The Lost World of Rashomon!

Signage outside the National Film Archive of Japan. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today, I took in a screening of the Toho fantasy actioner The Lost World of Sinbad (1963) at the National Film Archive of Japan, which was shown as part of its current "Toshiro Mifune Retrospective at His Centenary" film program. I hadn't seen the film since the early 2000s, which is when I wrote a fanzine article on it. The Lost World of Sinbad has never been my favorite tokusatsu film, and I think writing that article made me permanently sick of it. Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say.

A replica of the flag from Seven Samurai. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I give the movie credit for its lavish production values and all-star cast, but it otherwise feels flat and uninspired. Still, it looked glorious in 35mm, and hearing Masaru Sato's masterful score was a treat.

 After watching the film, I visited the NFAJ's "Rashomon at the 70th Anniversary" exhibit, which had  a lot of interesting memorabilia from the film, including the scripts used by Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, and script supervisor Teruyo Nogami on display. I found this exhibit much more interesting than the Shochiku one I visited a couple of months ago. It was certainly a fascinating morning and afternoon spent with the works of Toshiro Mifune.

MAKOTO SATO: 1934-2012

Makoto Sato takes no prisoners in Toho's 1959 wartime actioner Dokuritsu Gurentai, directed by Kihachi Okamoto.

The Japanese press is reporting that famed Toho Studios character actor Makoto Sato died on December 6, 2012, of pneumonia, following a fall near his home. He was 78.

Born on March 18, 1934, in Saga Prefecture, Sato began his professional acting career in 1956 at Toho Studios. Prior to his being hired at the studio, Sato trained to become an actor at Haiyu-za alongside Ken "Starman" Utsui and Tatsuya (Ran, Kagemusha) Nakadai.

He quickly became well known for his appearances in youth films, usually playing tough guys or baddies. For genre fans, his best-known credits include: The H-Man (1958), Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958), Chushingura (1962), The Lost World of Sinbad (1963), The Killing Bottle (1967), Message from Space (1978), and The Imperial Navy (1981), among countless others. Sato was a favorite of revolutionary director Kihachi Okamoto, who often cast Sato in his action pictures.

RIP to a talented actor.