Kwaidan (1965)

PG-1301/06/1965Horror, Fantasy, Drama3h 3m
  • User
    Score

In the tradition of "RASHOMON" and "GATE OF HELL."

Overview

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Top Billed Cast

  1. Cast 1

    Michiyo Aratama

    First Wife (segment "The Black Hair")

  2. Cast 1

    Rentaro Mikuni

    Husband (segment "The Black Hair")

  3. Cast 1

    Misako Watanabe

    Second Wife (segment "The Black Hair")

  4. Kenjirō Ishiyama

    Father (segment "The Black Hair")

  5. Ranko Akagi

    Mother (segment "The Black Hair")

  6. Cast 1

    Fumie Kitahara

    (segment "The Black Hair")

  7. Kappei Matsumoto

    (segment "The Black Hair") (uncredited)

  8. Yoshiko Ieda

    (segment "The Black Hair") (uncredited)

  9. Cast 1

    Otome Tsukimiya

    (segment "The Black Hair") (uncredited)

I'm always a little daunted when I settle down in a cinema seat for a film that is 3 hours long - I fear the last glass of wine may have been one too many - but this simply flew by. It is a compendium of four different Japanese "poems" that deal with just about every emotion in the human panoply - love, hate, greed, joy, fear, envy, betrayal... You name it! Each story has a central theme that, perhaps not terribly sophisticated to anyone with a fairly well-centred moral compass of their own, delivers a salutatory lesson in what is decent and what is flawed about human nature, even amongst the ...