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Dominican Rep. Snake Princess 2
- Original title
- Zoku Hebihimesama
- Year
- 1940
- Running time
- 128 min.
- Country
Japan- Director
- Screenwriter
- Cast
- Cinematography
- Hiromitsu Karasawa (B&W)
- Producer
- Genre
- Drama | Sequel
- Synopsis
- The film begins as Sentarô (Kazuo Hasegawa) moves into a new neighborhood along with his sister and father. But when the later is killed for no apparent reason by a drunk samurai living next door, Sentarô avenges him by killing the samurai and his fellow. Being just a commoner, though, his deed puts him on the run, as the authorities chase after him. At this point, we are introduced to Denjirô Ôkôchi's mysterious character called Ittôsai. A master-swordsman, always acting in the shadows, we see him protecting Sentarô's left-behind sister, as well as investigating a mysterious case of contraband porcelain, poisoning and villains in a side-plot. From what I gathered, Ittôsai also taught swordmanship to Sentarô.
While running away from the authorities, Sentarô meets with the beautiful Oshima (Isuzu Yamada) who takes him under her protection. From then on, he enroles in the acting-troup she belongs to. Meanwhile, Sentarô's sister becomes a geisha for Kotohime (Takako Irie). I identify the later as being the 'Snake Princess' of the title, since the aforementioned porcelain showcases a picture of her. The porcelain represents the scales of the snake, while the poison is an obvious attribute of the reptile. We soon identify the master of this plot to be the high-ranking official serving the princess, a grinning, sinister old man. I never fully understood whether or not Kotohime was aware of the plot, or rather a victim herself. The ambiguity could be purposeful. When Sentarô's sister discovers the plot, her life becomes endangered and she gets killed, as Ittôsai fails to protect her. When Sentarô eventually shows up to take revenge again, the master-swordsman sides up with him to face their opponents. This marks the conclusion of part one.
This 1940 version is a two-part prestige film of the so-called monumental jidaigeki, featuring several industry big names and some impressive crane shots and even some zoom shots (which are quite rare in pre-1945 Japanese cinema).
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