Thanks to Paulownia (paulownia.livejournal.com) for bringing this to
my attention.
This film is better known to fans as SHINSENGUMI: BAND OF ASSASINS or
just SHINSENGUMI (1969) starring Toshiro Mifune
(
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066372/)
http://www.animeigo.com/samurai/shinsengumi.t
--------------------------------------------
For fans who have not seen this film yet, you may ask "is this worth
my time?"
Yes and No.
If you want to see an interesting characterization of Serizawa Kamo
then yes.
If you don't want to see what has got to be one of the worst
portrayals of Okita in cinema then stay far far away from this film.
But like many Shinsengumi films this production has some kitsch, some
camp and excessive violence.
[fun fact] Serizawa Kamo in this film is played by Rentaro Mikuni who
is the father of Koichi Sato who has played 2 members of the
Shinsengumi (1) Serizawa Kamo in the NHK "Shinsengumi!" series and
(2) Saito Hajime in MIBUGISHIDEN