Sansho the Bailiff
Original title: Sanshô dayû · Turkish title: Efendi Sanso
“Without mercy, man is like a beast.”
1954 · 2 h 4 min
Directed by 
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji MizoguchiCast
Kinuyo Tanaka Yoshiaki Hanayagi 
Kyoko Kagawa
Credits
Written by: Ogai Mori
Plot
A noble family is broken up and the children are sold into slavery.
Sinekatalog’s take
Kenji Mizoguchi's tragedy of a family torn apart in feudal Japan is achingly beautiful. Its long takes and fluid camera build a devastating humanist masterpiece about compassion and cruelty.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 8.3 / 10 (20,222 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset; Rotten Tomatoes snapshot from October 2026. Scores change over time.
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