Shibukawa Bangoro

Shibukawa Bangoro was a 1922 silent film with Benshi narration. Our hero Bangoro battles evil samurai, a pine tree, and a spider demon. What’s not to like?

Bangoro saves a country couple from being killed by drunk samurai. Later, he fights a wrestler who cheated in a sumo match and uses his father’s Yawara Jutsu which gets him disinherited when the dastardly Tenzen tattles on him. Later he travels to the mountains to fight the Spider Demon not knowing that Tenzen and another cruel samurai have attacked his family.

This film was composed of several chapters which thankfully come full circle by the ending. Onoe Matsunosuke played the “young master” at the age of 47. He would die three years later after having played in 1000 films! Sadly, just six remnants of his films have survived. I have only seen him in Jiraiya the Hero (1921) which was a lot of fun to watch despite the film being badly damaged. The intro to SB was a reminder that only a tiny percentage of early films are with us today. It’s estimated that over 90% are lost worldwide, mainly due to the nitrate film that was used which was highly flammable and if not stored properly crumbled into dust. Couple that with WWII and a terrible 1923 earthquake in Japan and even fewer of their films have made it to the present so each one we can still watch is a treat.

SB was much like a Kabuki play only on studio sets and in natural settings as much of the action took place in the mountains and next to a river. The Benshi narration wasn’t original to the film as there would have been someone in the theater narrating the film during its run. Men played the women’s roles and everyone was in heavy theatrical makeup and wigs. There were numerous fights involving swords, the aforementioned martial arts, sumo wrestling, and brawling with fists and poles. As with the makeup the fights were more theatrical and dance style moves than actual fighting. The best fight, of course, was with the long-haired Spider Demon as she transformed back and forth from two-legged to eight, and spewed white webbing everywhere long before Silly String was invented.

Shibukawa Bangoro may have been heavily dated, but that was part of its charm. Bangoro was a virtuous hero, the villains were a real threat, and despite the ravages of time, the film had a proper ending. It might have been a Shaw Brothers abrupt ending, but still brought the story to a close. And did I mention there was a giant muppet spider?

12 November 2025
I gave it a small ratings bump due to its age

Trigger: Attempted sexual assault

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