The Life of a Horse-Trader / Bakuro Ichidai (1951)

Obscure Japanese Film #2

Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura

One year after Rashomon, Daiei Studios decided to reunite stars Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo and Takashi Shimura in The Life of a Horse-Trader, based on a novel by Masao Nakayama. Although the film has little else in common with Rashomon, it should delight fans of Kurosawa regulars Mifune and Shimura and, as a bonus, features another of that director’s favourites, Bokuzen Hidari – he of the Noh-mask-like face. The film also features an excellent score by Kurosawa’s regular composer, Fumio Hayasaka.

Set in Hokkaido just before the arrival of automobiles, it tells the story of Yonetaro Katayama (Mifune), a horse-trader who is good at his job but much given to drinking, fighting and gambling. As a result of these pastimes, he neglects his wife and young child and is in an ongoing feud with Rokutaro Kosaka (Shimura), a carriage-driver turned money-lender with political ambitions.  However, when his wife dies, Yonetaro must change his ways in order to care for his son. Meanwhile, Yuki (Kyo), who works as a waitress at the inn he frequents, is in love with him and patiently waiting for him to notice.

Although The Life of a Horse-Trader is an old-fashioned and sentimental drama, the use of real locations alongside meticulously detailed sets lend it a welcome air of realism unusual for 1951. Mifune gives one of his most committed performances outside of a Kurosawa film and, in one memorable sequence, even performs in three bouts of sumo one after the other to great effect. Equally pleasing is the fact that Shimura has one of his best roles as the villain of the piece, who may not be quite such a bastard after all. Kyo is less well-served as her role is not as interesting, but she makes the most of it and has some amusing moments.

Director Keigo Kimura seems forgotten today, but the only other film I’ve seen by him (Diary of a Mad Old Man) is also good, and this one is extremely well-made, with first-class black-and-white cinematography by Shigeyoshi Mine.

A word of warning for horse-lovers: there is a scene in which Mifune and his son are encouraging their sick horse to stand up, and we see the horse flailing around. There is then a very odd cut and the scene ends abruptly, after which we are told that said horse did get back on its hooves after all. I suspect the reason for the strange cut is that they had the horse tied down or something like that. Worse still, there is a horse racing sequence in which a horse takes a tumble in such a way it made me gasp, and I very much doubt it could have survived.

Aside from the horse abuse, The Life of a Horse-Trader is an entertaining film which should be of great interest to fans of Mifune and Shimura at least. It must have been successful at the time, as there was a sequel the following year (albeit one made by a different director and without Mifune, Shimura or Kyo), plus a remake in 1963 with Rentaro Mikuni.  

Funnily enough, the film has a remarkably similar ending to the one in The Saga of Tanegashima (see previous post). In typical Japanese-film style, it ends with the parting of two of the main characters, who shout each other’s names over and over again as each recedes into the distance.