Kitsune no Kureta Akanbo roughly translates as The Baby Boy Given by a Fox. Torahachi is a lowly, drunken samurai who goes in search of the magical fox and comes across an abandoned baby. He takes him home and with help from his friends brings the boy up. It's not easy, as Torahachi has to give up his drinking, fighting and gambling. The great Kabuki actor Bando Tsumasaburo shines as the perplexed, grubby lowly samurai, with the physical dexterity of a seasoned clown. He can be tough and respectable one minute, then a drunken fool the next.
This was made right after the war ended, and already it has a nice, polished studio look. But the U.S. General Headquarters was keeping watch and didn't really approve of samurai dramas. To appease the new censors, there was one brief scene where Torahachi offers the boy a sword to show his status as a samurai. The boy takes it and tosses it outside, saying he doesn't want to fight.
It's not a great movie by any means, but it's well worth a watch. The humor gets a little slapstick at times, but not irritatingly so.
This was made right after the war ended, and already it has a nice, polished studio look. But the U.S. General Headquarters was keeping watch and didn't really approve of samurai dramas. To appease the new censors, there was one brief scene where Torahachi offers the boy a sword to show his status as a samurai. The boy takes it and tosses it outside, saying he doesn't want to fight.
It's not a great movie by any means, but it's well worth a watch. The humor gets a little slapstick at times, but not irritatingly so.