Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril

The Lone Wolf and Cub manga series, written by Kazuo Koike with artwork by Goseki Kojima, was first published in 1970 and became an immediate hit. The manga, and its television and cinematic adaptations are still popular to this day and will, undoubtedly, be adapted many more times for decades to come. Between 1972 and 1974, a total of six movies were made based on the comics, four in 1972 alone. All of them starred Tomisaburô Wakayama as Ogami Ittō, a warrior and executioner for the Shogun, and Akihiro Tomikawa as his toddler son Daigoro, who travels with him in a baby cart after Ogami's wife is murdered. The fourth in the series, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril was the last made in 1972 and another stylistic triumph.

This installment begins with a beautiful female assassin, Oyuki, played by Michi Azuma, slaying a group of warriors in a bamboo forest. One by one she cuts them down with her short blade, bare breasted and adorned with two large tattoos, one of a child at her breast in the front and a monster on her back. We later learn she is on a mission of revenge against her former mentor who raped her. Yes, much of the inspiration for the Bride in Kill Bill came from the character of Oyuki in this series.

Ogami, now an assassin for hire, is paid to track her down and kill her. From here, the movie follows him in a procedural like manner as he finds the man who tattooed her to get an idea of who she is, the street clowns she worked with, and so on. Along the way, Daigoro gets separated from his dad and he and the baby cart are, you guessed it, in peril.

This being a martial arts film at the height of their popularity in the early 1970s, there is of course, much more action than the police procedural setup would suggest. As Ogami makes his way to Oyuki, he encounters many other warriors, bandits and assassins, as does she, and there is no shortage of bloodletting and swordplay throughout.

Tomisaburô Wakayama as Ogami has a weariness on his face that sinks right down to his warrior bones. He is a disgraced former executioner who must do everything in his power to keep going and keep his young son alive. Wakayama played the role six times and never lost sight of his character once. Michi Azuma as Oyuki is a silent killer, and Azuma plays her with a vengeful focus.

Major praise is reserved for director Buichi Saitô and cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa who create a beautiful world around the characters. From the opening shots, as the camera slowly tracks in on Oyuki through the bamboo trees, to the final shots of Daigoro taking his father's hand, in a direct reference to The Bicycle Thief (1948), the movie is gorgeous to watch from start to finish and a great addition to an already great series.

Directed by Buichi Saitô
Produced by Tomisaburô Wakayama and Hisaharu Matsubara
Screenplay by Kazuo Koike
Music by Hideaki Sakurai
Cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa
Edited by Toshio Taniguchi
Cast: Tomisaburô Wakayama (Ogami Ittō), Akihiro Tomikawa (Daigoro), Yoichi Hayashi (Yagyū Gunbei) Michi Azuma (Oyuki), Asao Koike (Tokugawa Yoshinao), Tatsuo Endô (Yagyū Retsudo)

By Greg Ferrara