A beguiling anecdote set during the Meiji Era and gracefully shot by one of Japan's leading cameramen, Kazuo Miyagawa.
Although described by Japanese film authority Alex Jacoby as "one of the finest and most moving films produced during the war years", it tends to be neglected in favour of it's veteran director's 1958 remake in colour and 'scope, dismissed by Donald Richie as "not nearly so good".
Although heavily censored and truncated after the war, at least it survives; unlike leading lady Kekio Sonoi who received a lethal dose of radiation at Hiroshima.
Although described by Japanese film authority Alex Jacoby as "one of the finest and most moving films produced during the war years", it tends to be neglected in favour of it's veteran director's 1958 remake in colour and 'scope, dismissed by Donald Richie as "not nearly so good".
Although heavily censored and truncated after the war, at least it survives; unlike leading lady Kekio Sonoi who received a lethal dose of radiation at Hiroshima.