If one installment in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy stands out, then it’s probably the very last one. There are noticeable improvements in exterior lighting (which was clearly not a strong point for Inagaki), narrative pacing, and character development. Even for a technicolor epic from the fifties, Inagaki’s films have the visual panache of a televised play.

Honestly, unless one is feels enraptured by this somewhat standard adaptation of a novel about a burgeoning samurai and a series of his life lessons, then there really isn’t much going on in a visual sense, at least not enough to call these great films.

They are very western for Japanese cinema, but seem to lack the confidence or intention of a Kurosawa picture. Rather, they have the feel of a bland, Japanese John Ford or Anthony Mann surrogate picture. It isn’t exactly through homage either, but through empty aesthetic decisions and tiresome melodrama. Even when the film is ponderous, maybe in a Buddhist light, it’s so philosophically bland that we have to wonder if maybe we’ve seen too many samurai films, or not enough.

If any aspect of these films serves as a relief for an otherwise unremarkable vision, it’s Mifune’s role as Misashi Miyamoto. His performance is understated enough, but it’s also forceful enough when it needs to be. Even in the insufferable romantic scenes with Otsu’s character he stands strong as the stoically brave and ennobled ballast to the story. Otherwise, subplots hardly exist, and there really aren’t any minor characters that stand out.

It would be interesting to find more information on the production background of the Samurai Trilogy. Donald Richie has mentioned that toward the end of his career, Inagaki was struggling make his presence known, and was offered projects by Toho that he was reluctantly committed to. It’s no surprise that he basically lived in Kurosawa’s shadow until his death. He was also raging alcoholic, and died of cirrhosis of the liver. It’s possible he felt more financially obligated to make these films. Not an enormous impossibility either, considering the fact that the first installment won an Academy Award.