SOULS IN THE MOONLIGHT-TRILOGY BOX SET
REMASTERED Anamorphic Widescreen (16:9)
1957 - 1958 - 1959 - color - 3 discs
Starring: KATAOKA Chiezo, NAKAMURA Kinnosuke, AZUMA Chiyonosuke, TSUKIGATA Ryunosuke, HASEGAWA Yumiko

Much like this country, Japan has a rich history told through the use of motion pictures. Timeless stories which have been told many times were done as silent pictures, and then re-made again and again in each succeeding era. One of the most often filmed stories is that of Japan's greatest novel "The Great Bodhi-sattva Pass", which tells the story of Tsukue Ryunosuke, a master swordsman with an evil style, reflecting the evil in his heart. His ruthless ways and merciless killings leave behind an unsettled past which eventually catches up to him. Reprising his role as Ryunosuke from an earlier version of the story, Kataoka Chiezo shows why he was such a huge movie star. He expertly portrays the slightly sad and sometimes mad swordsman, pursued by the youthful Utsugi Hyoma (Nakamura Kinnosuke in one of his better roles), who is bent on revenge for the slaying of his older brother. This is the entire trilogy told in a way that differs from the novel bringing new insights to the character of Ryunosuke and the turmoil of Japan during the period near the end of the samurai era.