Daisan no kagemusha AKA The Third Shadow (1963) FotW #373

[joachimt]

Film of the Week #373: Daisan no kagemusha AKA The Third Shadow (1963)



Summary:
A warlords' retainer offers a farmer the chance to become a samurai, but he is instead forced to serve as a double of the warlord at expense of his freedom.

#574 on 1000<400, with 52 checks.
Nominated by Traveller, 72aicm and joachimt.
On IMDb
On iCM

From the 500<400 results

#574(⇧311, #885) Daisan no kagemusha (1963)

Directed by: Umetsugu Inoue
(272.09 Pts, 8 Votes) , Top 1–10–50: 0–1–2
History: 574←885←895←791←3975←3906←NA←NA

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ICheckMovies: 46 Checks , 10 Favourites , 1 Official list

List of Voters:

Ritesh (5)
weirdboy (30)
72aicm (59)
burneyfan (79)
Perception de Ambiguity (112)
jlfitz (235)
jeff_v (237)
Pretentious Hipster (260)

Here is a schedule of all the FotWs.
Here is an iCM list of all FotWs.

[Armoreska]

Is that a 9/10 or what? Samurai otaku Monty loves this one too. #20 on his list.

[Traveller]

Though the direction of the story was rather obvious, it was very well executed and the ending was great. It looked superb as well with fantastic play of light and shadow. Best film I saw this month, and added to my <400 list. 8/10

[Armoreska]

Can't say I felt is was obvious as I watched it, but afterwards I did wonder how many movies follow this plot line.

[Traveller]

Obvious was perhaps the wrong word.

Spoiler

The first things that came to my mind reading the summary above, however, were a) what the consequences for the shadows would be when the lord was visibly injured and b) how his potential death could see one of the shadows taking over his position for good. And I was pleased to see both themes explored in the film.

[Armoreska]

ah interesting, I rarely read summaries, only for "portuguese" movies maybe. reading this one would be a spoiler for sure, even if I did not generate thoughts about consequences.

btw i caught up to platinum on FOTW. 373/373

[Melvelet]

I mean, that summary spoilers only the very beginning aka the premise of the movie. The most obvious movie with a similar premise's title is even part of Daisan no kagemusha's title
Maybe I'll have to rewatch the Kurosawa movie one day (I found it to be among his weaker ones), I actually prefered the FotW movie. It's more on the bloody/action-heavier side in comparison (if I remember correctly) although it's still more focussed on the drama than the action. Well executed and unjustly overlooked. I hope it will profit from the three new fans of this week
8-/10 (lower half of my 500<400 list, maybe towards the middle)