Director: Yoshiyuki Kuroda
Screenplay: Tetsurô Yoshida
Starring: Hachirô Oka, Yôko Atsuta, Sanshi Katsura, Hachiro Oka, Yasushi Yokoyama, Kiyoshi Nishikawa, Ryûtarô Gomi, Kenichi Kagami, Tokio Oki
Country: Japan
Running Time: 78 min
Year: 1970
BBFC Certificate: PG
The Invisible Swordsman (a.k.a. Tomei kenshi) was a film I wasn’t aware of before Arrow Video announced they’d be releasing it on Blu-ray. As I usually do, when something new to me crops up, I looked it up online and still couldn’t find much information about it. This might have been a red light for some, but I love to discover obscure films that have previously fallen through the cracks. So I eagerly requested a copy, despite having little knowledge of what I was letting myself in for.
The title made it pretty clear, I guess, and the film is, indeed, about an invisible swordsman. However, I was quite surprised to find it’s actually a family-friendly chanbara (swordplay/samurai film), something I’ve not come across before (though I imagine plenty of them exist).
The Invisible Swordsman centres around young Sanshiro Yuzuki (Osamu Saka). He’s been enrolled in fencing school so that he can become a samurai like his father. The trouble is, Sanshiro is rather cowardly and terrible at sword fighting.
One fateful night, however, his father is killed by a member of the infamous Phantom Thieves, who have been raiding local stores for too long. His father’s friends and colleagues tell Sanshiro that he must avenge his father’s death, so should train harder to be able to do so.
Sanshiro isn’t sure he’s got it in him, but luck comes with the arrival of a spectre named Shokera (Tokio Oki). This mysterious apparition tells the young man that he must gather together some special ingredients and cook them in a very particular way to create a magical elixir.
On following the instructions and tasting the potion, Sansho discovers each dose makes him invisible for half an hour at a time. He uses this power to discover who was responsible for his father’s death and to get his revenge, whilst putting a stop to the evil Phantom Thieves.
Whilst I wouldn’t say I was blown away by The Invisible Swordsman, I did enjoy it as a lightly entertaining caper. It helps that it’s refreshingly concise, wasting little time in telling its relatively straightforward story.
Earlier, I described the film as a family-friendly chanbara, but it could also be thought of as a tokusatsu (special-effects film) due to the way it leans heavily on the invisibility tricks and the translucent spectre characters (we meet a God of Death, as well as Shokera). These simple but effective old-school special effects are fun to see.
Though being able to see them a little more clearly would have been nice. The fact is, the film is far too dark, and I mean that literally. In his commentary, Jonathan Clements suggests this may be to do with the fact that Daei was struggling for money (it would go bust not long afterwards), so they wanted to hide the low-tech special effects and possibly the rushed action choreography too. It’s a shame, because cinematographer Hiroshi Imai has done some fine work in the past and there are some suitably atmospheric shots here but, overall, it’s far too shrouded in murky darkness.
There’s a fair amount of goofy comedy on top of the special effects and swordplay sequences. These skits get a little lost in translation sometimes, but they add to the child-friendly charm. Again in his commentary, Clements explains that he believes much of the film was meant as a vehicle for a manzai (double act) pair who play minor roles in the story but take up more screen time than their characters deserve.
Overall, The Invisible Swordsman is a slight but enjoyable romp for a younger audience. It’s hardly a genre classic, but a fun primer for burgeoning chanbara viewers.
The Invisible Swordsman is out on 23rd June on region B Blu-Ray, released by Arrow Video. The transfer is decent but suffers from the ludicrously dark fashion in which the film was shot. The blacks are a little milky too, but I imagine this was due to an attempt to bring out a little more detail in the picture. I imagine Arrow have done the best they can with the source material. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks. The audio is strong, other than the usual limitations you get with sources from that era.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
– High-Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
– Original lossless Japanese mono audio
– Optional newly translated English subtitles
– Brand new audio commentary from author and Asian culture expert Jonathan Clements
– The Invisible People, a brand new interview with film critic Kim Newman on the history of invisibility in cinema
– Phantom Fighter, a brand new interview with film critic and Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
– Image gallery
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jolyon Yates
– Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Zack Davisson
In his commentary, Jonathan Clements begins by defining The Invisible Swordsman as “a very odd film”. On top of the usual information about cast and crew, Clements provides useful historical and cultural context to the film and its setting. It’s a wonderfully informative and engaging track. Clements is becoming one of my favourite commentators, and I hope to see him get the opportunity more often.
Jasper Sharp is interviewed about the film too. In this piece, the Japanese cinema expert looks at the history of Daei studios and the development of special effects films at the studio. In the final portion of his interview, Sharp discusses The Invisible Swordsman itself, largely taking an unusual tangent into investigating the ingredients gathered in the film for the invisibility potion. As usual, Sharp’s interview is well-researched and provides valuable background to the film.
Kim Newman provides a potted history of the invisibility story in film and literature. This is an enjoyable and interesting piece.
I didn’t get a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately.
Arrow must be commended for digging deep into the Daiei archives to release unusual titles like this. It might not be a perfect film, but it’s a breath of fresh air and, as usual for the label, the release is bolstered with a wealth of special features.
Disc/Package:
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