Le secret du ninja

There has been many movies about a legend in the Japanese ninja history of Goemon, this is the first movie from 1962 and also gave inspiration to the James Bond movie you only live twice and it's show that Japanese actors are 10 years a head of time when it comes to dimensional acting, as in the west were use to schooled dialogue, Japan had their actor play out their role with their hearts.

Goemon is a young ninja of his clan and a man with a future. But he is also weak for women specially the wife of his leader. But later his life turned apart when his father is killed by his own powder and the wife is also killed. The leader is blaming Goemon for all this bad events but he spare his life, in one condition to kill an evil lord that threat to destroy all ninja clans. Goemon agrees but only to find out he has been fooled by his own leader.

Every time I see these black and white movies from Japan I'm surprised that the acting feels like today. The acting at that time was good but it was 1950s good but in Japan the acting feels new like today even it's from 1962. I give a big applause to Japanese acting and this movie is no exception. Fantastic acting and choreography and strong plot and a must have for all ninja lover. 10/10

It's Japan in 1575. Warlord Tomisaburô Wakayama is assassinating the Emperor's family, killing daimyo and buying Portugese guns to take over Japan. Meanwhile, rising young ninja Raizô Ichikawa is seduced by the wife of his master. The affair is discovered and she is killed. His master, Yûnosuke Itô, orders him to go become a thief -- which is very dishonorable for a ninja -- and pass most of the money on to his handler. Eventually, he will be called on to assassinate Wakayama, but first he must hesitate like Hamlet for three quarters of the movie, fall in love -- which is also a ninja no-no -- with Shiho Fujimura, and have Itô torment him with his superior ninjitsu.

It's a very roundabout, tail-biting plot. I can't figure out why Itô doesn't do it himself, except for the sheer joy of making Ichikawa miserable. Of course, there are wheels within wheels in this 100-minute exhibition of movie ninjitsu backflips, elaborate poisonings and shuriken-tossing, as Ichikawa would rather go off with Miss Fujimura and be happy.

I suppose there's something in the Japanese movie-goer's psyche that gives him pleasure in the perception that handsome, super-powered Ichikawa can't be happy either. It's all very cinematic, and Roald Dahl stole bits and pieces for the James Bond movies.

Raizô Ichikawa plays Ishikawa Goemon, a legendary bandit hero in this Japanese trilogy set during the reign of Oda Nobunaga--the man who nearly conquered all of Japan during the 16th century (before this, the country was split into many disunited kingdoms). The problem with this is that after I researched about the real life Goemon, I found that very little is known about the man and so over the years Japanese plays and movies have taken great liberties with who the man MIGHT have been. In this movie, Goemon is a ninja--though other sources I read didn't make mention of this nor did I read about him trying to assassinate Nobunaga, but another man (Hideyoshi)--but this isn't even certain.

In this film, the ninjas are not just lone agents of death or spies but are an organized group led by an inscrutable man whose real goals and machinations are a bit hard to follow, as he plays so many different angles. The one fairly constant thing about the boss is his desire to see Nobunaga die, as he apparently represents a threat to their way of life. Initially, Goemon is give great responsibility and power within ninjadom (Is that a word? Well, it should be if it isn't.). However, Goemon is too proud and not especially careful (even though his father warned him) and he falls into a trap--a trap that obligates him to personally murder the seemingly indestructible Nobunaga.

I'll be honest here--the plot was so convoluted and hard to follow at times that I had to struggle to keep watching. This is NOT the easiest Japanese series for a Westerner to follow--not nearly as easy as Ichikawa's "Sleepy Eyes of Death" series or Kitano's "Zatoichi" series. Now this isn't to say it's bad--just a bit tougher to follow--and I already DID know quite a bit about Nobunaga and his dream of forcibly unifying Japan.

Overall, while you'd think this is a big action movie, it isn't. Sure, there's some fighting but the emphasis is much more on the behind the scenes stuff and the conniving--not the battles or even many of the assassination attempts. I liked the movie but was far from in love with it. I will have to see the final two films to see what I think of the overall product, though I do love the idea of a story so big it takes several films to complete (such as the epic "Samurai" series from the 1950s).

Very exciting and entertaining ninja flick, perhaps the first, and on those grounds it still holds up today. The side-plots and drama are, respectively, a little confusing and soap-opera-y but the scenes of ninjas climbing walls and stealthily assassinating folks have been hugely influential and are still way more thrilling than most action movies made today.

7½ out of 10.

I saw this film back in the late 1990's when I was a college student. After recently watching the Kyoshiro Nemuri films and being impressed with Ichikawa Raizo, I was curious to try the Shinobi No Mono series, even though I had a vague memory of not caring much for this first film.

On re-watching this first film, I remembered why I was not overly taken with the film. It is slow going with a lot of intrigue but very little action, much different than the Kyoshiro Nemuri films. Raizo is still good though. He plays Ishikawa Goemon, a young Iga ninja. At the start of the film, he has ambitious dreams of becoming the master of his ninja clan. After engaging in an affair with his master's neglected wife, Goemon is exiled from the clan and given two tasks. The first of these is to commit robberies to help the clan with expenses. The second is to kill Nobunaga Oda (played by Tomisaburo Wakayama from Lone Wolf and Cub), a cruel warlord that is the target of several ninja clans. The film has a lot more plot, including a prostitute that Goemon falls for and a rival ninja that Goemon fights (in the film's two best scenes).

Shinobi No Mono is a well shot, well made film that only occasionally grabs me. It is also problematic that the hero is mostly absent from the film's action climax (which leaves many plot threads unresolved). Viewers knowledgeable in Japanese and/or martial arts history will get more from the film than casual viewers. While I can't say that I dislike Shinobi No Mono, I must admit that I do prefer Revenge of the Ninja with Sho Kosugui as ninja films go. Call me a philistine.