#239: KUROSAWA, Akira: The Lower Depths (1957)

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KUROSAWA, Akira (Japan)
The Lower Depths [1957]
Spine #239
DVD


Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa, two of cinema's greatest directors, transform Maxim Gorky's classic proletariat play The Lower Depths in their own ways for their own times. Renoir, working amidst the rise of Hitler and the Popular Front in France, had need to take license with the dark nature of Gorky's source material, softening its bleak outlook. Kurosawa, firmly situated in the postwar world, found little reason for hope. He remained faithful to the original with its focus on the conflict between illusion and reality — a theme he would return to over and over again. Working with their most celebrated actors (Gabin with Renoir; Mifune with Kurosawa), each film offers a unique look at cinematic adaptation — where social conditions and filmmaking styles converge to create unique masterpieces.

125 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in Japanese
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2004
Director/Writers


Based on Maxim Gorky’s play Na dne.
Screenplay by Akira Kurosawa and Hideo Oguni.
Kurosawa was 47 when he directed The Lower Depths.

Eclipse Series 7: One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
#413: Drunken Angel (1948)
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)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-two page booklet featuring an essay by Keiko McDonald and Thomas Rimer.

Commentary

Featuring Japanese-film expert Donald Richie, author of A Hundred Years of Japanese Film.

Documentary

Thirty-three minutes on The Lower Depths from the series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, including interviews with Kurosawa, actress Kagawa, art director Yoshirō Muraki, and others.
Cast biographies

By Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawai.
Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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