Incident at Blood Pass

The Edo period. A ronin with no name accepts a job: go to a mountain pass and wait. He is not told what he is waiting for. At the inn near the pass a mixed collection of people has gathered, among them a gang planning to rob the shogunate gold that will be coming over the pass. When it becomes clear what the job actually is, the ronin is left in a difficult place. Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, the film has Toshirō Mifune in the lead. Other major stars of the period are in the cast, Shintarō Katsu and Kinnosuke Nakamura among them. The telling is built on waiting more than on action; the real tension is the people at the inn sizing each other up. Without spoiling the end, the question is not the sword but deciding who you owe.