Film Still

Sword of the Beast

Hideo Gosha

Japan

1965

85 minutes

Black and White

2.35:1

Japanese

311

Synopsis

Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha’s Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as part of a reform plot. His former comrades then turn on him, and this betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal. There he joins up with a motley group who are illegally mining the shogun’s gold, and, with the aid of another swordsman, gets a chance not just at survival but to recover his name and honor.

Cast

Gennosuke YukiMikijiro Hira
Jurota YamaneGo Kato
TakaShima Iwashita
Counselor of Jurota’s clanEijiro Tono
Vice-counselor of Gennosuke’s clanShigeru Amachi
TanjiKunie Tanaka
MisaToshie Kimura
DaizaburoKantaro Suga
GundayuTakeshi Kato
OsenYoko Mihara

Credits

DirectorHideo Gosha
ScreenplayHideo Gosha and Eizaburo Shiba
CinematographyToshitada Tsuchiya
Art directionMamoru Abe

Disc Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • A new essay by Japanese-film and -culture critic Patrick Macias
  • New and improved English subtitle translation

From the Current

Sword of the Beast:
Rebel Samurai Cinema

by Chris D. Oct 24, 2005

Mirroring changes in awareness, politics, and lifestyle occurring across the globe, the chanbara (or Japanese swordplay film) underwent a significant metamorphosis in the early 1960s, acquiring a decidedly more radical spirit. Seemingly without warning, groundbreaking cinematic styles from...

Sword of the Beast:
I Wish I Could Be a Beast

by Patrick Macias Oct 24, 2005

Yasukuni Temple, not far from the Imperial Palace, in Tokyo . . . the spirits of dead warriors are said to reside there. Yasukuni is a Shinto shrine, built in 1869 to honor those who died in Japan’s military service. And because convicted war criminals are also buried there, Yasukuni has become...

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