Review – Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island

It’s as if director Hiroshi Inagaki heard my griping about the first two, or more likely heard griping from other folks with similar complaints back in 1956. The fight scenes this time around are more frequent and better lit (well, some of them anyway). The soap opera romance is also toned down a bit, though it continues to be an element. As predicted, Musashi’s fellow legendary swordsman Kojiro Sasaki assumes a larger role, becoming rather more villainous than he was in the second chapter. The middle of this picture is a peasants-vs.-brigands drama similar to The Seven Samurai. But eventually we get down to the famous island duel, told in a version slightly different than at least some of the legends but nonetheless quite dramatic. Mildly amusing