“WHITE SNOW, RED BLOOD”

By Raymond Benson

I’m not sure how, when, and where Quentin Tarantino actually saw these two Japanese films back in the day (they weren’t released in the U.S.), but the character of a vengeful female samurai assassin was a major inspiration for the director’s Kill Bill pictures; in fact, Lucy Liu’s character of O-Ren Ishii is so close to Lady Snowblood that it’s unclear if she’s an homage or a rip-off. At any rate, if you’re a fan of Kill Bill, then you will most likely appreciate these low budget cult action films.

Based on a Japanese manga by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura (Shurayuki-hime) published in 1972 and 1973, both features star the beautiful Meiko Kaji as Lady Snowblood, a kimono-dressed assassin who is active in the late 19th Century and wields a mean blade hidden in an umbrella. Kaji is a popular actress in her native country—she appeared in many B-movie action and martial arts pictures (i.e., the Japanese equivalent of exploitation movies) in the 70s, and then went into television in the 80s. She is also an accomplished musical artist and singer, having released many singles and a dozen LPs. She sings the main title song of Lady Snowblood (“Shuro No Hana”), and Tarantino used the same theme during a sequence in Kill Bill, Vol. 1. Meiko Kaji is perhaps the best reason to view this double feature.

The first film is an origin story in which we learn that Yuki, aka Lady Snowblood, is born to a mother who is in prison for killing one of a criminal foursome—three men and one woman—who murdered her husband and son, and raped her. She passes on the remainder of her vendetta to her daughter, who grows up to study martial arts and become a vigilante. As an adult, Yuki tracks down the other three to exact her revenge.

The second picture finds Yuki as something of a hired hand of the secret police. She must infiltrate the home of an anarchist in order to retrieve an item the government wants—but, of course, her prey turns out not to be the true bad guy. Lady Snowblood must switch allegiances and set things right with a lot of swordplay, blood-letting, and Eastern-style poise.

The movies are colorful and exotic in terms of photography, production design, and costumes—the imagery of white snow splashed with red blood, mixed with the period Japanese wardrobe and sets, exhibit a unique beauty that Tarantino recreated in Kill Bill. Otherwise, the two Snowblood movies are cheaply done. The blood effects are, for the most part, ridiculous. One slash of a throat and the blood laughably sprays like a fire hose. The storylines are predictable, but like the manga from which they are adapted, are pure comic book pulp.

The Criterion Collection presents both features on one disk. The new 2K digital restorations look very good in that glorious and vividly garish color that is indicative of the 70s. Each film has uncompressed monaural soundtracks, and there are new English subtitle translations. The disk is short on supplements, containing only new interviews with Kazuo Koike (the writer of the manga), and screenwriter Norio Osada. Trailers for both pictures are included. The booklet features an essay by critic Howard Hampton.

Recommended for aficionados of Japanese exploitation and martial arts fare, which, in the 1970s, was the equivalent of fast food. 

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