This film essentially begins with the Yakuza gambler known as "Oryu-the Red Peony" (Sumiko Fuji) visiting the small village of a new acquaintance she had met previously. Once she gets there she is surprised to find the village in chaos with some of the inhabitants fighting against members of the Japanese army in an apparent protest of a new lead refinery which is polluting the water that these farmers rely so heavily upon. Not long afterward her gracious host, "Kikutaro Yuki" (Koji Tsurata) is severly beaten by the local military commander "Colonel Hatanaka" (Komatsu Hosei) and it's then that she discovers the interwoven corruption between the owners of the refinery, the military and a local Yakuza boss named "Jinpachi Tomita" (Seizaburo Kawazu) who have absolutely no interest in the health or welfare of the neighboring villagers. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was neither the best nor the worst film in the Red Peony Gambler series as it suffered from some rather egregious overacting and an all too familiar plot. To be fair, however, it should be noted that this is the seventh film in a series which only began 3 years earlier and it is probably fair to say that this extremely fast pace probably stifled the creative impulses of all of those concerned. But even so, this was certainly not a bad film by any means and I have rated it accordingly.
