Sorry if this message is a little bizarre.
 
Somebody on this list (or H-FILM) sent in a query, I think, asking about
PICTURE BRIDE and the film for which Mifune acts as a benshi. If such a
query was made, here is a (partial) answer, now that I have seen PICTURE
BRIDE.
   The film is KETTO TAKADANOBABA, probably the version from the late 20's
which survives in a fragment.  There were 20 versions of the Battle at
Takadanobaba before WW II; the action we see on screen in PICTURE BRIDE
reminds of the 1937 version starring Bando Tsumasaburo, directed by Makino
Masahiro, but that was a sound version and the background of the snippet is
different, though much of the action is the same (not atypical for Japanese
films to vary only slightly, if at all, a previous version).  But whatever
exact version it is, it IS one version of KETTO TAKADANOBABA.
   By the way, it's clear from the snippet we see that the film is not from
the period 1918-1919, when PICTURE BRIDE takes place--a minor anachronism.
Another such very minor anachronism is the reference to Rudolph Valentino,
who was not yet a big enough star to be the icon of romanticism that one
character suggests another emulate. (Okay, I couldn't help myself...)
 
   I hope this helps, if indeed such a query was posted!
 
DD
 
_____________________________________
David Desser,UIUC Cinema Studies
2109 FLB/707 S. Mathews, Urbana, IL  61801
217/244-2705
 
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