It's an interesting story that at times seemed to suggest a very dark SCARAMOUCHE. The first one we see, beautiful and virtuous Kyôko Aoyama is the daughter of a decayed nobleman who has gone to work as a servant for an elderly rich man -- who tried to rape her. For successfully resisting him, she gets tossed in the dungeon, whereupon the gang pull a scam in which his family will be exposed, but they will save him, so they take his gold and the girl.... whereupon Our Hero starts to rape her, until she calls out for her mother, whereupon he gives up and sends her, unsullied, back to her father. Of course she falls undyingly in love with him.
Did I miss something? It's clear this was the Japanese equivalent of those swashbucklers that were so popular once upon a time, and the plot was set to proceed in a certain manner, and the audience would accept things happening in a certain way. The scams are elaborate and a amusing, the actors are good, the action is fine. Quite clearly Daisuke Itô was one of those writer-directors who could turn out a good script and/or a good flick -- his career stretched from the 1920s through the 1970s, and there's a lot about Japanese movies I've got to learn. Here, though, it seemed that plot drove character an awful lot.
Oe thing that was first rate were the mob scenes, with the crowds of semi-vigilante "Untouchables" run by the corrupt nobles in rabble pursuit of the noble criminals. The Internet Movie DataBase doesn't list any Second Unit Director or Assistant Director. There's some beautiful work there to enliven what looks like a well-produced programmer.
