A 1980 film directed by Toshio Masuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano dealing with the battle for Hill 203 in the Russo-Japanese War. Starred Tatsuya Nakadai as General Nogi and Toshiro Mifune as Emperor Meiji.
Had two sequels of a sort, "Battle Of The Japan Sea: Umi Yukaba" and "The Imperial Japanese Empire", the latter dealing with the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The hill was eventually captured at stupendous loss of life on both the Japanese and Russian sides. The capture of the hill enabled the Japanese army to put pressure on the Russian pacific fleet, thus securing the Japanese victory together with Admiral Togo's "lucky" win in the coming naval battle.
This film provides tropes of:
- Actor Allusion: Tetsuro Tamba and Tatsuya Nakadai as Red Oni, Blue Oni generals? Seen that before!
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: The Japanese make repeated frontal assaults on well-entrenched Russian positions at Port Arthur, most of which end in total failure with entire units wiped out.
- Award-Bait Song: "Sakimori No Uta" by Masashi Sada; played twice in the film, once after the Sedgwick Speech by the faceless soldier, with a full choir treatment for that rendition, and the record version played during the credits.
- Body Horror: The disfigured soldier who has his face and hands burnt to a crisp who walks up to Lieutenant Koga and delivers a speech is certainly this.
- Break the Cutie: Lieutenant Koga is a kind elementary school teacher and pacifist who admires Russia and Russian culture before being drafted. Months of grueling combat and siege conditions turn him into a cynical Shell-Shocked Veteran and it culminates in him snapping and attempting to murder a captured Russian officer who taunts him during an interrogation referring to the Japanese as an 'oriental monkey kingdom'.
- Deconstruction: All 3 films deconstruct the rather patriotic tone of earlier Japanese war films, with many of the tropes seen in those films being ripped apart. The kind young cadet who seems to be luckless and pitiable? He's hiding aggression and tension of all kinds. The stoic, wise officer? Weary from years of war and just as likely to snap under pressure. Patriotic Fervor? Hides a system of corruption, abuse of authority, and abuse. And both sides are seen as human.
- Downer Ending: While the Japanese succeed in taking Port Arthur and winning the war, Lieutenant Koga dies in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with a Russian soldier during a final assault after watching most of the men in his company die over the course of the siege. The film ends with General Nogi weeping over the death of so many of his men (including his sons) in front of the Imperial court and Koga's widow mourning his death.
- Gorn: A war film with effects by Teruyoshi Nakano, a man obsessed practically with natural phenomena like blood, fire, and water. So naturally, the battle scenes play out like this.
- Not So Stoic: General Nogi is the model of Dissonant Serenity throughout, even barely managing to keep it together when told his sons have died in combat. He finally breaks down in anguish at the end of the film while delivering an address to the Emperor, haunted by the tens of thousands of soldiers he sent to die at Port Arthur.
- Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: An impromptu truce with some Russian machinegunners where alcohol and banter is being exchanged at a distance is broken when one of the jumpier Japanese soldiers mistakes one of the Russians passing down a can of food for a grenade and shoots him, leading to tragic results as the other machinegunners then man their weapons and fire at the Japanese.
- Storming the Castle: The Japanese are on a strict timetable to take Port Arthur and eliminate the Russian Pacific Fleet before it can link up with the Baltic Fleet sailing across the world to relieve them. Unfortunately for the Japanese, Port Arthur is one of the most heavily-defended strategic positions in the world during this time period and the Japanese attempts to take it result in Verdun-levels of carnage.
- Villain Protagonist: Tetsuro Tamba as Hideki Tojo in the second film.
- War Is Hell: Lieutenant Koga delivers an angry speech to General Nogi over how war turns men into demons.
