Restored Asian Films
Sanshô Dayû [Sansho the Bailiff]
Film Synopsis
Sansho the Bailiff is both one of Mizoguchi’s most accessible works and one of his most sublime, a highpoint among postwar Japan’s jidai-geki films set in the medieval past. The narrative impassively follows two families caught up in sweeping cycles of rise and fall, betrayal and resignation, as Mizoguchi’s tracking shots both entrance with their majesty and shock with surprise. “Perhaps more than anything, this is a film about memory, and a film in which forgetting is the original sin. Working with master cameraman Kazuo Miyagawa (who also shot Rashomon and Floating Weeds), Mizoguchi creates an aestheticized world and a cosmic order which exists beyond the characters (and often in opposition to the suffering they undergo).” — Tom Gunning
[http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/
Film Details
Alternate Titles: Sansho the Bailiff
Language: Japanese
Original Production Country: Japan
Original Release Year: 1954
Original Distribution Company:
Production Company:
Executive Producer:
Producer: Masaichi Nagata
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Writer: Fuji Yahiro and Yoshikata Yoda
Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa
Editor: Mitsuzo Miyata
Sound Editor:
Music/Score: Fumio Hayasaka
Narrator:
Other Credits: Art Director: Kisaku Ito, Kozaburo Nakajima Costume Design: Yoshio Ueno, Yoshimi Shima Cast: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa, Masao Shimizu, Eitarô Shindô, Atikake Kono, Rosuke Kagawa, Ken Mitsuda, Shozo Nanbu, Chieko Naniwa
Aspect Ratio:
Colour System: B/W
Duration: 124 mins
Restoration Details
Status:
Country Where Restored: United States
Restoration Release Date:
Country Restoration First Screened:
Lab Image Restored By: Cineric, NY
Lab Audio Restored By:
Archive Partner(s) In Restoration:
Restoration Funded By: Kadokawa and The Film Foundation
Restoration Premiere:
Screening Rights Held By: Kadokawa Corporation
Genre
Drama
Awards
Film Facts
Website
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Related Films
Educational Materials
Info Source
The Film Foundation; AWRA
