Description:

TANGE SAZEN and the Pot worth One Million Ryo - Tange Sazen, a one-eyed, one-armed ronin came to life in one of Japan's largest daily newspapers in 1927, the brainchild of author Fubo Hayashi (1900-1935). Due to its popularity, twelve feature films based on the character and his exploits were produced from 1935~1966. Sadao Yamanaka's 1935 classic is among the earliest of a long line of jidai-geki starring Tange Sazen, the one-eyed, one-armed swordsman.

The Lord of the Yagyu Clan learns of a hidden Yagyu treasure of a million pieces of gold. The secret location of this fortune has been recorded on a family heirloom described as "an old monkey pot," which the Lord has recently given away to his good-for-nothing younger brother Genzaburo. When servants come asking to buy the pot back, Genzaburo refuses out of prideful spite and has his wife Hagino sell it to junk dealers for a pittance, ignorant of its worth.

The pot ends up serving as a goldfish bowl for a young boy named Yasu. Yasu's father enjoys shooting arrows at an archery parlor, which is where we meet Tange Sazen. Sazen is described as the "master" of the establishment, but his duties seem to involve napping most of the time, possibly hungover, and occasionally acting as bouncer when customers raise a ruckus. Sazen also likes to earn money by barging into dojos and whooping everybody's butt until they pay him to leave.

The true proprietor is a lady called Ofuji, who plays the shamisen and displays a sassy, no-nonsense attitude. When Yasu's widowed father meets an unfortunate fate, Sazen and Ofuji reluctantly take the boy in, unwittingly becoming the custodians of the pot worth a million ryo.

Meanwhile, Genzaburo has learned the true value of the pot that Hagino sold and vows to track down the pot even if it takes 10 or 20 years. But in fact, Genzaburo is such a lazy bum that he only uses this quest as an excuse to get out of the house to go gambling and goof off every day.

He takes up shooting arrows at Ofuji's archery parlor, and consequently Genzaburo ends up with the pot right under his nose, though he's too concerned with his own amusements to notice it. And thus we have the setup for a spectacular comedy of errors.

REMASTERED FOR SUPERIOR PICTURE QUALITY

STARRING: OKOCHI DENJIRO, KIYOZO, SAWAMURA KUNITARO

1935 - JAPANESE with ENGLISH SUBTITLES - B&W - FULLSCREEN - 91 MINUTES