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Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of Gennosuke, who kills one of his clan's ministers as part of a reform plot. He is pursued by his former comrades, and the betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 2.35:1
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 4 ounces
Item model number ‏ : ‎ CRRNSWO040DVD
Director ‏ : ‎ Hideo Gosha
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Widescreen, Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled, Multiple Formats
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 25 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2005
Actors ‏ : ‎ Mikijiro Hira, Go Kato, Shima Iwashita, Toshie Kimura, Kantar Suga
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
Language ‏ : ‎ Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Studio ‏ : ‎ Criterion Collection
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000AQKUGI
Writers ‏ : ‎ Eizaburo Shiba, Hideo Gosha
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #151,309 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #2,325 in Foreign Films (Movies & TV)
- #13,931 in Action & Adventure DVDs
- #24,505 in Drama DVDs

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4.3 out of 5

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Mr Axolotl

Great interesting and different kind of samurai film

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2013

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This finely crafted tale of a "ronin" roaming the countryside trying to find his fortune while running from those who would do him harm. Directed by Hideo Gosha and starring Mikijiro Hira, Go Kato, and Shima Iwashita (wonderful as the comic relief). Hira is a wandering ronin who attracts another, Iwashita, and they travel into the hills where it is rumored gold is to be found. The problem is gold is not for public taking but belongs to the local warlord.

They come upon Go Kato and his wife, therein lies a story subplot, who is mining gold and apparently has quite a bundle others would like to get their hands on. There are people after Hira, people after Kato, plus other dangerous villains which makes for a complicated and fun tale of swordplay and double cross!

Hira also stars in Gosha's Three Outlaw Samurai, not to be missed either. This was made in the golden age of Japanese samurai films, 1965.

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Barry Harrell

Great movie for Samurai movie nuts.

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2015

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Great movie for Samurai movie nuts.

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Roy

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2015

Great

"We ARE connected...because I will see you in Hell!"

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2005

When we first meet Gennosuke Yuuki (Mikijiro Hira) at the start of "Sword of the Beast" ("Kedamono no ken"), the samurai of the Enshu Kakegaw clan has just killed Counselor Kenmotsu Yamaoka and is in the process of fleeing to his home province. Kenmotsu's only daughter, Misa (Toshie Kimura), along with her fiancé, Daizaburo Torio (Kantaro Suga), immediately set off in pursuit. Gundayu Katori, master swordsman of the clan, and four of his best men were sent along to assist them. The year is 1857, after the arrival of Commodore Perry's fleet, and the nation faces inevitable reform. But staying alive is Gennosuke's only goal. His pursuers disparage him for being a coward by running away, but Gennosuke would rather sacrifice his pride than his life.

The problem is that as he flees Gennosuke meets up with this shady fellow who knows where to find gold on land owned by the Shogun near Mount Shirane. Also after the gold are a gang of bandits and the samurai Jurota Yamane (Go Kato), who is being aided and abetted by his wife. What is set up is a sword fight between Gennosuke and Jurota, but when Gennosuke saves Jurota's wife from the bandits that changes the dynamics of the situation. Meanwhile, everybody is making their way to the mountain for the big showdown, and while this film was originally released in the United States as "Samurai Gold Seekers," the title "Sword of the Beast" proves to be much more accurate.

Director Hideo Gosha ("Yokiro") and his co-writer Eizaburo Shiba come up with a more complicated scenario than we usually find in these samurai movies. Although Gennosuke is the central character, it is Jurota whose life is the subject of flashbacks to explain his problems and motivations. Daizaburo is pursuing Gennosuke, but there are obvious parallels behind his life with Misa with those of Jurota and his wife. The problem with the story is that at the end when everything comes together the payoff does not meet our expectations, which is why I ended up rounding down on this one. Although I love Gennosuke's final words to the counselor, it is ironically insightful that his justification has nothing to do with the machinations of everyone involved but his assumed place in the afterlife.

I like the way Gosha shoots several of the swordfights in this black & white film, which is to set up a stationary camera and have the action move away. From the perspective today of films with hand-held cameras and excessive cutting during the action scenes, it is so refreshing to actually be able to see what is going on. Gosha also favors the ballet of swordplay without resorting to blood sprays and such excesses. As an example of Japan's post-war cinema this 1965 film emphasizes the nobility of the lower samurai versus the corruption of the superiors, brought home by a scene in which their sense of honor compels some of the samurai to refuse to obey orders, evincing a sense of indignation that you usually do not see if these films. The reforms hinted at by the opening scene are not central to the story, but they are a strong undercurrent to the morality of the film.

"Sword of the Beast" is part of the "Rebel Samurai: Sixties Swordplay Classics" collector's set, which also includes Masahiro Shinoda's "Samurai Spy," Masaki Kobayshi's "Samurai Rebellion" with Toshiro Mifune, and Kihachi Okamoto's Italian western-influenced "Kill!" The films are available separately or as a set, but even if this one proves to be the least impressive of the quartet, this is an excellent set of samurai films that most fans of the genre have never seen. If you are not convinced that there is an entire world of "jidai-geki" films out there beyond those of Akira Kurosawa, this collection will definitely persuade you. It is just surprising for a Criterion Collection disc that there are absolutely no extras on this DVD, unless you think chapters and subtitle options count as something special.

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Keith E. Hunsucker

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2014

the best

A Run-Of-The-Mill Production

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2015

KEDAMONO NO KEN (SWORD OF THE BEAST). A Run-Of-The-Mill Production.

Rating = ***
Director: Hideo Gosha
Producers: Gin'ichi Kishimoto et al.
DVD
1965

Film = barely three (3) stars; editing = two (2) stars. Director Hideo Gosha's mounting of a pedestrian chanbara (sword play) that starts with a superfluous, expository voice-over (which is never a good sign) and quickly begins to suffer from the effects of ham-handed editing. The film uses flashbacks that repeat everything described in the voice-over. Flashbacks occur without warning with the narrative just suddenly (and confusingly) jumping to past events (for sure, the film could benefit from events emerging in chronological order). In one scene, a prostitute suddenly appears and murders a nearly drown samurai for reasons never fully explained. In another, a major sword fight suddenly jumps from an interior set to an exterior field of tall grass. The list goes on and on. (It is obvious that too much [or not enough] has been left on the proverbial cutting-room floor!) Sword fights are poorly choreographed and seem amateurish. They take on the unmistakable aura of children playing with wooden sticks. The Director seems to have exerted a firm hand on his actors/actresses with the latter turning in credible performances (except for their wielding of swords). But, alas, it is not enough to compensate for a weak and wobbly script (gold-panning samurai, anyone?). The movie's title is explained/underlined ad nausea in scene after scene. Cinematography (wide screen, black and white) is very good. It is often understated with subtle nuances. The use of tall grass and a boulder-laced stream for exterior scenes is excellently staged. Film score includes contemporary jazz rifts that should have been used elsewhere and not in a photoplay of the mid 1800's. Restoration is fine. Subtitles are often too long given the fast flash rates. A hallmark of Criterion releases. (Keep a finger poised over the pause button!) A partial cure for insomnia. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

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J.Baines

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2014

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Fab film

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Rob Larmer

Great little samurai treat

Reviewed in Canada on July 5, 2007

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I recently have started looking outside of Kurosawa for my samurai fix, and came upon a film known as 'Sword of the Beast'. I was expecting the equivalent of a B-western, but became mildly surprised by the quality of filmmaking.

The story centers around a Ronin (masterless samurai) that has been unfairly marked for death. He doesn't accept his unfair judgment, and goes on the lamb. He meets up with a petty criminal, and together they go into shogunate territory to pan gold. What unfolds are some interesting plot twists and a great all around film.

What impressed me most was the cinematography. During a scene early on they are chasing him through a field of tall, tall grass. The way the wind goes over the grass and the way the chase is shot is done so beautifully I was simply blown away. Now Sword of the Beast is most certainly not The Seven Samurai, its not even Sanjuro, but it is a great film and one that I recommend any lover of the samurai film to try. It is surprisingly very well made.

lynn harrison

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2017

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great dvd

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Sword of the Beast (The Criterion Collection)

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Genre	Action & Adventure
Format	Widescreen, Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled, Multiple Formats
Contributor	Eijir Tno, Go Kato, Toshie Kimura, Kunie Tanaka, Mikijiro Hira, Kantar Suga, Yko Mihara, Shima Iwashita, Hideo Gosha, Eizaburo Shiba, Hisashi Yokomori See more
Language	Japanese
Runtime	1 hour and 25 minutes