Rent Samurai Rebellion (1967)

Good film, poor DVD quality - Samurai Rebellion review by LC

The tale of samurai honour is a good one, but unfortunately the transfer to DVD is rubbish. The image quality is poor, and the aspect ratio is broken so you only see a small letterbox image in the centre of the screen. Disappointing,

Marvelous film - Samurai Rebellion review by VC

Thought I was going to be really bored at first. It was so slow. But after a while the theme, the acting and the filming caught me up. It's inspiring - living in the UK where there is so much apathy about life, and oppression, it's wonderful to watch a film about people who have lived a long time under the thumb of injustice, and towed the line, then finding the ability to say no! There is more to life than keeping the status quo and keeping oneself alive. Wonderful acting and filming towards the end, and I couldn't help thinking it influenced the director of "The House of Flying Daggers" - I found the drama and the atmosphere similar. The quality is pretty bad but don't be put off by that

Mifune Says No - Samurai Rebellion review by griggs

Some samurai films sell “honour” like a shiny medal. This one treats it like a set of rules you’re expected to follow with a straight face. Samurai Rebellion opens with polite bows and official orders, then turns into something stubbornly domestic: a family trying to protect someone they love from a system that treats people like assets.

The sting lands because the woman at the centre isn’t waved away as a plot device. She’s praised as wife and mother, the emotional anchor of the household, yet she’s still moved around like a bargaining chip. Kobayashi doesn’t pretend the game is fair, but he also doesn’t erase her agency. Her consent, courage, and practical strength shape the choices everyone else makes, and that’s where the tension really bites.

Kobayashi’s fury isn’t period-pageantry. Drafted during WWII, he saw what obedience to “the group” can excuse, and he resisted in small ways (including refusing promotion). That history sharpens his critique of clan logic: face over truth, hierarchy over conscience, and an organisation that will happily ruin decent people to protect itself. Critics have read the film as a shot at conformity lingering in Japanese life long after the swords were gone — and it’s easy to see why.

The storytelling is tight, and the final gate showdown hits hard. If Harakiri is Kobayashi’s surgical expose, Samurai Rebellion is the same fury with more skin in the game. And Mifune? The camera adores him and, honestly, same: his last stand feels like a refusal to be quietly put away.