Overview: To protect his clan, an honorable samurai (Raizo Ichikawa, Shinobi) takes the blame for a murder committed by one of his fellows. He is promised a safe return after one year in exile, but this vow is broken and he becomes a fugitive chased by his own clansmen.

Disillusioned by the bushido code of honor, he realizes there are only two ways out: vengeance or death. From director Tokuzo Tanaka (The Snow Woman), a former assistant to Akira Kurosawa, this cruel jidaigeki stands alongside such notable works of the genre as Harakiri and Sword of Doom with its classic mix of honor codes and samurai action.

Beautifully filmed in black and white scope with thrilling set pieces, The Betrayal features one of the most breathtaking finales in all of samurai cinema.

Blu-ray Verdict: A big braggart Samurai (Rytaro Gomi) barges into Master Isaka Yaichiro’s dojo to challenge the Sensei, who wasn’t there. Two students from the dojo go after this guy, bushwack and mortally wound him but he escapes to tell of the attack before he dies.

This neighboring gang comes back to the dojo and wants satisfaction. No one claimed to be the attacker.

Raizo Ichikawa, who is famous for his Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise, plays Takuma Kamuse, a young, talented, yet naive Samurai. He is engaged to Namie Katagiri (Kauru Yachigusa). Her father finds out that his nephew, Jurota Makabe (Ichiro Makatani) were the ones who killed the Samurai.

Part of this was a sense of Samurai loyalty, another part was not wanting to refuse his fiancé’s Father pleading for Takuma to run away for a year, making him seem like the prime suspect to the murder. If, after a year, this mess isn’t cleared up, the father would commit hari kari.

On the run, Tacuma befriends a sarcastic crook, Funajiro (Fujioka Takuya) who follows him around and robs him every chance he gets. Poor Takuma is also betrayed by Jurota, and the father, Katagiri who dies before the year is up, forcing Takuma to be chased by the law, the angry gang, (who wants vengeance) and his own dojo.

In a fight with his dojo’s sensei Takuma falls off a cliff. He is nursed back to health by a beautiful waitress, Shino (Shisho Fujimura) who falls in love with him, but Takuma is still in love with his Namie but has given up all hope. Later, working for a Yakuza, Takuma sees Namie working in a brothel.

This is a very good movie and thankfully the inevitable sword fight finale between Takuma and several armies of Samurai is well played and thought out. By the late nineteen-sixties, the giant fight scene against countless Samurai has become clichéd, but at the time, it was very impressive; as it is here.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
High-Definition digital transfer by Kadokawa
Uncompressed mono PCM audio
Select-scene audio commentary by Japanese film historian Tom Mes (2025)
Visual essay by film critic Philip Kemp, comparing The Betrayal with the original Orochi the Serpent (2025)
Visual essay on director Tokuzo Tanaka by Tom Mes (2025)
New English subtitle translation
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Alain Silver
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

Official Purchase Link

www.radiancefilms.co.uk