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.
as Kuranosuke Ôishi
as Asano Takuminokami and Yoshida Sawaemon (as Chôjirô Hayashi)
as Awajinokami Wakisaka / Gorobei Kakimi
as Kurobee Ōno
as Hyobu
as Kozukenosuke Kira
as Sezaemon Oishi
as Soemon Hara / Kusama Katsunosuke
as Heihachiro Kobayashi
as Shinzaemon Katsuta
as Yahee Horibe
as Gon'uemon Ōkubo
as Miyauchi Saito
as Chotaro Kasahara
as Tsunanori Uesugi
as Kato
as Emoshichi Yatou
as Kujuro Ono
as Hasajiro
as Koyama
as Jūbee Ōtake
as Gengoemon Kataoka
as Iori Date
as Uesugi Family Elder
as Kazuemon Fuwa
as Genzaemon Tonomura
as Tanuki
as Gengo Ôtaka
as Kajikawa
as Yanagisawa
as Yuka
as Сhikara Ôishi
as Makodayu Okuda
as Genshirō Shindō
as servant Ono
as Ikkaku Shimizu
as Yasuke (Kuranosuke's Servant)
as Kihei Asakura
as Yasube Horibe
as Hachirō
as Inokō
as Magokuro Mase
as Chief Retainer Sōda Magobei
as servant
as Oishi Family Servant
as Kansuke Nakamura
as Yuichi Takebayashi
as prince Edokko
as Cowardly Samurai
as Tozaemon Hayamizu
as Sanpei Kayano
as Genzo Akahani
as Kira family attendant
as Chosuke Yagura
as Kouemon Onodera
as Kira's bodyguard
as Yogoro Kanzaki
as Sukeuemon Kaiga
as Senpachi
as Kajimura
as boss of the children (as Tokkan Kozô)
as Daisaburō
as Daimyo
as Oriku
as Nui, Fuwa's wife
as Orui's mother
as Tayu Ukihashi
as Yae
as Yōzen'in
as Orui
as Toda no Tsubone
as Katsuta's Wife Hikari
as Kozuma
as Nobuka Geigi
as Kuni
