Chûshingura

Edo, 1701. Lord Asano is humiliated again and again by Kira, the shogunate's master of ceremonies, and finally attacks him in the Hall of the Great Pines at Edo Castle. The shogun rules: Asano is to commit seppuku, and Kira is not punished at all. With Asano's death the men of the Akō clan are left masterless. Their chamberlain Ōishi Kuranosuke waits two years, puts everyone off the scent, and prepares forty-seven men for one night. Hiroshi Inagaki directed it for Toho's thirtieth anniversary and it runs three and a half hours. Matsumoto Hakuō plays Ōishi and Toshirō Mifune another of the samurai. It is told in two parts: Flowers and Snow.