These four classic films, from four masters of Japanese cinema, turn a genre upside down, redefining for a modern generation the meaning of loyalty and honor, as embodied by the iconic figure of the samurai.
Hideo Gosha
1965 • 85 minutes • 2.35:1 • Japan
Spine: #311 Editions: DVD, Collector’s Sets
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 comrades then turn on him and, his sense of honor shaken, he decides to live in the wild, like an animal.
Hideo Gosha
1964 • 93 minutes • 2.35:1 • Japan
Spine: #596 Editions: DVD, Blu-Ray
This first film by the legendary Hideo Gosha is among the most canonized chambara (sword-fighting) films.