The Actors' Art

In one film, a group of Samurai defends a poor farming village. The warriors are led by a strong man-among-men leader whose strength and intelligence make him stand out among others. For the most part he leads with quiet dignity, but can be loud and forceful when he needs to be.



In another film, a doctor works in a slum, dealing with the human innocence and human scum. He is not the man he dreamed of being; the bottle became too important in his life. That is how he deals with the social decay he sees every day. While he can be kind, he is generally loud, vulgar, and often abusive.



A third film is the story of a man who lets life defeat him. To look at him, you know he is a broken man. Despite his position as a manager in a government bureaucracy, he is afraid of his own shadow. He stoops and shuffles through his day. To add another indignity to his meaningless existence, he finds that he is dying of cancer. At first he takes to drinking – something he has never done before. That does not help. After further searching, he finds meaning in his life: cleaning up the land and building a playground on what used to be a polluted swamp. People who know him are at a loss to explain the changes they see. The man dies half-way through the film – found dead at the newly completed playground. The second half of the film is filled with flashbacks from people at his funeral. The final flashback is from a policeman who stops by and tells that earlier in the man’s last evening that the man was sitting happily on a swing in the playground and softly singing an old song.



Three completely different roles. Each one would take a great actor to bring the part to life. But these roles were all played by one actor: Takashi Shimura.


Shimura was a contract actor with Japan’s Toho studios. Born in 1905, he was a descendent of the Samurai class. Acting on the stage in the 1930’s, he signed with Toho in 1943. He would play whatever part he was assigned. He is probably most familiar to middle-aged Americans as a scientist in 1954’s Godzilla.

He was a constant in the stable of actors used by director Akira Kurosawa. Usually overshadowed by Kurosawa stalwart Toshiro Mifune, it is Shimura who brings films to life. While, Mifune was a very good actor, he did not have the depth that Shimura had. In Kurosawa’s “Red Beard” (1965), there is a scene where Mifune – playing a doctor at a clinic for the poor in 19th century Japan – tries to be kind with a girl who had been rescued from a wretched existence. Somehow, Mifune just doesn’t quite pull it off. Even in the commentary track, the commentator notes that Shimura could have phoned in that scene whereas Mifune stumbled with it.

The first of the films I described earlier is Seven Samurai. You know the story: it was made as a western in 1960 and called “The Magnificent Seven.” In 1998, we took my son and his cousin’s to see “A Bug’s Life.” It didn’t take me long to see that I was watching another retelling of “Seven Samurai.” I’m sure the story has been filmed even more times – but “Seven Samurai” is the best. In the other tellings, there is a mercenary feel to the motivation of the defenders. In”Samurai,” is almost genetic. They are doing it because that is what is expected of them. And Shimura brings it together.

The second film is “Ikiru.” I like the film, but it is a bit dated and contrived in many ways to my eye. However, the strength of the film – lead by Shimura’s performance – makes it worth overlooking the film’s shortcomings.

The third film is an early Kurosawa work – Kurosawa called it the first film that was really his: Drunken Angel. The title character is the doctor as portrayed by Shimura. Mifune’s character was not to be that big of a role, until Mifune delivered such a strong performance that the part was expanded. While both actors were excellent, my nod still goes to Shimura.

Not many people like watching black and white films now. Even more do not like watching films with subtitles – and with Japanese films there are virtually no familiar sounding words in which to relate. But if you enjoy watching the work of a brilliant actor that transcends language and you are willing to deal with subtitles, then you will enjoy these films.