Daibosatsu toge (Swords in the Moonlight). 1957. Japan. Directed by Tomu Uchida. Screenplay by Katsuhito Inomata. With Chiezo Kataoka, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Yumiko Hasegawa. In Japanese; English subtitles. 119 min.
This first film in Uchida’s Swords in the Moonlight trilogy is one of many film adaptations of The Great Bodhisattva Pass, a popular 41-volume serial by author Kaizan Nakazato. The story’s epic scope made the trilogy a suitably extravagant choice for Uchida’s first work in color. Set in the chaotic and transitory late Edo Period, the story follows the nihilistic antihero Ryunosuke Tsukue, a psychotic samurai who senselessly massacres a helpless pilgrim in the opening scene. From this point on Ryunosuke is a relentless victim of circumstance; he follows his cold murder with another kill while dueling a rival samurai, setting off a trail of revenge that weaves through the trilogy’s narrative. 35mm print courtesy of Toei, Co.