Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons

Dir: Kenji Misumi

1973

****

The Lone Wolf and Cub series (known as ‘Wolf taking along his child’ in Japan) started out as a manga comic created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was later adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub". A total of six Lone Wolf and Cub films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Ittō and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro have been produced based on the manga. They are also known as the Sword of Vengeance series, based on the English-language title of the first film, and later as the Baby Cart series, because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father. The first three films, directed by Kenji Misumi, were released in 1972 and produced by Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama's brother and the star of the 26 part Zatoichi film series. The next three films were produced by Wakayama himself and directed by Buichi Saito, Kenji Misumi and Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released in 1972, 1973, and 1974 respectively. The more famous Shogun Assassin (1980) was an English language compilation for the American audience, edited mainly from the second film, with 11 minutes of footage from the first. Also, the third film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades was re-released on DVD in the US under the name Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. While I love Shogun Assassin and the weird American child narration, you can’t beat the originals and they should be watched over the edited remake. The fifth film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (released in the USA as Shogun Assassin 4: Five Fistfuls of Gold), unlike the fifth film, was directed by Kenji Misumi who directed the first three films. I enjoyed the fourth film and thought the change in director brought an air of freshness to the series but I was of course happy to see Misumi return to the story he helped make great. That said, there is something about the fifth instalment that doesn’t seem quite right. I liked how Daigoro is more of a character in his own right now that he’s ever so slightly older but I thought the pace, style and tone of Baby Cart in the Land of Demons looked a little bit tired. The story begins, as they all do, with Ogami Itto wandering the land pushing Daigoro in his baby cart. Once more, while on his travels on "the Demon Path in Hell", Ogami Itto is confronted by a series of messengers who represent a clan wanting his services. Each assassin in turn administers a specific test of his abilities, and when bested, gives Ogami partial payment for the job and, as per his usual stipulation, discloses some of the "secrets and reasons" for the killing. Why the clan members couldn’t just deliver the message is anyone’s guess, but clan rules are clan rules, each messenger has to die to deliver each message. Luckily they manage to deliver said message with swords in their necks, holes in their chests and before they die of poisoning. By the time Ogami has defeated all the messengers, he has been informed of a conspiracy to disguise a daimyō’s illegitimate female offspring as a prince, while the clan leader's official offspring, a son, is kept concealed. A letter uncovering the plot is being delivered by a monk to the shōgun, which would mean the dissolution of the clan, leaving retainers, samurai, and vassals without an organization to support them which would be a disastrous end. Ogami is to intercept the Buddhist monk carrying the letter – not something he would usually do, but something he feels committed to do now that he’s killed so many of their clan. The monk will be traveling under the protection of his arch enemy, the now one-eyed Yagyū Retsudō, further complicating the mission. On a stopover at a town festival, Itto's three year old son, Daigoro is separated from his father and gets mixed up with a notorious female pickpocket who is being chased by constables. She asks him to promise not to divulge her identity, and when he is confronted he keeps his promise. The law officers publicly flog him in front of the townspeople, until the pickpocket surrenders herself and confesses. Still Daigoro keeps his word. Finally the constables release him, impressed by his stoic courage and honor. On route to intercept the monk, Ogami is contracted to kill the senile old lord, his concubine and the young daughter. He arrives at the temple and kills just about everyone inside. Before doing so he explains his actions while Daigoro pulls faces at the young clan leader, making her giggle. She soon orders Ogami’s death and is beheaded soon after, along with her father and his concubine. It’s a bit harsh killing a little girl and cutting her head off but Ogami is a man of his word, you can’t accuse him of not fulfilling contracts and preserving order – even if it means killing a million people and watching the ones left over kill themselves. I think the story is strong and is what the series needed but it also felt a little like the overall feel of the film took a step back. I love it but not quite as much as the first four.