From right to left: Toshiro Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, and Kamatari Fujiwara

If the idea of an epic tale told through the eyes of two bumbling characters sounds familiar, it should. For some, the names C-3P0 and R2-D2—the robotic supporting characters that anchor the Star Wars trilogy—will come to mind immediately. However, creator George Lucas has admitted that an earlier Japanese film — Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress – served as the inspiration for his own phenomenally successful space opera. But even so, there’s certainly more to The Hidden Fortress than just being the answer to a Star Wars trivia question.

Seeing as how my review for The Last Princess, the 2009 remake of Kurosawa’s film, was recently posted to the site, I figured I should dedicate today’s retro review to the much beloved original. I reviewed the film after purchasing Criterion’s “Akira Kurosawa — Four Samurai Classics” Boxset, which included Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and my personal favorite, Sanjuro. The film is currently available not only in that set and as a standalone Criterion DVD, but also as a part of the Janus Films Presents Essential Arthouse collection, which is a “barebones” release of the same Criterion transfer at a much more affordable price.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 4:11 pm and is filed under Toshiro Mifune, Retro Review, Akira Kurosawa, Japanese cinema. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.