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The Hidden Fortress
(1958)
Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
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Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Susumu Fujita, Takashi Shimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writer: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryz Kikushima
Language: English
Studio: BFI
Duration: 139
DVD Release: May 2001

Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (original Japanese title: Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) stars Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara as a pair of misfit soldiers. Running from the enemy after a disastrous defeat, the two soldiers fall in with general Toshiro Mifune, who is in search of a huge cache of gold. Mifune is also desirous of freeing princess-in-exile Misa Uehara from the clutches of the evil victorious army. Several large and small battles ensue before Mifune can realize his goal. If the plot of Hidden Fortress sounds vaguely familiar to you, try this exercise: substitute two robots for Chiaki and Fujiwara, Mark Hamill for Mifune, and Carrie Fisher for Uehara. George Lucas himself admitted that Hidden Fortress was a principal inspiration for his Star Wars saga; stretching the point farther, both Hidden Fortress and Star Wars had their roots in John Ford's The Searchers. Originally released in a 137-minute form, The Hidden Fortress was sliced to ribbons by its American distributors, and years later received extensive restoration.


Minoru ChiakiTahei
Kamatari FujiwaraMatashichi
Susumu FujitaGeneral Hyoe Tadokoro
Takashi ShimuraThe Old General, Izumi Nagakura
Misa UeharaPrincess Yuki
Eiko MiyoshiOld Lady-in-Waiting
Toshiko HiguchiFarmer's Daughter bought from slave trader
Yû FujikiBarrier guard
Yoshio TsuchiyaSamurai on horse
Kokuten KôdôOld man in front of sign
Takeshi KatôFleeing, bloody samurai
Kôji MitsuiGuard
Toranosuke OgawaMagistrate of the bridge barrier
Kichijirô UedaSlave Trader
Kazuo YamasakiCinematographer
Akira KurosawaEditor
Masaru SatôComposer
Toshiro MifuneGeneral Rokurota Makabe
Yoshirô MurakiProduction Designer
Genre: Foreign, Samurai
Media: DVD
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
IMDb: 0051808