Excellent second installment in a classic Samurai series that influenced many like Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill
Following the events of the first film in the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (子連れ狼 三途の川の乳母車), is another excellent release directed by Kenji Misumi and written by Kazuo Koike; which follows his manga series he was working on with the illustrator Goseki Kojima. A project still going on as the series was produced, which must have made quite a hefty schedule for the writer.
Though the father Ogami Itto and his son Daigoro still continue the quest of revenge against the Yagyu clan, both also participate in investigations which private patrons order them to do. One of these business matter is the search of an Awa clan member who knows the secret behind an indigo dye production. An investigation which gets complicated when the dangerous Akashi-Yagyu sword mistress & her soldiers are called in to slay these two warriors. On their travelling road, they will meet some of these fighters. Dangerous individuals who can chop off a person in seconds. Though thanks to Ogami’s quick thinking and skills, alongside Daigoro’s help, the sword Mistress’s partners are dealt with fast. And of these confrontations, they are among the top moments of the film.
Indeed, the fights are superbly filmed by Misumi. With various acrobatic skills and choreographies, alongside great editing cuts that are as violent as the action on screen and of course some zoom effects, which were popular back in the 1970s. Stuff that I find so much more exciting than in today’s blockbusters, who over-rely on CGI and neglect the human-made effects of certain movies.
However, unlike the first movie where he was more of an assistant to his dad, Daigoro gets to take care of his father as he recovers following the many assaults they both get on their roads. He even becomes an accomplice and partner in the fights of his father against the Yagyu, the Kurosawa ninjas, and all these bandits that attack them. Which makes you realize how he is not that innocent in what happens during the story and how he travels down the same road as his dad, learning from him how to defend himself and how to perceive others. Something that will be explored in further movies.
Like the first chapter in the series, this episode not only lasts around eighty minutes, but it was used for the Shogun Assassin edit from the 1980s. Which many viewers in North America saw and would be referenced in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Showing how much of an impact this series has had on american filmmakers. Among them Roger Corman who also liked the Lone Wolf and Cub series.
Though unfortunately, some people in the United Kingdom did not appreciate it as they classified it into the infamous Video Nasties list; made by some pro-censorship individuals, with one of them gloating that she had never seen the movies she was putting on the list and she said that she did not need to do that because she knew she was right and that none should question her.
Of course, this movie, alongside the rest of the series, is violent and not meant for young audiences or people sensitive to violence. It is a meant for mature people who can take the context of a historical reality where people were carrying samurai swords around them and could attack others with these weapons. As such, if you have problem watching this kind of stories, then that series is not for you.
So to conclude, this episode shows an interesting range of antagonists. All of them more important than the indigo dye case. And as for the sword mistress, her final showdown is implied trough clever editing, camera angles, and effects. Which shows how creative and clever the artists behind that film are.
So if you like samurai movies and period dramas set in the Edo Era, then go watch Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (子連れ狼 三途の川の乳母車). What you have here is another excellent piece in a classic series of Japanese cinema.
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