Throne of Blood [Criterion Collection]

Director: Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa

Overview

Macbeth is reimagined as a samurai in feudal Japan in director Akira Kurosawa's classic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy. Familiar with Orson Welles's more faithful adaptation, Kurosawa chose to place a more personal stamp on his version by translating the events and characters to historical Japan. The equivalent of the tragic Scottish lord is Taketoki Washizu (Toshiro Mifune), a valiant warrior whose life is transformed by an encounter with a ghostly female spirit. The spirit offers several predictions, finally stating that Washizu will rise to power over the current warlord. When these predictions begin coming true, he and his ambitious wife decide to ensure his ascendancy to power by murdering the current ruler. As with Macbeth, Washizu achieves his goal, but his guilt and the suspicions of others soon bring about his downfall. The shift to Japanese settings is seamless, creating a historically accurate and resonant work with a culturally distinct visual style. The supporting performances also recall Japanese tradition, particularly Isuzu Yamada's creepily unemotional take on Lady Macbeth, while Mifune proves consistently gripping in the sheer intensity of his performance. The intelligence of Kurosawa's alterations retains the drama's tragic impact, especially during the conclusion, in which Washizu makes a memorable final stand against an advancing army. Impressive in every regard, Throne of Blood seems secure in the pantheon of superior film adaptations of William Shakespeare.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/25/2015
UPC:	0715515155212
Original Release:	1957
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:49:00
Sales rank:	14,222

Special Features

Audio commentary featuring Japanese film expert Michael Jeck; Documentary on the making of the film, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create; Two alternate subtitle translations, by Japanese film translator Linda Hoaglund and Kurosawa expert Donald Richie; Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Toshiro Mifune	Taketoki Washizu
Isuzu Yamada	Asaji
Takashi Shimura	Noriyasu Odagura
Minoru Chiaki	Yoshaki Miki
Akira Kubo	Yoshiteru
Takamaru Sasaki	Kuniharu Tsuzuki
Yoichi Tachikawa	Kunimaru
Chieko Naniwa	Witch
Kichijiro Ueda	Washizu's workman
Masaru Sato	Composer

Technical Credits

Akira Kurosawa

Hideo Oguni

Ryuzo Kikushima

Shinobu Hashimoto

Akira Kurosawa	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Sojiro Motoki	Producer,Producer
Hideo Oguni	Screenwriter
Ryuzo Kikushima	Screenwriter
Shinobu Hashimoto	Screenwriter

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Throne of Blood
1. Opening Credits/Chorus [5:19]
2. Captains Washizu And Miki Triumph [4:09]
3. The Forest Maze [3:00]
4. A Prophecy [7:36]
5. Lost [4:49]
6. Prophecy Fulfilled [2:07]
7. Lord Washizu And Lady Asaji [4:52]
8. Ambush? [4:44]
9. Blood Of A Traitor [2:46]
10. High Treason [9:18]
11. Intruders! [1:08]
12. The Chase [5:56]
13. The Great Lord's Coffin [7:13]
14. An Heir [2:44]
15. Evil Omen [2:40]
16. An Unexpected Guest [9:33]
17. Stillborn [5:22]
18. Seeking Answers [5:20]
19. Rallying The Troops [6:17]
20. The Birds [3:00]
21. Madness [3:11]
22. The Forest Moves [6:55]
23. Chorus [1:33]
1. Color Bars [:20]
1. Noh Style/An Experiment [5:19]
2. Historical Context/Takashi Shimura [4:09]
3. Cut Pans/Master Horsemen [3:00]
4. Noh Influences/Mifune And Chiaki [7:36]
5. Fog [4:49]
6. 180-Degree Flip/Sashimonos [2:07]
7. Structure/Isuzu Yamada [4:52]
8. Adding Motivaton/Kurosawa's Women [4:44]
9. Seppuku [2:46]
10. A Parable Of Ambition [9:18]
11. The Alarm [1:08]
12. Kurosawa's Usual Style/Realpolitik [5:56]
13. Crossing The Line/Miki's Motivation [7:13]
14. No Loose Ends [2:44]
15. Horse Imagery [2:40]
16. Despair/Intentionalist Falacy [9:33]
17. A Disagreement With Olivier/Writing Credits [5:22]
18. Other Adaptations/"Guest Stars" [5:20]
19. Framing The Army/Yoshiro Muraki [6:17]
20. A Difficult Scene To Shoot [3:00]
21. "First Take" [3:11]
22. The Killing: How He Does It [6:55]
23. The Circle Closes [1:33]
1. Color Bars [:20]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Throne of Blood
   Play The Movie
   Chapters
   Commentary
      Commentary: Off
      Commentary: On
      Index
   Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create
   Trailer
   Subtitles
      Hoaglund Subtitles: On
      Richie Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

In Throne of Blood, director Akira Kurosawa combines 15th-century samurai history with elements of Noh theater for a brilliant retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The peerless Toshiro Mifune stars as Washizu, a decorated samurai who, along with his warrior friend Miki (Akira Kubo), encounters an evil spirit prophesying a change in the royal order -- specifically, Washizu will rule, followed by Miki's son. Despite his efforts to alter fate, Washizu is cajoled by his manipulative wife (Isuzu Yamada, in the Lady Macbeth role) into taking over the kingdom by force, a bloody act unleashing a brutal chain of events that eventually tears apart the kingdom. Like Kurosawa's Ran, his King Lear film made nearly three decades later, Throne of Blood uses the bare essentials of Shakespeare's drama to enact a grand history lesson on feudal Japan, replete with period costumes, intense melodrama, swarms of flying arrows, and, in this case, lush black-and-white cinematography. Aside from the always-charismatic presence of Mifune, what makes the film special is Kurosawa's integration of techniques based in Japan's traditional Noh theater. The bare sets, expressive soundtrack, and stylized performances enhance the story to a new level above that of play-on-film; the battle scenes are even expressionist in nature. The experience is best described not as a mere Shakespeare adaptation but as a sublime transposition.

Barnes & Noble - Tony Nigro

One of the most successful Shakespeare adaptations for the screen, Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood strips away Macbeth's minor characters and long soliloquies, turns the witch scenes into a strange supernatural encounter, and transforms the Scottish landscape into a misty visage of feudal Japan. Kurosawa masterfully employs style and composition to create a closed world in which the film's tragic outcome seems pre-ordained. Such visual motifs as fog, wind, and rain, juxtaposed with the austere interior of Washizu's castle, create an eerie, foreboding feel, while Kurosawa's use of stark blacks and whites, coupled with his persistent use of hard edits, seem to place the characters in stylistic confinement. Not unlike Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura (1960), Kurosawa uses repetition, such as the image of Washizu's emerging from the fog, to suggest the futility of the characters' actions. Rarely has a Kurosawa film been rendered with such bleakness. Throne of Blood is a visually brilliant, emotionally powerful masterpiece from one of the true masters of cinema.

All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow