Though not impressed with the original Sanshiro Sugata I did consider it a noteworthy film in Japanese movie history and certainly had its charm.
The sequel see's our judo fighter hero presented with further foes he must vanquish and more moral dilemmas. Ontop of this he finds himself pressured into participating in an east vs west/boxing vs judo bout.
This sequel was heavily criticized and considered a propaganda film (Of which there were many around this time coming out of Japan). Truth be told I don't understand why or how this could be considered such, there was no military/political motivation to be found.
Inferior to the original? Yes, but not by much. The Sanshiro Sugata movies have their merits but don't deserve (In my opinion) the critical acclaim they recieved. I'm curious what happened with the sequels and quite look forward to finding out.
The Good:
Follows on from the original well
The Bad:
Looks dated even for its time
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Susumu Fujita was reincarnated as Mark Dacascos
Fighting barefoot in the snow for real, there should be an oscar category for such feats!
The sequel see's our judo fighter hero presented with further foes he must vanquish and more moral dilemmas. Ontop of this he finds himself pressured into participating in an east vs west/boxing vs judo bout.
This sequel was heavily criticized and considered a propaganda film (Of which there were many around this time coming out of Japan). Truth be told I don't understand why or how this could be considered such, there was no military/political motivation to be found.
Inferior to the original? Yes, but not by much. The Sanshiro Sugata movies have their merits but don't deserve (In my opinion) the critical acclaim they recieved. I'm curious what happened with the sequels and quite look forward to finding out.
The Good:
Follows on from the original well
The Bad:
Looks dated even for its time
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Susumu Fujita was reincarnated as Mark Dacascos
Fighting barefoot in the snow for real, there should be an oscar category for such feats!