Watching Senkichi Taniguchi's SNOW TRAIL (1947). Interesting to see wipe edits used so prominently in a film that isn't sci-fi or action.
— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) January 3, 2016
This sequence of the hotel guests figuring out that the escaping crooks are crooks would've worked better w/o the opening police scene.
— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) January 3, 2016
We're just watching them figure things out that have already been explained to us, the audience. There's no tension.
— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) January 3, 2016
It's almost like if Hitchcock had begun PSYCHO (1960) with the concluding speech about Norman Bates' psychosis.
— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) January 3, 2016
Alright, that scene where Takashi Shimura quietly weeps to the song "My Old Kentucky Home" makes the entire movie worth watching. #SnowTrail
— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) January 3, 2016
Senkichi Taniguchi's Snow Trail is memorable for being the first film to feature Toshirō Mifune. Boasting a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa and co-starring Takashi Shimura, the film is almost prophetic in how it predicts the trajectory of their careers together. But other than that the film is wobbly and uneven: the first act seems like a thriller with the big reveal of the criminals' identities given away; the second act a bittersweet drama; the third act a clumsy combination of the two. But still, I did like how the film seemed to also predict the obsession with nobility that would play such a role in Kurosawa's career, particularly with the scenes between Shimura (at least I think that was Shimura) and the mountaineer guide who risks his life to save his. Why didn't he drop the rope while Shimura was dangling over a cliff despite the fact he had forced him on that dangerous journey at gunpoint? Because of the code of mountaineers: don't let go of the rope when you're tied to somebody.6/10
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