Throne of Blood (1957) - Akira Kurosawa 

   There seems to be one path in art that must be traveled by everyone. That path is Shakespeare. Nearly every filmmaker has tackled the master at one point in time. Some, like Kenneth Brannagh and Laurence Olivier, have made their reputations on his work. Akira Kurosawa, the most Western Japanese director, was certainly familiar with his work. For nearly ten years he had wanted to adapt his Macbeth as samurai film. He knew just how everything would update, the only thing was someone else was one step ahead of him.
   Orson Welles announced his own version of Macbeth in 1948, without samurais, but it was enough to have Kurosawa put it on the shelf for a while. When he had settled down to write the film, there was another setback. He didnt plan on directing it. Kurosawa was just writing the script for a younger director to handle. When the studio saw how expensive his picture would be, they didnt trust anyone else to handle the project. So finally in 1957, Akira Kurosawa set about to make Throne of Blood, his version of Macbeth.
   Since his source is Shakespeare, many may think this his most Western film. The story may borrow from Shakespeare, but that is about it. The setting is changed to feudal Japanese history. The acting draws more heavily on the Noh than any other of his films. There is also an overwhelming spiritual essence to the film. Shakespeare wouldnt really deny that there were spirits out there, but Kurosawa uses Eastern mythology to blow up that element from the play.
   Toshiro Mifune is our Macbeth. He delivers perhaps his finest performance here, as the easily inspired would be King. Lady Macbeth (Isuzu Yamada) is perhaps even more conniving here. While filming Kurosawa gave her a Noh mask. He told her to act, but to keep her face looking like that. So off went the eyebrows, on went the white makeup and that blank look. Imagine being told to deliver all your emotion with that expression. Somehow she pulls it off, and her performance is all the more remarkable for it.
   The story is relatively the same. Two warriors repel a rebellion. On their way back, via that magic forest they encounter a witch (or fortune teller). She tells him that he will be king. They think shes bluffing as before, but she turns out to be right. Mifune now has the power and sets to living like a king. Like all men he is flawed and believes he is not. So he goes to the forest again. When he sees the witch she warns him again. This time saying he is safe until the forest moves.
   Well we would all think he is pretty safe, because in the rational world, forests dont move. They dont, but theres a catch. An approaching army gets to the woods. This has served as the forts best defense. Following the paths will get you lost, and only the people under Mifune know their way around the place. So the army tries something new. They all chop down a tree. They then take the trees and use them as camouflage. In one of the most brilliant sequences in movie history, Mifunes own men turn on him and he is eventually bombarded with a sea of arrows.
   This final sequence features the films only real close-ups. Kurosawa intentionally keeps his distance from Mifune. He doesnt want him to be identifiable. There are no point of view shots, and there is always space between the camera and him. It is only as he is dying that we get a close look at him. There is also a wonderful continuity in the picture. Like the fog during the final battle, this film seems to just float by. There are no distracting cuts. Everything is smooth, and there are great deal of dissolves here. Like Billy Wilder in Sunset Boulevard (1950), he tries not to make you notice you are watching a movie. 
   Kurosawa would return to Shakespeare for his final masterpiece Ran (1985). That story borrowed a little from Macbeth, but was closer to King Lear. Throne of Blood is not necessarily considered a true masterpiece from Kurosawa. It is yet to arrive on DVD. As for his historical films, Seven Samurai (1954), Hidden Fortress (1958), and Yojimbo (1961) are all far more popular. For those willing to hunt it down though they will not be disappointed. This may not be his best historical picture, it runs close to Seven Samurai, but it is certainly a masterpiece, that deserves the same recognition as his most popular films.