Yotsuya kaidan

It's the first part of a two-part movie. In the first, Ken Uehara is a ronin, dismissed from his post because thieves broke into his master's storehouse. He is married to Kinuyo Tanaka (in heavy make-up; she also figures as her own sister), but he is tired of poverty. So when Hisako Yamane develops a passion for him, his father suggests marriage, as soon as he can get rid of the "maid" who has been managing his household. He's tempted by the end of poverty, but will do nothing dishonorable, until gangster Osamu Takizawa turns up, and he can see many ways for him to profit.

It's based on a play by Nanboku Tsuruya (1759-1829), a kabuki playwright given to supernatural and macabre themes. This was turned into a movie several times, beginning with a silent version in 1925. Although director Keisuke Kinoshita did not write the screenplay, he had a fondness for kabuki, and made a couple of other movies that show the form's influence, particularly THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA; the strong moral components and violent themes seem to have resonated with him.