The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Starring Denjirô Ôkôchi, Ken’ichi Enomoto, Yoshio Kosugi, Susuma Fujita, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Hansirô Iwai, Akitake Kôno, Dekao Yokoo.

Six samurai and a deposed prince travel across the countryside disguised as monks, seeking exile. Brief but poignant allegory using the source material of a kabuki play called Kanjinchô (a story which dates back to the fifteenth century as Ataka) to comment on the state of affairs for the Japanese people near the end of World War II; as a result, it was banned in its home country for several years. Written in a day and produced on a shoestring budget, it can feel small and incomplete at times—personalities of all but three or four of the characters are indistinct and the film seems to end prematurely—but shows off the incredible talent of its young director. The forest camerawork can be seen as a precursor to Rashômon. Playing the clownish porter, expressive Enomoto steals the movie as the sort of comic relief that actually proves vital to the story.

71/100