A feudal lord forces a young man to take his wife after a disagreement. Although reluctant, they fall in love. However, her first son with the feudal lord is about to inherit his leadership and he takes the woman back against the will of the young man and the "shared" wife. The father of the young man supports the young couple strongly because his marriage is loveless and they have become the only good thing in his life.
This is definitely worth watching. Samurai Assassin (1965) was a fluke. Usually, samurai flicks with Toshiro Mifune are good like this one. The characters showed strong emotions and some stood up for what they believed in while others spread corruption and injustice. Needless to say, the plot was very much to my liking. It comes down to the writing being good. Casting was good, but that was secondary. I was watching through the first hour and a half as the drama escalated, knowing that like Harakiri (1962), it would end in like half an hour of violence and bloodshed. A good clue was the father telling the wet nurse that the floor mats were moved so their feet would not slip in the blood. One of the signature camera moves of this era and genre is one of my favorites. A camera was placed on the roof of buildings (image). It's hard to explain how and why that impresses me so much, but it looks so cool. Maybe it's my video game past which makes me a fool for views down onto actors. If you like samurai cinema of 1960s and 1970s Japan, this is one to see. I rate it solid green good because it's everything that samurai films are supposed to be. Watch it!
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