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Paul Steadman
14th October 2001, 04:03
Hi All,

Had a great day. Performed Iai-jutsu demo for the Japanese Consular General at the Japanese Gardens at Cowra (where the famous Japanese POW Cowra Break-Out accured in WWII).

Also got to see Sun Masamune's Goshu Sake opening ceremony, with sake tasting, great stuff.

To top the day off we got home to view "Baby Cart (Assassin) at the River Styx." But now I'm confused! The same actors and some of the same scenes, but with an English voice-over (and slightly different story-line) are shown in a movie called "Shoguns Assassin."

So is "Shoguns Assassin," just a shortened (condensed) version of the "Baby Cart Assassin" series of 4 movies, with an English voice-over and changed stroy line?

Maybe Don can help me out here.

Cheers,

Paul Steadman

Don Cunningham
14th October 2001, 04:53
There are more than one Lone Wolf and Cub series in Japanese. I believe there were a couple done for theater release and at least one for television. The Shogun's Assassin that I saw was an American release. It consisted of a badly edited and condensed version of the more popular Japanese version with an English voice-over of Daigoro, Ogami's son. The same series consisted of six separate movies in Japan. Ogami Itto was played by Wakayama Tomisaburo, the brother of Katsu Shintaro, the talented actor and producer who portrayed Zatoichi in the famous series about the blind cane swordsman. The following is my online tribute:

Lone Wolf and Cub (http://www.concentric.net/~Budokai/chambara/lonewolf.htm)

Paul Steadman
14th October 2001, 05:22
Hi Don,

I knew you'd have the answers. I assumed that was the case. Thanks for the info.

Cheers,

Paul Steadman

Nathan Scott
14th October 2001, 19:09
Hi guys,

For the record, the sword arts forum is probably not the best place to post movie questions.

The members lounge here or at swordforum.com would be more appropriate choices.

Good series of flicks though...

Chi
15th October 2001, 15:27
(perhaps it should be moved to the Member's lounge?)

Hi there,

"Kozure Ookami" was indeed a set of six movies by Misumi Kenji (and later some other directors) starring Wakayama Tomisaburo as Ogami Itto (amongst other versions and formats and tributes, as Don C has already mentioned), based on the Manga of the same name by Kazuo Koike. -Two- of the six movies* were edited together and dubbed somewhat (as well as some key points omitted and changed... Yagyu Retsudo suddenly became a Shogun for a start) and released in the US and Europe with a funky synthesized soundtrack under the name of "Shogun Assassin".

In my opinion the originals are vastly superior (and Ogami Itto sounded much more deep and menacing in terms of voice!), albeit in Japanese language with subtitles only. You can pick them up in the US on VHS from AnimEigo (http://www.animeigo.com), or on DVD in the UK (Region 0, so should work on all players) from ArtsMagic (http://www.artsmagic.co.uk/) (these are mastered from the same AnimEigo prints). The screen grabs on the link Don provided are from the AnimEigo version.

* The two movies in question were 1) "Sword of Vengeance" (AKA "Kowokashi Udekashi Tsukamatsuru" or "Child and expertise for rent") and 2) "Baby Cart at the river Styx" (AKA "Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma" or "Babycart at the river Sanzu"). Approx 10 minutes of footage came from Sword of Vengeance, with the rest coming from Baby Cart at the river Styx.

Regards,

Chris.