Closet Scene from Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa

Sanjuro was the sequel to Yojimbo. Both star the iconic actor Toshiro Mifune as the Ronin (samurai without a lord or master). Mifune comes to the aid of nine young samurai who mistakenly believe that the lord chamberlain, Mutsuta is corrupt, after tearing down their petition against organised crime. One of them tells the superintendent, who agrees to help them. Mifune suggests to them that the superintendent is actually the corrupt official. Like Yojimbo, it shows Kurosawa at his comic heights.

There is a great scene when the samurai have a prisoner tied up in the closet only to come back and find him happily sitting down eating in one of the samurai’s best kimonos. It turns out that after hearing him sneeze the lady of the house let him out. They are totally baffled that he hasn’t escaped, to which he replies, “It never occurred to the lady that I would , so I couldn’t.” He continues eating and calmly gets back into the closet. A moment of comic genius.

It’s quite a feat that the actor, Keiju Kobayashi could fill his mouth with food and continue talking. He said on the subject, “People tell me I’m horrible in love scenes but good in eating scenes.”