Hidden Fortress, The (1958)
The Hidden Fortress (1958), directed by Akira Kurosawa.
More even than The Seven Samurai (1954), this is an adventure film meant to appeal to a wide audience. A samurai costume picture the way John Ford would have done it. Both larger scale and lighter than the earlier film, with winks at modern viewers.
Our main characters:
The two comically squabbling peasants are moderns with nothing classically ennobling about them. Most of the film is seen from their perspective, and oddly enough they are the same petty scoundrels throughout, without any sort of reform or improvement. They show shocked chagrin at how it all turns out: will that last?
The General dressed as bandit (he is more or less Kent from King Lear) has to get the Princess to a friendly country, along with a huge amount of gold she will need to rebuild her clan. Under her influence he questions his unbending warrior code and becomes more humane.
The Princess is the heart of the story, with modern sensibilities projected into the past. Raised as a boy and showing fiery warrior spirit (and more leg than a real Princess of the period would do), she comes to enjoy their road trip in disguise, accepting her role as a mute as a challenge and having fun with it. She also breaks with feudal expectations, develops enlightened compassion and will be a fine ruler.
As in Throne of Blood (1957), the General and the Princess are made up to suggest Noh masks, and their flute/percussion musical cues are from the theater.
This is mainly a story of escape and evasion in enemy territory, but we do have Mifune's swordfights, and an extended spear duel such as I have not seen elsewhere. This is Kurosawa's first widescreen film, and spear fighting makes great use of the scope ratio: the fighters are farther apart.
The desolate mountain images are gorgeous.
I'm sure everyone has heard of the film's influence on a certain space opera twenty years later:
peasants -> droids
General -> jedi master
Princess -> Princess
Criterion Blu-ray with excellent image detail. Valuable commentary track, emphasizing the camera work and film construction, but with good notes on the story as well.
