Akira Kurosawa could have had a very different directorial debut

Kurosawa described Nobuyoshi Morita, the producer who turned him down for "Advance Patrol," as "the producer who fed me" in an interview with fellow filmmaker Nagisa Ōshima (via Khataakk) . Before his death in 1951, Morita apparently told the director, "I made the biggest mistake of my life in not letting you do 'Advance Patrol'...but I couldn't let an early director tackle to such a big project."

"Advance Patrol" was finally made in 1957, under the direction of Kazuo Mori. However, Kurosawa felt that "the film could only have been made then", when it was originally pitched. "It was written at a time when Japan, Germany and Italy were allies," he explained. "I feel like his time has passed... he missed his time to get done."

Political circumstances changed dramatically in Japan between 1942 and 1957. In 1942, Japan and the Soviet Union were on the brink of war. The USSR would declare war on Japan just three years later, again fighting for territory in Manchuria, just like in the Russo-Japanese War. In 1957, the fight was long over. Neither had attacked the other for over a decade, and their state of war was officially ended by the joint Soviet-Japanese declaration of 1956. By the time the Japanese public saw " Advance Patrol", the story may have seemed stale - and Kurosawa would definitely agree.

Kurosawa went on to direct dozens of beloved films, from 'Seven Samurai' to 'Yojimbo', but it's a shame some of his early works were compromised. If he had only been trusted to direct "Advance Patrol" himself in 1942, he could have done his story justice and added another masterpiece to his collection. Instead, it was made after its time by a mediocre director and then lost in obscurity.