The Samurai Pirate (Daitozoku) (1963)

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General		Extras
Category	Action Adventure	Gallery-Photo-Production Stills Gallery-Poster-Promotional Stills Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1963
Running Time	92:48
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Senkichi Taniguchi
Studio Distributor	Toho Madman Entertainment	Starring	Toshirô Mifune Tadao Nakamaru Mie Hama Kumi Mizuno Ichirô Arishima Hideyo Amamoto Akiko Wakabayashi Makoto Sato
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$24.95	Music	Takao Saitô

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 1.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In Samurai Pirate Japanese leading man Toshiro Mifune turns to a fantasy adventure. Better known for his samurai films with Akira Kurosawa (for example Seven Samurai (1954) or Yojimbo (1961)) or for other directors (Samurai Assassin (1964) or Incident at Blood Pass (1970), Mifune is more than capable of a comedic touch as shown in the wonderfully dark Red Lion (1969). In Samurai Pirate he is a Japanese Sinbad the Sailor type (in the USA the film was known as The Lost World of Sinbad) who comes across wizards, witches, pirates, an evil Prime Minister and a princess in danger.

     After his ship is wrecked in a storm, Sukeza (Toshiro Mifune) is cast up on the shores of a Kingdom where, if taxes are unpaid, the young girls are taken to the castle of the King never to return. Not surprisingly, the King is feared and very unpopular. In reality, the King is being slowly poisoned by his evil Prime Minister (Tadao Nakamura) helped by a Witch (Hideyo Amamoto) who has a magic mirror and a nice line in turning people into stone. When the King is dead the Prime Minister plans to marry the Princess Yaya (Mie Hama) and rule himself. Sukeza, helped by the wizard Sennin (Ichiro Arisima) and pretty bandit leader Miwa (Kumi Mizuno), decides to lend a hand.

     Samurai Pirate does not take itself seriously. It has a pantomime evil villain, a hideous witch in a white wig who turns people into stone by looking into their eyes, a beautiful princess in distress, a wizard with a special curse handed down through the generations and a hero who sorts it all out. As the hero Toshiro Mifune is suitably "heroic". In Red Lion (1969) for director Kihachi Okamoto Mifune showed that he was more than capable of a light touch but in truth he is given little to work with in Samurai Pirate and this is not his best role. Mostly he just looks bemused. Many of the special effects in Samurai Pirate also look very cheap and the action scenes are pedestrian although the final assault on the King's castle is more inventive and has some colourful moments. While there is nothing new in Samurai Pirate it is a reasonable fantasy adventure that is good clean fun and does not outstay its welcome.

Video

The aspect ratio of Samurai Pirate is 2:35.1, its original theatrical ratio, and it is 16x9 enhanced. This is not a very good print. It has frequent noticeable dirt marks, some quite large (for example, 14:05), grain, infrequent scratches and the occasional shimmering frame (44:53). Colours are dull, contrast indifferent and variable, shadow detail quite poor and blacks just adequate. These issues, especially the artefacts, are constant and while not enough to completely spoil the viewing experience, they certainly don't help.

English subtitles are the only option. They are in a clear yellow font and don't contain any obvious spelling or grammatical errors although on some occasions there was a delay in following the dialogue. Lip synchronisation is approximate but not distracting.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The package states the audio is Japanese Dolby Digital dual mono. In reality it is plain mono with all sound in the central speaker and nothing in the side front or back speakers. However, dialogue is clear and the audio does get the job done. The subwoofer was not used. Music was light and cheesy which suits the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Production Stills

Promotional Stills

Eastern Eye Trailers

    I could not find a Region 1 version of Samurai Pirate. There is a Region 3 version with minimal extras, mono audio and not 16x9 enhanced. Whatever the faults of the Region 4, it seems the best around.

    Samurai Pirate is a Japanese Sinbad the Sailor style fantasy adventure complete with wizards, witches, pirates, an evil Prime Minister, a princess in danger and leading man Toshiro Mifune. It has poor video, mono audio that gets the job done and minimal extras. While there is nothing new in Samurai Pirate it is a reasonable fantasy adventure that is good clean fun and does not outstay its welcome.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall