LW&C in terms of violence or bodycount. The fights are extremely well choreographed, and very unrealistic! No matter how many men Itto faces, they only attack one at a time, and nobody ever attacks in an underhand manner. Tomisaburo Wakayama plays the part of Ogami Itto with relish, and is absolutely perfect in the role. Indeed, his presence is what really makes the series work, and it is surprising that more credit isn't given to him for the series' success. Massive amounts of blood are on screen nearly all the time, and it's hard not to think of Akira Kurosawa's famous 'blood fountain' scene in SANJURO when watching the death scenes in this series. However, some of the film's (and indeed the series') most impressive moments come during the brief lulls between fights - we gradually learn more and more about Itto as the series progresses, and about his very strict life philosophy. Much of the scenery in the films is very beautiful and compliments the fights very well. Some people might find these thoughtful interludes boring, or may think that they disturb the rhythm of the film, but really they will be savoured by the discerning viewer. One thing is for sure - LW&C provides a unique viewing experrience and is something that you will never forget. In fact, you will more than likely be hooked, and will want to see the rest of the series, joining the ranks of the many Baby Cart lovers around the world!

One last thing I should probably mention is the reason for the series often being referred to as the 'Baby Cart' series. Before Itto sets off on his endless wanderings, he fashions a cart for Daigoro from wood - this is never shown, or explained, but the cart is an enduring feature of all the films. However, it is no ordinary cart - the thing is fitted with all sorts of weaponry, from spears at the sides to spikes at the front, to machine guns (!!!) in later episodes. This strange conceit is typical of Japanese chambara films - the hero always has some sort of distinguishing feature for us to recognise, whether it be blindness (Zaitoichi), One-Armedness ('The One Armed Swordsman'), a huge penis (!!!) ('The Razor'), or a baby cart!

DVD Specification
Original year of release - 1972
Approximate running time - 83m 10s @ 26fps (packaging states 85 min approx.)
Aspect ratio - Widescreen (~2.35:1)
System - PAL (colour)
Rating - 18 (UK)
Sound - Dolby Digital Stereo
DVD release - Warrior (Artsmagic)
Region Coding - Region 0 (code free)

DVD Extras
Trailers for all six Lone Wolf & Cub episodes

DVD Ratings (out of 5)
Picture - 4
Surprisingly good. I did not have high hopes for this disc, seeing as how most UK releases from small companies of films that aren't exactly going to make them rich tend to be rather poor. However, Artsmagic have put in a more than credible effort with their first DVD release. For a start, they've released the film in its intended ratio (full scope, about 2.35:1). This is essential, since the LONE WOLF series benefits from some of the most stunning photography and compositions ever seen in Japanese film. The blood-letting and killing is done in such a stylish fashion, and in such a carefully composed manner, that to see the films in any other ratio would be a crime. There is also some lovely scenery and a few scenes in which much of the action occurs in the far left/right of the image, meaning it would be lost were the film to be cropped for 4:3 presentation. There is no anamorphic enhancement, but to expect it would be most unrealistic.

How much credit should be assigned to Artsmagic is not easy to say - they have basically purchased the UK rights to AnimEigo's original US transfers, and converted them to PAL. Since AnimEigo had already done all of the work involved in hunting down the best prints, cleaning up the image, translating, subtitling, etc. Artsmagic were not really left with a terribly difficult task. Still, it is cheering that a small company in the UK has taken the time and effort required to make the LONE WOLF series look as good as it should do, and hasn't simply settled for half measures, like so many other small UK DVD companies.

The UK DVD's seem to be almost identical in terms of picture quality to the US laserdiscs, suffering perhaps very slightly from the NTSC - PAL conversion. The subtitles for the film are presented in the bottom matte bar, meaning that widescreen TV owners like me won't be able to fully blow the image up to fit their screen. Also, AnimEigo provide useful supertitles from time-to-time, which explain unusual Japanese terms for the viewer. Obviously, in order to see both the top and bottom bars on a 16x9 TV, the image must not be too blown up.
Sound - 3
Dolby Digital Stereo. Fine. Some slight hissing early on, but otherwise perfectly clear. To be honest, the film doesn't make all that much use of sound; there isn't even much music, so it doesn't play too important a part in the proceedings. More than adequate.
Extras - 2
Nothing much. A trailer for the film, plus trailers for all five other films in the series. The trailers aren't the original theatrical trailers, but are new ones cobbled together by Artsmagic to promote their releases. AnimEigo's US laserdisc releases did not contain trailers either, or indeed any other extras, but did include very useful, thoroughly researched liner notes. It would have been nice for us to have been given these, as they really were very informative. However, it is possible to download them from http://www.animeigo.com/SamLiner/
Overall Rating - 4
A seminal film is given an unexpectedly decent UK DVD release. Sadly, the BBFC have chosen to trim 6 seconds from it, but still for anyone who is in any way interested in Japanese film, or Samurai film, this series is an essential purchase. Good A/V presentation is slightly let down by poor extras (a poster gallery would have been nice), but still holds its own against the US laserdisc. If you've only ever seen this film as SHOGUN ASSASSIN, or - Heaven forbid! - you haven't ever seen it at all, then there is nothing to stop you from buying and enjoying this DVD.

Film Tag Lines
When man becomes wolf, earth becomes hell! (DVD)

AKA
'Kosure Ookami - Ko Wo Kashi Ude Kashi Tsukamatsuru' (Japanese title)
'Lightning Swords of Death' (USA)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Child and Expertise for Rent (literal English title)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (USA)

Alternative versions
Outside of Japan, the only official release of the series was in the USA, where AnimEigo released all six parts through their 'Samurai Cinema' label. The films were released to both VHS and laserdisc, and are rumoured to be coming to DVD next year.
The film SHOGUN ASSASSIN (1980) as already mentioned, consists of about 10 minutes of this film, and the rest from Part II (BABY CART TO THE RIVER STYX).

Movie Facts
Producer Shintaro Katsu was the star of such films as the 'Zaitoichi - the Blind Swordsman' series and the 'Goyoukiba' ('Hanzo the Razor') series, and was the brother of Tomisaburo Wakayama (who plays Ogami Itto in the LONE WOLF films).