It's funny, because I don't really remember him cutting the attacker down from the 1935 film. So I watched it again just now, and I can't say I better understand what you are talking about.

He catches most of the strikes and doesn't seem to cut them down. Maybe I don't understand what you mean by "cutting the attackers attack".

Also, on the third point, I was actually surprised after watching the film again at how few atemi he is using. In the book, I know that I missed several of the atemi after watching my video and looking at the book.It's funny in the video he doesn't do all that much atemi.