The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952) is an early Akira Kurosawa film you can watch online on iFILM. Japan, 1185. The warrior Yoshitsune has fallen under his shogun brother's suspicion and been branded an outlaw, left to flee north on foot through enemy checkpoints.

To slip past the guards, Yoshitsune and his six retainers dress as wandering monks, while their lord poses as a lowly porter. At the Ataka barrier they meet a sharp-eyed captain who smells a lie. The only thing standing between the group and execution is the cool nerve of the loyal Benkei, who reads a fake temple decree aloud from a blank scroll. One crack in his voice and they are all dead.

Running under an hour, the film grew straight out of theater — its roots are the Noh play Ataka and the Kabuki classic Kanjinchō — and comic actor Kenichi Enomoto threads odd humor through the mountain trek. Shot at the very end of the war, it sat shelved and reached audiences only years later. A fine doorway into early Kurosawa for anyone drawn to tight stories about loyalty and composure under pressure. Stream The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952) online on iFILM.