While the set design is very nice, Toru Takemitsu's score is eerie and Nakadai is pretty decent in the lead role (But when is he never?), I found this to be a pretty dull film that especially pales in comparison to Nobuo Nakagawa's 1959 adaptation of the legend (Released by Shintoho). The film moves at a pretty slow pace, while simultaneously making a lot of jumps in time, and features some plot convulsions, that while also present in other adaptations (Namely the sisters being kept separated and unaware of their close proximity while their spouses hang), are only emphasized by this film's longer runtime. Still, there are some interesting elements that make this version stand out, namely the rich woman our "protagonist" Iiemon falls for being largely conveyed through her (supposed) assistant, who is portrayed in a very deceitful, ghostly fashion almost akin to Ugetsu (Albeit, it's no tragedy Iiemon falls for their bait).
Not a bad film, but falls flat compared to the simply much better (And shorter) Nakagawa-directed version. There are countless adaptations of this story that I've been meaning to check out (Including a two-part version from 1949 starring Ken Uehara and directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, an earlier Shintoho adaptation from 1957 starring Tomisaburo Wakayama and a Daiei-produced version also from 1959 starring Kazuo Hasegawa), but I'm fairly confident none will be as strong as Nakagawa's.
