This feature speaks about a war which was not widely known on screen: I talk about the war between Russia and Japan. It seems to be a very rare item, even written by Akira Korosawa himself. There is a good character study in this film made in the late fifties. The story takes place in the first years of the twentieth centuries and shows us Japanase soldiers geting undercover behind enemy lines. . Beautiful snowy scenery, especially for a black and white feature. The Russian movie industry would not have given such a movie, I speak of the story telling, not the directing; it certainly would have been a kind of propaganda movie. This one is in the pure Japanese tradition.