#116: KUROSAWA, Akira: The Hidden Fortress (1958)

KUROSAWA, Akira (Japan)

The Hidden Fortress [1958]

Spine #116
Blu-ray

A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could make one, The Hidden Fortress stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a general charged with guarding his defeated clan's princess (a fierce Misa Uehara) as the two smuggle royal treasure across hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends. This rip-roaring ride is among the director's most beloved films and was a primary influence on George Lucas's Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa's trademark deft blend of wry humor, breathtaking action, and compassionate humanity.

139 minutes
Black & White

Monaural

in Japanese

2:39:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2014

Director/Writer

Screenplay by Ryûzô Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Akira Kurosawa.

Kurosawa was 48 when he directed The Hidden Fortress.

Other Kurosawa films in the Collection:

Eclipse Series 23: Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
Eclipse Series 23: The Most Beautiful (1944)
Eclipse Series 23: Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945)
Eclipse Series 23: The Men Who Tread On The Tiger's Tail (1945)
Eclipse Series 7: No Regrets For Our Youth (1946)
Eclipse Series 7: One Wonderful Sunday (1947)

#413: Drunken Angel (1948)

#233: Stray Dog (1949)

#138: Rashomon (1950)
Eclipse Series 7: Scandal (1950)

Eclipse Series 7: The Idiot (1951)

#221: Ikiru (1952)

#2: Seven Samurai (1954)

Eclipse Series 7: I Live In Fear (1955)

#190: Throne Of Blood (1957)

#239: The Lower Depths (1957)

#319: The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
#52: Yojimbo (1961)
#53: Sanjuro (1962)

#24: High And Low (1963)
#159: Red Beard (1965)
#465: Dodes'ka-den (1970)
#267: Kagemusha (1980)
#316: Ran (1985)

#842: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990)

The Film

Kakushi toride no san akunin

The Hidden Fortress

This is Kurosawa’s 18th film. Stuart Galbraith IV, in his book The Emperor and the Wolf, provides an alternate précis to the above Criterion summary:

”Set in the 16th century, a princess (Misa Uehara) and her retainers are on the run from forces that would overthrow her. The only way she and her clan can survive is to cross a heavily guarded border into safety. The general (Rokurota Makabe) guarding her (Toshirô Mifune) comes up with an ingenious plan. With the help of two greedy country bumpkins (Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara) [Chiaki: 10 films with AK; Fujiwara: 12, all memorable roles*], oblivious to the general’s and princess’s identities, they pretend to be firewood dealers, hiding the clan’s gold in hollow sticks of firewood. They are eventually captured, but a sympathetic warrior (Susumu Fujita, the star of many of Kurosawa’s earlier films) employed by the enemy suddenly frees them, joining them as they escape across the border.” [p. 254]

A rip-roaring adventure of widescreen fun, this film was no accident. After the bleakness of his two 1957 films (Donzoko [The Lower Depths]) and Kumonosu jo [Throne of Blood], Kurosawa said, “No heavy themes on the next film. I want to make a 100% entertainment film, full of thrills and fun.” And so he did!

It is important to remember the facts of life circa 1958. Widescreen films of the late fifties were crucial to the studios (the Japanese were just catching up to the technology at the time). With television stealing warm bodies away from the village movie house, new technology was a very important aspect of the studios’ efforts to get people back into the movie theater. And as for Kurosawa, the widescreen format may just as well have been invented specifically for his directorial style!

There is no better example than the opening of the film. As the two peasants, Tahei (Chiaki) and Matakishi (Fujiwara) are bickering away, a bloodied samurai (Takeshi Katô) suddenly backs into the frame and is killed by samurai on horseback. The effect of seeing so much horizontal space must have been thrilling to moviegoers at the time.

It would be yet another 12 years before Kurosawa would finally make a film in color. But there is no missing that particular technology in this film — Kazuo [Ichio] Yamasaki’s photography is beautiful; the black and whites are as crisp as can be, and moments like the one where Tahei and Matakishi spot each other on the stairs at a great distance while one descends as the other ascends — just before all hell breaks loose! — is a superb use of the widescreen format (not to mention Kurosawa’s use of those long telephoto lenses) ...

Enjoy this film. Some tidbits:

• I wonder how many do not know the story by now? In an interview, George Lucas confirms the fact that he got the idea for telling the Star Wars story from the point of view of its two lowliest characters — as Kurosawa does here.
• Masaru Satô’s fourth score for Kurosawa (he would go on to do five more). The military flavor — crackling drums and screeching piccolos — brings the staid black and white credits to life! The music stops after the director credit and the storytelling beings.
• And what a (visual) storyteller he is! The widescreen adores Kurosawa’s camera. When the two peasants are reunited and forced to dig for gold in the wrecked castle — check out the smashed castle walls! This kind of amazing detailed set construction is one of the things that gave Kurosawa’s producers stomach ulcers (see Akahige [Red Beard] {1965}), nearly two years in the making due to his insistence on this sort of details).
• Kôji Mitsui (b. 1910, same as AK) was sort of an honorary member of the Kurosawa-gumi (his regular acting troupe), who were mostly from Toho; Mitsui was on loan from Shochiku, and he appeared in seven films, this being his third. Most were teensy parts like this one (the guard yelling down to the slaves to dig!), but his role (and final line) in The Lower Depths gives him a sort of AK-immortality!
• Re: scene on the stairs — Kurosawa could have had a baby carriage tumbling down those steps — but then again, that might have been a little too obvious! Definitely a subtle Eisenstein tribute, as Kurosawa films the two scared peasants through a moving sea of spindly legs, all spilling down the steps! It’s brilliant and beautiful.
• The theft of the rice is told in an extremely short episode separated by horizontal wipes.
• How do the peasants discover the gold? They are trying to cook the rice. Of course, Matakishi — who is very hungry — checks the rice which is not yet ready. He discovers that the wood isn’t burning and he throws the offending stick away from the fire. We hear the sound of the wood breaking into pieces until ... ping! ... we hear the sound of the gold bar hitting a rock! The shot of the gold bar is accompanied by a vibraphone. A very beautiful orchestration decision.
• Note Mifune’s entrance: filmed in the distant background, arms crossed, looking stern, as Tahei and Matakishi espy him from the immediate foreground.
• Kurosawa’s wipes are usually employed to show the passing of time. Here is a brilliant example:
• Tahei and Matakishi are wondering what to do about the strange man (Mifune) who is following them. A horizontal wipe to the left and Matakishi says he wants to go back and look for the gold, but Tahei decides it would be better to make camp where they are now. This shot is followed by another leftward wipe and suddenly it is night! Very effective.
• Kurosawa loves to use maps or props to show the viewer something which he is going to explain either sooner or later. In Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai) [1954], it’s the map of the village — here, Tahei draws a map in the sandy ground. He seems to be improvising as he explains to General Makabe how they plan to get home by taking a circuitous route which would avoid the heaviest concentration of border guards. Mifune begins to laugh heartily. We find out later that Tahei’s nervous invention actually saved the peasants’ lives.
• The climb up the rocks is hilarious; notice how Tahei kicks a large rock down the slide and Satô playfully orchestrates its descent until it finally stops rolling and he finishes with a downbeat!
• Notice the beautiful framing of all the “gold sticks” in the water as the peasants dip their heads in to drink, and nearly disappear from the frame.
• The class-distinction stuff is possibly lost on non-Asian viewers. The clan is not thrilled about using two greedy peasants and the peasants do not trust the princess or the general. The conversation between the two Akitsuki generals (Mifune and Takashi Shimura) is brutally truthful. “Sometimes even moss is smart,” remarks Shimura’s general about the peasants’ plan. At the film’s end, the princess — who was previously treated with scorn and contempt by the peasants — now scares them with her authority.
• At times, the peasants show a curious kind of independent spirit which occasionally erupts into outright rebellion. When Makabe tells them that he’ll kill them if they touch the girl, they don’t seem to take the warning too seriously. The minute he leaves, they bravely decide to split, taking the entire stash of gold with them. Clearly, though Makabe intimidates them, they act as they wish (usually stupidly) ...
• Look at that sweat on their bodies as they dig at the fortress!
• An awesome widescreen shot: Tahei and Matakishi; are placed on the far left and right edges of the frame around the sandy pit they have dug, shot from below.
• Repeat viewing reward: watch Mifune’s reactions to the news that Princess Yuki has been beheaded. Of course, it makes sense that he would be upset if his lord’s heir had been killed — but when we learn the entire truth in a few more moments, it is even more meaningful ...
• The double-exposure of the crescent flag and Yuki’s face as she cries has a good story behind it: Uehara:
• “For the scene where the princess stood at the top of the mountain weeping for the double executed in her place, I just couldn’t get myself to cry, no matter how hard I tried. The scene was shot at the Ikuta open set near the studio by the chief assistant director — Mr. Kurosawa wasn’t even there! The AD crushed an onion and put it under my eyes, but I still couldn’t cry. While I was trying, the sun started to go down. All of a sudden I became very sad and couldn’t stop crying when I realized the the crew wouldn’t be able to go home (unless I started crying). This is one of my good memories.” (Galbraith, p. 258).
• Watch Fujiwara pantomime a horse drinking water out of an oversized sake bowl ...
• There is no double at any time during the chase scene! The last stunt looks particularly dangerous, and it appears to be Mifune in every frame. The man could ride a horse!
• The duel has a special significance to Kurosawa fans — it features the star of almost all of the early films, (Susumu Fujita, here playing Heiei Tadokoro, his fifth AK role out of eight) versus the star of the later ones, Mifune ...
• Note the way Satô uses a simple lick on the timpani to accompany the duel. Very suspenseful!
• The Fire Festival (himatsuri) is either a gorgeous song & dance routine inserted at just the right moment or a massively bad interruption of the action-packed story — depending on your point of view. Even if you hate the routine, the call-back when Tadokoro sings it at the end is worth having it! Watch Mifune & Company dance!
• Kurosawa loves to parallel his actions: after all the climbing (stairs, rockslides) in the earlier part of the film, we get it again as the captured soldiers are whipped along by the peasants — who know what it’s like to be forced to climb up steep grades like this one!
• The scene at the end with the peasants sitting together sadly on the ground— this parallels the opening scene ...
• A quick backwards glance at the historical situation: this film was made just six short years after the end of the Occupation. From 1945-1952, no Japanese filmmaker was permitted to make any type of chambara (sword-fighting) film, or to depict what General MacArthur termed “feudalistic loyalty” — in other words, this film would not have been permitted just six years earlier!
• Toho had started to fret about the incredible cost of financing a Kurosawa film. Although this film did fantastic business and definitely made money for Toho, Kurosawa formed his own production company around this time, which financed his future films ...
• Although Daisuke Katô is credited with appearing in only four AK films (he is one of the seven samurai: Shichirôji), he is definitely in this film, as well. He is uncredited as one of the guards (in the front-center of frame) who is taunting Mifune for having asked for a reward. He has one line: “Greedy!”
• There are 34 wipes in this film, all horizontal — 27 to the left and seven to the right.

____

* the AK characters of Kamatari Fujiwara:

1. Ikiru (To Live) [1952] — Subsection chief Ono. Definitely the best drunk at the wake ...
2. Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai) [1954] — Manzô, Shino’s father. A very important character, who tends to move the action forward with as little as a slight change of expression on his clownish face ...
3. Ikimono no kiroku (I Live in Fear/Record of a Living Being) [1955] — Okamoto. A minor character, but an important one. He is the middleman between the Nakajima family and the strange dark-skinned Japanese from Brazil ...
4. Donzoko (The Lower Depths) [1957] — The Actor. A tour-de-force performance in a film filled with them!
5. [this film] — Matakishi ...
6. Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (The Bad Sleep Well) [1960] — Assistant-to-the-Chief Wada. Wada is a memorable character. Fujiwara’s droopy face never served him better ...
7. Yojimbo [1961] — Tazaemon, the silk dealer. A terrific role, banging a prayer drum ...
8. Tsubaki Sanjûrô [1962] — Takebayashi. Minor role ...
9. Tengoku to jigoku (High and Low) [1963] — Junkyard Cook. Minor role, but shockingly convincing — as grubby and skinny a character as he ever played! He looks like Matakishi on crack ...
10. Akahige (Red Beard) [1965] — Rokusuke. Another unforgettable role. In a long film packed with memorable characters, Rokusuke — with his fascinating back story — stands out ...
11. Dodes’ka-den [1970] — Suicidal Old Man. His appearance here is startling. Coming mere months before Kurosawa’s own suicide attempt, this is one eerie portrayal. The scene of his attempted suicide is a brilliant duet with Mr. Tamba (Atsushi Watanabe) ...
12. Kagemusha (The Double/Shadow Warrior) [1980] — Doctor. Fujiwara was five years older than Kurosawa, who was 70 when he made this film (making Fujiwara 75) ... a very minor part, but nevertheless an important one! His big moment comes when Shingen’s palanquin stops for a rest and Shingen — after a short outburst — dies. Without any dialogue whatsoever, the Doctor exchanges a severe glance with Masakage Yamagata (Hideji [Shuji] Ôtaki) which we realize means that the entire palanquin detail will be murdered to prevent any leaks about the existence of the double ...

Film Rating (0-60):

56

The Extras

The Booklet

Fourteen-page booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Catherine Russell

Commentary

by film historian Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa

Documentary

from 2003 on the making of the film, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create

Interview

from 2001 with filmmaker George Lucas about Kurosawa.

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

35

56 + 35 =

91

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