Samurai Banners

Good War Epic
I liked this movie a lot. It may not have the depth of a Kurosawa samurai epic. But the film's director, Hiroshi Inagaki was no slouch. Anyone who's seen his other movies (Chushingura, Samurai Trilogy, just to name a few) knows he's very adept at handling sweeping dramas with large casts of characters.

The Japanese title of this movie is Furinkazan which refers to the Kanji characters on the banner flown by the Takeda clan. It describes the military strategy of the clan's leader, Shingen - swift as the wind (fu), quiet as a forest (rin), aggressive like fire (ka), and stable like a mountain (zan). I guess that's a little too much to put in an English title!

The battle scenes in this movie are pretty good. But I also liked the story of unrequitted love involving two of the main characters, Kansuke Yamamoto and Princess Yu. Toshiro Mifune plays Kansuke, an actual historical figure who was a military strategist for the Takeda clan. Yoshiko Sakuma gives a spirited performance as the...

More drama then war.
I am bit surprised to read the two previous reviews. The AnimEigo edition of Samurai Banners proves to be well presented and its subtitles with its different colors to see who's talking proves to be one of the highlights. This movie got excellent subtitles!! Maybe that reviewer who didn't get the subtitles should check his DVD player. He may have turned something off.

I enjoyed watching Samurai Banners despite of its 163 minutes or so length and the fact that its more of a samurai drama film with a war theme then anything else. Toshiro Mifune who have been considered as Japan's verison of John Wayne is well cast in this movie as it followed the destiny of the Takeda clan through many campaigns. For those who may care, Takeda clan also featured in the film, Kagamusha. Mifune's character, Yamamoto Kansuke (real historical figure), joined the clan, and it helped lead it to many victories, gaining the trust and confidence of his lord and along the way, fall in love with his...

A Superb Samurai Period Film
This superb period film does not make the mistake of concentrating on either of the two warring lords Takeda and/or Kagetora but instead focus' on Takeda's most celebrated general Kansuke Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune), who was the brain behind the victories anyway. His story is much more interesting, both as one of a man driven by a wildly ambitious dream, and also one consumed with tragic love. On either level this film works wonders.

Set in Japan between 1543 and 1562 (the period of Warring States) SAMURAI BANNERS is an epic film! The costumes are impeccable, the film is engrossing and I didn't even realize it was almost three hours long. The battles are nicely done, but not overindulging. (For people who come for the violent samurai films, SAMURAI BANNERS will be sure to disappoint.) Toshiro Mifune is great, even with a shaved head!

The English subtitles by AnimEgo were superb, probably one of the best I've seen, they even had different colors for different...

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