Film Snail

6.0

Battle of the Japan Sea

NR·1969·128m

War

History

Drama

War

History

Drama

Summary

Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront the Russians, with results which stun both nations. Meanwhile, Major Genjiro Akashi makes secret negotiations with the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, negotiations that have repercussions far beyond the conflict at hand.

Cast

Toshirō Mifune

Admiral Heihachiro Togo

Tatsuya Nakadai

Major Genjiro Akashi

Yūzō Kayama

Cmdr. Hirose

Chishū Ryū

General Maresuke Nogi

Susumu Fujita

Uemura

Mitsuko Kusabue

Mrs. Togo

Ryūtarō Tatsumi

General Gonbei Yamamoto

Matsumoto Hakuō I

The Emperor Meiji

Toshio Kurosawa

Pfc. Maeyama

Yōko Tsukasa

Akira Kubo

Matsui

Makoto Satō

Gunnery Chief of Security

Akihiko Hirata

Staff Officer Tsunoda

Yoshio Tsuchiya

Staff Officer Akiyama

Kenji Sahara

Sub-Chief

Yoshifumi Tajima

Ijichi

Hiroshi Koizumi

Kurino

Jun Tazaki

Shimaji Hashiguchi

Takeshi Katō

Chief of Staff Officer Kato

Atsushi Higashiyama

Sugino

Keiji Higashiyama

Dr. Fujimoto

Seiji Matsuyama

Matsu

Jun Funato

Staff Officer Yamaoka

Eijirō Yanagi

Hirofumi Ito

Masao Shimizu

Tozuka

Toru Yasube

Suchi

Gen Shimizu

Narikawa

Ryuji Kita

Kataoka

Kanta Mori

Chief of Staff Officer Ijichi

Toshiyuki Takahashi

Nagata

Shin Takioka

Kaoru Inoue

Takamaru Sasaki

Consultant Kuki

Yoshio Inaba

Chief of Staff Officer Shimamura

Ken Mitsuda

Ariaki Yamagata

Yutaka Sada

Kazuo Suzuki

Wataru Ōmae

Chōtarō Tōgin

Seishirō Kuno

Yutaka Oka

Noriko Honma

Ted Gunther

Shuriakusu

Jacob Shapiro

Informant

Harold Conway

Captain John Campbell

Hans Horneff

Soldier

Osman Yusuf

Russian Officer

Peter Williams

Admiral Nebagotov

Andrew Hughes

Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky (General Commander of Baltic Fleet)

Itaru Ose

Crew

Director

Seiji Maruyama

Writer

Toshio Yasumi

Reviews

watchman

December 23, 2013

Seiji Maruyama’s sanitized docu-drama, retelling the Japanese conduct of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which culminated with Japan’s stunning naval victory in the Tsushima Strait.

Tsushima’s significance is practically mythic, amounting to a national symbol. From a director who has shown reverence for military values, you might expect a painstakingly conscientious propaganda film. That’s what you get here, complete with diagrams and explanatory narration.

The emphasis is about equal between historic personalities and epic battles, both depicted with detachment and restraint, both almost bloodless by the standards of today. Confrontations are dignified, carnage is comparatively decorous.

Toshiro Mifune and a debonair Tatsuya Nakadai stand out among a fine studio cast. Foreign actors playing Russians… well, less was expected of them. The unseen star is technical director Eiji Tsuburaya. At times you can all but smell the coal smoke from his model warships.

The English subtitles are so flawed that they conclude with an apology. They’re still preferable to the English-language version incongruously dubbed by an American vocal cast.