Oatsurae Jirôkichi kôshi

1931
1h 20m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

157

YOUR RATING

Action Drama

The only completely preserved silent film directed by Daisuke Ito, this film relates the life of a legendary thief, Jirokichi the Rat in an exquisite original story and through the revolutio... Read allThe only completely preserved silent film directed by Daisuke Ito, this film relates the life of a legendary thief, Jirokichi the Rat in an exquisite original story and through the revolutionary use of dynamic intertitles. The skillful benshi narration featuring a mixture of Edo ... Read allThe only completely preserved silent film directed by Daisuke Ito, this film relates the life of a legendary thief, Jirokichi the Rat in an exquisite original story and through the revolutionary use of dynamic intertitles. The skillful benshi narration featuring a mixture of Edo dialect and Kansai dialect is highly entertaining.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

157

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos

Featured review

7/10

An unusual silent Japanese swordfight (chambara) film

Also known as 'Jirokichi the Ratkid'.

Jirokichi (Denjiro Okochi) is a thief on the run from the Shogun's police. He is on a riverboat to Osaka and a fight ensues when the the police check the boat. He saves the purse of a geisha going to meet her brother and she falls in love with him. The brother is a villain, Jirokichi saves a poor woman from his clutches and kills the brother in revenge for killing the woman's father.

One of the few Chambara (Japanese swordfight) pictures that are available at all. It is unusual that there are few samurai, so that townsmen do most of the fighting. The fight on the riverboat is most amazing.

Perhaps one third of the film is lost, but the prints are narrated by a 'benshi' (film explainer), who supplies continuity as well as speaking for the actors.