Abe ichizoku

It's 1642 in Japan and the great lord has died. Custom dictates that those who received favor at his hands should kill themselves, but only if the new lord gives permission. The head of the Abe family asks for permission and is refused. Ignoring protocol, he kills himself, warning his five sons that they will suffer mockery for this, but it is the true way of the samurai. They should behave honorably, accept the mockery, and always support each other. But the loss of face is devastating, and one of them cuts his top knot, breaking his vows as a samurai, effectively renouncing the world to become a monk. He is sentenced to death for this, as the great lord prepares to destroy the Abe clan, and they realize their fate, accepting it willingly as true samurai.

For a movie in 1938, this is an extraordinary attitude. It views bushido as a mad death cult, which only a few maniacs believe, while the others make a show of it.... and no one except the maniacs are willing to die. There are hints of Christianity as an antidote to this madness, and the final battle is appropriately bloodthirsty, but three years before the army subsidzed the production of Mizoguchi's THE 47 RONIN, the very un-Japanese values on display here are astonishing.