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Festival Year Festival Section
2001

Film Title KOKUSHI MUSO
Alternative Title 1 [PEERLESS PATRIOT]
Alternative Title 2 [PATRIOTI IMPAREGGIABILI]
Alternative Title 3
Country Japan
Release Date 1932
Production Co. Kataoka Chiezo Productions
Director Itami, Mansaku

Format   Speed (fps)
35mm   18
     
Footage   Time
1398 ft.   21'

Archive Source National Film Center
   
Print Notes Didascalie in giapponese / Japanese intertitles.

Cast
Chiezo Kataoka
Michisaburo Segawa
Shuichiro Atsumi
Junzaburo Ban
Isuzu Yamada
 
Other Credits
Iseno, Shigenobu (story, adpt.)
Ishimoto, Hideo (ph.)
 
Other Information
Phil Carli, pianoforte.
prima proiezione / released 14.1.1932
 
Program Notes
Kokushi Muso tells the story of Ise Isenokami, a master swordsman, and his impostor. The wit and humor of director Mansaku Itami is effectively displayed when it is revealed that the pretender is actually stronger than the real swordsman. After his first defeat, Isenokami trains himself and tries to beat the fake. When he loses again, he mumbles, "He who is right lost against he who is not right." The impostor replies: "It is not the right one who wins. He who wins is right."
Director-screenwriter Mansaku Itami is one of the most important filmmakers in Japanese film history. He is known for his witty and ironic directorial touches, as well as providing screenplays for such important films as Hiroshi Inagaki's Muhomatsu No Issho (The Life of Matsu the Untamed, 1943). His fruitful career began while working for the independent production company established by Chiezo Kataoka, one of the biggest Japanese film stars of the time. Itami made his directorial debut in 1928 with Katakiuchi Ruten; Kokushi Muso was his ninth film.
Chiezo Kataoka, the star of the film, who played both the real master swordsman and the pretender, remained a star of the jidai geki (period film) genre until the end of his life. In the post-war era he also served as an executive for the Toei company. Having once run his own independent production company, as a producer he had an eye for talent which was rare among stars. He is buried at a Buddhist temple in west Kyoto, where director Daisuke Ito, one of the most important pioneers of the jidai geki genre, also rests. Unfortunately, most of the silent films directed by Itami no longer exist. The print of Kokushi Muso that will be shown at the Giornate consists of some fragments restored from an abridged 9.5mm Pathé-Baby version, all that remains today. The scenes we can still see include Isenokami's visit to an old wise man in the mountains, as well as his second defeat by the impostor. - TS