Last month while reviewing Shinobi Volume 2, I wanted to see more of Raizo Ichikawa’s performances. The actor who defined the role of the ninja had died in 1969 at 37. While he made over 150 films, so many of the titles had never arrived in America since they didn’t star giant monsters stomping Tokyo. Now another entry in his cinematic legacy is finally arriving on these shores. The Blu-ray lets you truly appreciate his dramatic and physical skills on the screen. The Betrayal has Raizo Ichikawa playing a samurai warrior instead of a ninja. However he must be stealth to survive in feudal Japan. More importantly is the last reel of The Betrayal might be the greatest against the odds fight in cinema history.
A rival clan member is supposed to train at Master Isaka Yaichiro’s dojo except he shows up late for the daily class. He’s pissed off at travelling so far for nothing. On his horse ride back, he gets into a fight with two men. While the guys only knock him out, they decide to kill him by stabbing the brat in the back. Turns out this isn’t a good since the jerk is the related to the rival clan leader. They want Samurai justice. Since Yaichiro has no idea about the real killers in his dojo; he begs samurai Takuma Kobuse (Raizô Ichikawa) to take the blame and vanish into the countryside for a year. By the end of the year, Yaichiro expects to be able to talk the leaders into reversing their death penalty decision. Takuma is on the verge of marrying Namie Katagiri (Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple‘s Kauru Yachigusa), but does the honorable thing for the dojo. He packs up a few belonging and hits the trail as a fugitive. He counts the days until things get fixed. Staying alive for a year gets tough since the rival clan has his wanted posters all over the place. They are aching to slice off his head. Things get worse when the truly unexpected happens. Takuma realizes there’s going to be no easy way back to his old life and the arm of his love.
Raizo Ichikawa proves he can play a samurai a well as a ninja in The Betrayal. Even more important than his ability to swordfight; the actor nails the emotions of a character who gets screwed over on his loyalty. He comes to the realization that all this talk about the samurai way is BS. The sad part is there’s no escape from the life except at the end of a sword. While The Betrayal is solid dramatically, it goes deep into the action. The last 15 minutes of the film has to be the most convincing one man against an army moment in cinema. Ichikawa isn’t merely a whirling killing machine with his sword. You feel him hurt and getting worn out as the body count soars. You’ll be glued to how the scene plays out. Director Tokuzô Tanaka (The Whale God) keeps what could be an overkill of killing into a hypotonic frenzy. He ends the melee with an emotional coda that makes The Betrayal a masterpiece of samurai cinema.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer of the black and white film shimmers when the swords are pulled out. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Japanese mono. The sound is mixed well so the blades clanging doesn’t override the score. The movie is subtitled in English.
Select-scene audio commentary by Japanese film historian Tom Mes (41:23) has him discuss The Samurai Film, Japanes Films Studios, Anatomy of a Duel and The Grapes of Samauri Wrath.
The Path To Betrayal (9:42) is a visual essay by film critic Philip Kemp. The Betrayal gets compared to the original silent film Orochi the Serpent from 1926. There are clips of the first Ronin films. Orochi ran into trouble because the movie made the outlaw look heroic. They had to rename it The Serpent. We get a short bio of Tokuzo Tanaka. He compares the elements in common between the films.
The Four Elements of Tokuzo Tanaka (9:24) is a visual essay on the director by Tom Mes. The montage covers Mist, Earth, Fire and Time. Tanaka’s films include Shinobi 4, The Snow Woman, Demon of Mount OE and The Whale God. The end of the focuses on the finale of The Betrayal.
Limited edition booklet features an essay by Alain Silver on the film.
Radiance Pictures present The Betrayl (Limited Edition). Directed by Tokuzô Tanaka. Screenplay by Seiji Hoshikawa & Tsutomu Nakamura. Starring Raizô Ichikawa, Kaoru Yachigusa, Shiho Fujimura, Ryûtarô Gomi and Taketoshi Naitô. Running Time: 87 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: September 16, 2025.
