Tange Sazen: Hien iaigiri (1966) User Reviews

The third best Gosha film. Lots of chanbara fun to be had.

[un_samourai · 8/10 · 31 October 2013]

I wanted to add my voice as a counter opinion to the couple of reviews here that don't like this film very much. I've seen 7 Gosha films, and this is my third favourite after the superb "Sword of the Beast" and the very good "Three Outlaw Samurai". Secret of the Urn is a great, entertaining samurai film that I think many people who like this type of film would be well pleased to see.

Sure the cliché of the wounded/disadvantaged hero is present, but I found it works perfectly fine. I certainly liked the hero. If we start bitching about film clichés, why don't we mention that aside from Yamada's more realistic recent samurai fare, the cliché of the hero sword master taking on 60 enemy swordsmen at one time and winning, is present in virtually any chanbara films (personally, I love those types of scenes). Do we discard all those films because that is trite and unrealistic?

We all see films through our own subjective filter, and what expectations we have also influence what we may make of a film. I enjoyed this film quite a bit, and think this is a very worthwhile watch for most samurai film fans.

Awfully familiar

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 9 December 2011]

When this film begins, a loyal retainer is given a mission--but it's actually a trap and he is maimed and left for dead. Time passes and this now one-armed and one-eyed warrior is out to make things hard for his old clan. He's out to steal a valuable treasure hidden in an urn--and lots of folks seem eager to get it as well.

I think how much you'll enjoy this film will depend a lot on how many Asian films you've seen. As for me, I've seen several different martial arts films from Hong Kong involving one-armed swordsmen and blind ones. And, I've seen all the Zatoichi films--and he's blind. It seems that in Chinese and Japanese films having a guy with a handicap that MUST destroy his abilities but doesn't is pretty normal. It's one of those odd clichés you just need to accept. This isn't my problem with the film--my problem is that I've just seen so many handicapped warrior movies that "The Secret of the Urn" seems passé--a case of 'been there, done that'. And, on top of this, the film itself isn't as good as many of the others in the genre. Part of it is because the films is occasionally talky but also because you really don't like any of the characters very much. I'd say it's worth seeing but that it all.

Nothing worth going out of your way to see, but not bad

[InjunNose · 6/10 · 31 May 2022]

Disfigured swordsman Tange Sazen was a very popular cinematic character in Japan during the 1930s. "The Secret of the Urn" (a remake of a 1935 film called "The Million Ryo Pot") appears to have been an attempt to revive the series, jazzing up the violence in direct competition with more recently successful characters like Zatoichi and Kyoshiro Nemuri. There's no immediately apparent reason why a new Tange Sazen series didn't pan out; Kinnosuke Nakamura's performance lacks the subtlety of a Shintaro Katsu or Raizo Ichikawa (who played Zatoichi and Kyoshiro Nemuri, respectively), but he was a good screen fighter and might have grown into the Sazen role in time. Perhaps the film's ultimate problem is that it's *so* much like the average Zatoichi or Nemuri picture as to be indistinguishable. All the formulaic clichés are here: dangerous, brooding swordsman haunted by his painful past actually has a heart of gold and works to bring down a petty official who abuses his power, etc., etc. Audiences had seen this story unfold many times already, and maybe they just weren't interested in watching a revamped Tange Sazen go through such familiar motions.

Top-notch sets, costumes and production values, and some exciting swordfights as well. (Tetsuro Tamba is relegated to a minor nonfighting role, for whatever reason.) For Hideo Gosha completists and hardcore fans of the Zatoichi and Kyoshiro Nemuri series, who have seen all of those films and crave something similar.

Hammer film type samurai movie

[douglasmnorris · 6/10 · 27 June 2017]

This movie is hardly one of the great samurai films but it does have entertaining moments. It's bad but bad enough to be entertaining. It reminds me of a Hammer film. There's hardly anyone to care about in this movie-the main character with his lousy eye make-up(he's really kind of a dick), the greedy conniving woman, the bumbling assistant. Gosha's Three Outlaw Samurai is a far superior film. And they never explain why the stupid urn is so valuable. Haha wtf

Merely average; see only if you're a fan.

[shinobirastafari · 5/10 · 16 July 2001]

I wanted to like this one, but for a number of reasons, I just couldn't get into it. First of all, I'm not a big fan of the actor playing the hero -- perhaps its that he's missing an eye (at least, the character is), but he really doesn't put in a compelling performance, which is rare for a Gosha protagonist. The plot and theme are typical Gosha (lower-ranked samurai gets screwed by his conniving lord, and is now out for justice of his own devise), but it all feels a little half-hearted. Though there are some good examples of Gosha's camera work, he also seems to be trying a bit too hard with some shots, and not hard enough with others.

Finally, for an adventure/revenge story, this one just doesn't have a lot of "drive" to it. I kept waiting for the suspense to kick in, but it never did. I can't say that you should avoid this one, but I certainly can't recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan of Gosha's work. If you want to see a couple of _great_ examples of Gosha's earlier B&W movies, see "Sanbiki no samurai" (his first movie) or "Kedamono no ken" (his second). If you're just looking for an introduction to Gosha (or chamabara movies), I'd start with Goyokin.