SANSHIRO SUGATA (1943) B/W 80m dir: Akira Kurosawa

w/Ryunosuke Tsukigata, Akitake Kono, Shoji Kiyokawa, Susumu Fujita, Dunjiro Okochi, Yukiko Todoroki, Ranko Hanai

Director Kurosawa cut his teeth on this, his first feature film. The title character is a spirited young judo student who knows how to brawl, but learns the discipline essential to martial arts from a wise judo master. The showdown between Sugata and the dandified villain on a windswept mountainside is the first pure example of Kurosawa's lyrical brand of violence.