The Hidden Fortress [Kakushi-toride no san-akunin] ***** (1958, Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki) Classic Movie Review 5884

Co-writer/ director Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 Japanese adventure is one of Kurosawa’s deservedly admired, classic Samurai movies, and a world cinema landmark.

Toshirô Mifune stars as a fearlesss Samurai warrior, General Rokurota Makabe, who during the civil war in 16th-century Japan, escorts to safety the charming, lovely princess Yuki (Misa Uehara), clutching her riches, on a life-threateningly dangerous trip.

Mifune is brilliant in this beautifully photographed, fairy-tale-like story, full of wry, sly humour, poetry and dazzling cinematic sleight-of-hand. It is shot in gleaming black and white and widescreen by Ichio Yamasaki.

It is written by Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni and Shinobu Hashimoto, produced by Kurosawa and Masumi Fujimoto, scored by Masaru Sato and designed by Yoshiro Muraki.

It won director Kurosawa the prestigious Silver Bear award for best director at the Berlin Film Festival in 1959.

Also in the cast are Minoru Chiaki, Eiko Miyoshi, Kamatri Shimura, Susumu Fujita, Toshiko Higuchi, Koji Mitsui, Shiten Ohashi, Kichijiro Ueda, Ikio Sawamura and Haruo Nakajima as Akisuki soldier.

There are three versions, 139 minutes, 114 minutes (1959) and 110 minutes (cut).

RIP Haruo Nakajima, the man inside the original Godzilla movies suit, who died at 88 on 7 August 2017.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5884

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