This 1932 adaptation is the earliest sound version of the ever-popular and much-filmed Chushingura story of the loyal 47 retainers who avenged their feudal lord after he was obliged to commit hara-kiri due to the machinations of a villainous courtier. As the first sound version of the classic narrative, the film was something of an event, and employed a stellar cast, who give a roster of memorable performances. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa was primarily a specialist in jidai-geki (period films), such as the internationally celebrated Gate of Hell (Jigokumon, 1953), and although he is now most famous as the maker of the avant-garde silent films A Page of Madness (Kurutta ichipeji, 1926) and Crossroads (Jujiro, 1928), Chushingura is in fact more typical of his output than those experimental works. The film ranked third in that year’s Kinema Junpo critics’ poll, and Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie noted that 'not only the sound but the quick cutting was admired by many critics.
Jusaburo Bando
as Kuranosuke Ôishi
長谷川一夫
as Asano Takuminokami and Yoshida Sawaemon (as Chôjirô Hayashi)
市川右太衛門
as Awajinokami Wakisaka / Gorobei Kakimi
坂東好太郎
as Shinzaemon Katsuta
高田浩吉
as Sezaemon Oishi
Sôjin Kamiyama
as Kozukenosuke Kira
岡譲司
as Yanagisawa
岩田祐吉
as Kurobee Ōno
藤野秀夫
as Hyobu
滝口新太郎
as Сhikara Ôishi
尾上栄五郎
as Heihachiro Kobayashi
野寺正一
as Yahee Horibe
