I searched for this film for many years after having seen and loved the original. After living in Japan for a while I came across a Japanese language version.
This movie was a great disappointment to me and I'm sorry to say that Donald Ritchie's observation that Akira did not seem to take this project seriously seems to hold true. It has none of the visual or dramatic impact of the first Sanshiro film leaving only a standard Japanese propaganda film with little in the way of new scenarios,characterization or concepts.
Unfortunately, even for fans like myself of Kurosawa this film is hardly worth watching.
This movie was a great disappointment to me and I'm sorry to say that Donald Ritchie's observation that Akira did not seem to take this project seriously seems to hold true. It has none of the visual or dramatic impact of the first Sanshiro film leaving only a standard Japanese propaganda film with little in the way of new scenarios,characterization or concepts.
Unfortunately, even for fans like myself of Kurosawa this film is hardly worth watching.