The picture belongs to the jidai gekki (historic) genre. It is a powerful story of violence and eroticism, picturing a world at once sordid and poetic, with two central themes which intermingle to compound an admirable panel of a critical period in Japanese history: the great famine in the mid 19th Century. Arguably this rather unknown gem was one of the best pictures released in 1952, together with Umberto D., Limelight, The Quiet Man, Singin' in the Rain, High Noon, Jeux interdits, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice, Casque d'or, Scaramouche and The Sound Barrier
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