The Serpent Princess (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1940)

[subeteorimono]

Título: The Serpent Princess / The Snake Princess Título V.O: Hebihimesama Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa Año/País: 1940 / Japón Duración: 127 minutos Género: Drama, fantasía, jidaigeki Reparto: Kazuo Hasegawa, Hisako Yamane, Yataro Kurokawa, Takako Irie, Isuzu Yamada, Denjiro Okochi Enlaces: No subs. Ficha de: subeteorimono

[subeteorimono]

Sinopsis en inglés:

The film begins as Sentarô (Kazuo Hasegawa) moves into a new neighborhood along with his sister and father. But when the later is killed for no apparent reason by a drunk samurai living next door, Sentarô avenges him by killing the samurai and his fellow. Being just a commoner, though, his deed puts him on the run, as the authorities chase after him. At this point, we are introduced to Denjirô Ôkôchi's mysterious character called Ittôsai. A master-swordsman, always acting in the shadows, we see him protecting Sentarô's left-behind sister, as well as investigating a mysterious case of contraband porcelain, poisoning and villains in a side-plot. From what I gathered, Ittôsai also taught swordmanship to Sentarô.

While running away from the authorities, Sentarô meets with the beautiful Oshima (Isuzu Yamada) who takes him under her protection. From then on, he enroles in the acting-troup she belongs to. Meanwhile, Sentarô's sister becomes a geisha for Kotohime (Takako Irie). I identify the later as being the 'Snake Princess' of the title, since the aforementioned porcelain showcases a picture of her. The porcelain represents the scales of the snake, while the poison is an obvious attribute of the reptile. We soon identify the master of this plot to be the high-ranking official serving the princess, a grinning, sinister old man. I never fully understood whether or not Kotohime was aware of the plot, or rather a victim herself. The ambiguity could be purposeful. When Sentarô's sister discovers the plot, her life becomes endangered and she gets killed, as Ittôsai fails to protect her. When Sentarô eventually shows up to take revenge again, the master-swordsman sides up with him to face their opponents. This marks the conclusion of part one. (KG?)

[subeteorimono]

Unos breves comentarios/apuntes...

- Es la misma historia que New Snake Princess (1965 Tadashi Sawashima).
- Setsuko Hara no aparece de ninguna manera, contra IMDb y contra (cosa rara) jmdb.
- 127 min es la duración de la copia que circula (KG y también hasta hace unos meses YT) pero originalmente eran 2 pelis estrenadas el 3/4/40 y el 14/8/40 con duraciones respectivas de 112 y 128 minutos. Sumadas serían 240 minutos (4 horazas), pero lo que subsiste son esos 127, cerca de la mitad. A cambio, la calidad de la copia que circula es muy aceptable.

[davidn33]

Qué sabio eres. Alguna vez pensé en hacerme una lista de cuervos, para cuando graznaran en abierto, pero nunca me puse. 

[subeteorimono]

Qué sabio eres. Alguna vez pensé en hacerme una lista de cuervos, para cuando graznaran en abierto, pero nunca me puse. 

Huy, qué va, no es lo que te piensas. La tengo desde hace un par de años o así y me parece que la saqué del otro sitio, donde la regalaban  Lo que no le hice ficha entonces, porque era para Setsuko y ella no salía. De la rabia que me dio  Pero como es de Kinugasa, ahora me he decidido, para enriquecer un poco la retro