MovieChat Forums > Tora no o wo fumu otoko-tachi (1960) Discussion > Role of American censorship ?

Role of American censorship ?

posted 16 years ago by Arca1943
1 reply | jump to latest

I note from the different commentaries : The movie is very short... It is a samurai movie with no swordplay... It was released only in 1952... Well, if I'm not mistaken, in 1945 for a Japanese movie to be made as well as to be released, it needed first to be approved by the American authorities, those well-known specialists in Japanese filmmaking. (And before 1945, by Japan's ultranationalist censorship : same (beep), different day ?).

So, I would not be surprised to learn that the very short duration time (approx. 60 minutes), the absence of sword action and (last but not least) the very late release in 1952 of this 1945 film might be explained by the deeds of some U.S. Army committee in charge of telling Akira Kurosawa how to make movies.

[–] JonasEB 12 years ago

The film was completely banned after the war but it wasn't cut - it was finally released after the signing of the Treaty of San Fransisco, ending the occupation. By this point, the post-war censorship system was abolished.

It doesn't have any swordfighting because it's not a chanbara film and it's not even a samurai film. It's based on a couple of plays, simply depicting a battle of wills, both comedic and thrilling, but there was never any "action."