(originally published June 2009) Sword of Doom and Kiru! maestro Okamoto Kihachi‘s 1963 ninja classic Sengoku Yaro is a real blast – a superb mix of comedy and combat peppered with some rather outré fight scenes, a jazzy score by Masaru Sato that keeps you … Continued
Check out the latest from Eddie Mort! And see a pile of imagery at the Dead Ringo tumblr.
This 1921 silent movie might just be the first time the legend of Jiraiya was put on film. It could also well-be the first time giant toad and snake magic with special effects transformations appeared on screen, four decades before … Continued
Had a reader on the VN Facebook page (have you ‘Liked’ us? If not, SHAME!) post a great question: “If you had to distill your favorite ninja films into a grievously unfair list of only 5, what would they be?” … Continued
Some Kurozukin and other hooded hero goodness from the VHS days: I miss video stores in general, but I especially miss Little Tokyo stores from the height of the VHS clamshell era. Such great design at work with these case … Continued
I highly recommend taking a stroll (or ‘scroll’ more accurately) through EigaGoGo: Japan Cinema‘s tumblr gallery. Tons of vintage Japanese cinema publicity stills from all genres, with some great shinobi stuff peppered in. Click any image to enlarge. The above … Continued
And who’s to argue with that claim, once you see the rather staggering array of foreign video packaging for ninja movies assembled on this French-language newsgroup. Wow… Well-collected mon freres!!!
Some of the ninja-centric paintings from Ghana ‘movie theaters’ that were on display at last year’s Movie Mojo shows at Chicago gallery Primitive:
I have a program from the 1981 Toei Studios version of Baian the Assassin that features a 2-page spread on the backlot prop room. The photos are frustratingly small, but I’ve done my best to blow them up for what … Continued
There are plenty of versions of Makai Tensho (aka Samurai Resurrection, Samurai Reincanation, and more), but my absolute fave adaptation is the 1981 Kinji Fukusaku-directed Kadowkawa effects epic. Spanning the decades and various actors, Jubei Yagyu has been portrayed as … Continued