Chushingura

Hiroshi Inagaki's Chshingura aka 47 Ronin (1962) is a big budget color spectacular with a star studded cast, including Toshiro Mifune, Setsuko Hara (in her last on screen appearance), Takashi Shimura, Daisuke Kato, and many more. It is a very famous story of a clan leader Lord Asano who is punished for drawing a sword on Lord Kira and must commit seppuku-ritual suicide. His loyal retainers hatch a plot to take the head of Kira and get revenge for the unjust death of their leader. Despite knowing the story this is the first time I have seen one of the many film versions of the story. Inagaki packs it all in the story as it clocks in at 3 hours and 27 minutes. This is an impressive production but it is not even the best samurai film of 1962-Harikiri and Sanjuro were also released in 1962 along with two Zatoichi films as well.