A cruel story - Tai Kato (1964)
Japanese | Subtitle: none | 1:35:15 | 640 x 272| DiVX | MP3 – 86 kbps |700 MB
Genre: Drama/Action
Beautifilly filmed in widescreen black & white, Bakumatsu zankoku monogatari is known by sundry English titles. The subtitled 35 mm print I saw called it The Executioners but the current subtitled DVD Brutal Story at the End of the Tokugawa Shogunate comes closer to an accurate translation of the Japanese title. It's also known as Cruel Story of the Shogunate's Downfall or simply as A Cruel Story.
This is a tale of Shinsen-gumi, the anti-royalist samurai organization of Kyoto about whom many films have been made, & many histories & novels written, many manga & anime drawn. They rose in power just before the Meiji Restoration as the Tokugawa period was coming to a close, & their goal was to preserve the Tokugawa government at any cost.