- director:
- Akira Kurosawa
- cast:
- Toshiro Mifune, Misa Uehara
Kurosawa’s first Tohoscope film provided the “inspiration” for George Lucas when he set out to make Star Wars some twenty years later. Mifune, accompanied by two peasants perpetually at each other’s throats, sets out to rescue a princess in feudal Japan. “Kurosawa set a new standard for visualized excitement that filmmakers have been imitating ever since. Photographing man in nature, man confronting fate, Kurosawa’s imagery depicts human beings as pawns to destiny or their own animal instincts. ...The clarity and vibrance of Ichio Yamazaki’s cinematography makes The Hidden Fortress a special pleasure; nighttime sequences are deep and velvety with images highlighted in gray sheen or shimmering whiteness.” (Armond White)
website: janusfilms.com/films/1132