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Japan, the early 1700's: Samurai Heisaburo (Tsumasaburo Bando) is a top
student of his master Eizon (Misao Seki), and in love with his daughter
Namie (Utako Tamaki) - but then he gets involved in a number of fights
through no fault of his own and is branded a bully and is thrown out by
his master. And what's worse, Namie starts to reject him. He sneaks back
into his master's house to explain himself to Namie, but she thinks he has
come to rape her ... and for this he is thrown out of the village
altogether, forced to become a ronin wandering the countryside. Eventually,
Heisaburo gets involved in a brawl in another village, and he is thrown
into jail. Inside, he makes the acquaintance of Kokichi (Kinnosuke
Nakamura), and once out again, he becomes Kokichi's bodyguard, not knowing
that he is nothing but a common thief. With Kokichi, Heisaburo starts
visiting an inn where pretty Ochio (Shizuko Mori) is working, and he falls
head over heels in love with her, even if she doesn't share his feelings.
Kokichi cannot help but noticing that fact, and since he needs Heisaburo
for a big job, he has Ochio kidnapped and delivered to Heisaburo to have
his way with her. The devil inside him tells Heisaburo to rape the girl
right there on the spot, but there is enough honour left inside him to
resist temptation. Then the police raids the place, and everyone gets
arrested, but Heisaburo can at least help Ochio to escape. Heisaburo has
spent the last 6 months in prison, and only the thought of Ochio kept him
going - until his longing for her becomes to overwhelming and he breaks
out of jail ... only to learn that Ochio has married in the meantime. This
doesn't change the fact though that Hwisaburo is still on the run from the
police, and when he thinks all is lost, Akagi (Yoshimatsu Nakamura), the
most honourable man in town, offers to hide him, an offer Heisaburo cannot
refuse. Heisaburo soon becomes a fencing instructor in Akagi's household,
and everything seems to have worked out fine after all - when Heisaburo
learns that Akagi actually makes his money kidnapping girls from the
village and selling them into slavery and prostitution. Now this is some
kind of bitter irony, since while Heisaburo has done his best to never
break a law, he is branded a villain, and Akagi, who makes his money from
crime, is a man of honour ... One day, Akagi's men have picked up Namie
and her husband Shinnojo (Kensaku Haruchi), who have been attacked and
robbed while travelling the countryside and now need assistance. However,
in Akagi's eyes, assistance seems to mean having Shinnojo beaten up and
trying to force himself onto Namie. Now this really is the last strawl for
Heisaburo, who slaughters everyone (except for Namie and Shinnojo of
course) in the Akagi household, then fights against an army of policemen
... and he holds up remarkably well, too, until he sees the dead bodies of
the policemen he has slaughtered and realizes he has become a murderer of
innocent people, which totally contradicts his code of honour. He
surrenders and is dragged off like a wild animal, and his main regret is
that he is considered a villain by everyone and nobody is able to look
into his heart - but even if he does know it, at least Namie and Shinnojo
are more than grateful ... One of the few samurai movies (or
chambaras, if you may) that have survived from the silent era, I wouldn't
exactly call Orochi a classic just for that fact, after all it
tells a pretty clichéed story in a rather predictable way and tries a
little too hard to hammer its message (more or less "Don't judge a
book by its cover") home - but all that said, at the same time the
film is still pretty entertaining, very well-paced and featuring a few
rather exciting fight scenes. And even if it isn't a classic, it's more or
less a must-see for chambara fans simply because it is one of the very few
surviving films of the genre.
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find Orochi at adultvideouniverse.com
