BEHIND THE SCENE OF THE WORLD OF SAMURAI
AND THEIR TERRIBLE CODE OF HONOR
Iikura rushes to the hospital, to the bedside of his fiancée who has just attempted suicide. Upon returning home, he discovers the writings of his samurai ancestors, detailing the atrocities endured by them since the 17th century in the name of the bushido code of honor. This caste of military nobility carried out acts of violence on the orders of the feudal lords, but they suffered even more from their cruelty, often forced into ritual suicide...
Golden Bear at the 1963 Berlin Film Festival, Cruel Tales of Bushido is a radical departure from the usual romanticization of samurai in cinema. Using period settings and sometimes graphic imagery, filmmaker Tadashi Imai ( Shadows in Broad Daylight ) shows fighters devoid of any morals within a society blinded by its own violence. Brilliantly interpreted by Kinnosuke Nakamura who takes on the role of the successive heads of a family spanning seven generations, Cruel Tales of Bushido can be discovered for the first time on Blu-ray™ in its splendid 4K restoration!
CRUEL TALES OF BUSHIDO by Tadashi Imai
(1963 - Black & White - 123 mins)
New 4K restoration
Original version with French subtitles
Blu-ray or DVD edition
Unreleased on Blu-ray and DVD
SUPPLEMENTS *
. TADASHI IMAI, THE FILMMAKER ON THE SIDE OF THE WEAK (12 mins)
“Just as his hero chooses a different path from his ancestors, Tadashi Imai wanted to change his world a bit. Cruel Tales of Bushido is situated between the great masters and the New Wave. By Professor Futoshi Koga, film historian at Nihon University – College of Art (Tokyo).
. TRAILER
* in HD on the Blu-ray Disc™ version
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BD 50 • HIGH DEFINITION MASTER • 1080/23.98p • AVC ENCODING
Original Version DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 & 1.0 • French Subtitles
2.35 format respected • Black & White • Film length: 123 mins
DVD 9 • NEW RESTORED MASTER • PAL • MPEG-2 ENCODING
Original Version Dolby Digital 3.0 & 1.0 • French Subtitles
2.35 format respected • 16/9 4/3 compatible • Black & White • Film length: 118 mins
Released September 20, 2022
