
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.
Kuranosuke Ôishi

Asano Takuminokami and Yoshida Sawaemon (as Chôjirô Hayashi)

Awajinokami Wakisaka / Gorobei Kakimi

Kurobee Ōno

Hyobu

Kozukenosuke Kira

Sezaemon Oishi

Soemon Hara / Kusama Katsunosuke
Heihachiro Kobayashi

Shinzaemon Katsuta

Yahee Horibe

Gon'uemon Ōkubo

Miyauchi Saito

Chotaro Kasahara

Tsunanori Uesugi

Kato

Emoshichi Yatou

Kujuro Ono
Hasajiro
Koyama
Jūbee Ōtake

Gengoemon Kataoka
Iori Date
Uesugi Family Elder

Kazuemon Fuwa

Genzaemon Tonomura

Tanuki

Gengo Ôtaka

Kajikawa

Yanagisawa

Yuka

Сhikara Ôishi

Makodayu Okuda
Genshirō Shindō
servant Ono

Ikkaku Shimizu
Yasuke (Kuranosuke's Servant)
Kihei Asakura
Yasube Horibe
Hachirō
Inokō
Magokuro Mase
Chief Retainer Sōda Magobei
servant
Oishi Family Servant
Kansuke Nakamura
Yuichi Takebayashi
prince Edokko
Cowardly Samurai
Tozaemon Hayamizu
Sanpei Kayano
Genzo Akahani
Kira family attendant
Chosuke Yagura
Kouemon Onodera
Kira's bodyguard
Yogoro Kanzaki

Sukeuemon Kaiga
Senpachi
Kajimura
Unknown Role

Unknown Role
boss of the children (as Tokkan Kozô)

Daisaburō

Daimyo

Oriku

Nui, Fuwa's wife

Orui's mother

Tayu Ukihashi

Yae

Yōzen'in

Orui

Toda no Tsubone

Katsuta's Wife Hikari

Kozuma

Nobuka Geigi
Kuni
