Bantsuma: The Life and Times of Tsumasaburo Bando

A splendid cine-history documentary about the career of the great movie actor Bando Tsumasaburo (the contraction 'Bantsuma' was his popular nickname). He started out in the 1920s as a faintly radical samurai star, turned into a gung-ho action hero in the '30s, and brought his time to an end in the '50s with mellower roles. The interest of this compilation is that the clips from the silent movies are shown complete with music and benshi commentary, as they were seen at the time. The narration is written by Japan's foremost critic, Tadao Sato, who also conducted the interviews with Bantsuma's colleagues and relatives.