A 1929 Japanese con artist epic where the system bites back—silent film shade at its finest.
A man rises in society by cheating, but the institutions in turn take their revenge.
Direction
Uchida's early mastery of silent narrative rhythm and social critique.
Acting
Kosugi's physical performance as the smarmy, doomed climber.
Director
Tomu Uchida
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Japan's Taishō democracy, the film channels anxieties about Western-style individualism crashing against traditional social structures. Uchida would later become a master of jidaigeki, but his early shōshimin-eiga (common people drama) work like this is criminally underseen.
Most prints were lost; surviving versions are incomplete, meaning modern audiences experience a fragmentary reconstruction of Uchida's original vision.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
JP
