Viewed on DVD. A visually stunning film! Long-lens shots and medium shots prevail which serve to convey an epic quality. Close ups are rare (unlike the current crop of tent-pole films that use quick-cut extreme close-ups to simulate "action" to the point of nausea). Director Akira Kurosawa fills the wide screen down to the square centimeter (one of his directorial trademarks). The video restoration is flawless. Not so much so for the audio restoration which contains occasional distortions. Film score is so-so, adding to the impact of some scenes, distracting from others. Subtitles are perfunctory and skip over some subtle and some not so subtle nuances. Costumes are, well, "interesting." Can't help but wonder how many young women publicly wore rather short shorts and tight blouses in feudal Japan! Or how extremely rugged terrain was navigated by folks wearing only sandals! Now to the story line, script, and acting. This film cries out for a "Director's Cut" version (or at least the outtakes), as many scenes are disjointed and abrupt with characters conveying information either gained from telepathy or by viewing the dailies! As for the story line, it's predicable and lame. Acting is uneven: two characters (used to stitch scenes together and provide marginal comic relief) are allowed to outrageously ham it up; the leading actress (Misa Uehara) plays scenes in a state of sustained hysteria (except when playing a deaf mute); and the leading actor (Toshiro Mifune) essentially plays a supporting role (except for some action scenes). Bottom line: park your brain at the door, and go with the flow. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

It's almost impossible not to like "The Hidden Fortress". It is an action-adventure-comedy with something to please just about everyone. Created by one of the greatest film directors of all time, the movie follows a diverse set of characters through a series of more cliff-hanging adventures than any movie this side of "Raiders of the Lost Arc". As the noble and loyal samurai general in disguise who leads the cast, Toshiro Mifune was in absolute top form in this film. Sharing his adventures are a plucky and willful young princess and two hilariously foolish, venal and horny peasants. Their task is to convey the princess, along with a large cache of hidden gold, through enemy lines to safety. It's not a complicated plot but, in the hands of director Akira Kurosawa, it becomes a veritable roller-coaster ride of thrills. For those who insist that they don't care for black-and- white movies, or movies with subtitles, just be assured that those issues really don't matter in this case. If you don't enjoy this, you probably won't like anything.

Lured by gold, two greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines. However, they do not realize that their companions are actually a princess and her general.Although for some of us, the name Toho calls to mind the films of Honda (notably "Godzilla"), it also allowed Kurosawa to make some of his best work -- this film, as well as "Rashomon". One has to admire a studio that was willing to make both artistic pictures and cheesy science fiction.I love that George Lucas used this film as inspiration. Not just the "princess in disguise" bit, but the whole concept of having the plot follow two bumbling, comic characters. Not knowing much about Lucas, I would never have pegged him to be interested in Japanese cinema, or maybe even classic film at all. Unlike Martin Scorsese, he never struck me that way.

In medieval Japan, two lowly soldiers are trying to make their way back home when by chance they discover some gold hidden in a stick. When they meet a mysterious stranger who claims to know where there is more, their greed begins to cloud their judgement ...If you're not familiar with the works of the great Japanese director Kurosawa, this is a good movie to start with. Thematically it's much lighter than usual, it's pretty much a non-stop adventure story and it has a happy ending. Overall it's just a good romp; there's hidden treasure, a mysterious general, a princess pretending to be a dumb mute, lots of fights, two prison breakouts and plenty of humour and intrigue. It's also a great example of Kurosawa's style - when watching see if you can spot any conventional TV/Hollywood full-face closeups, because I can't. Instead, almost every scene is shot with long lenses to emphasise backgrounds and the actors are carefully placed and moved within the frame. It's a brilliantly different way to tell stories which results in much more of a visual sweep and reduces the need to cut, and influenced many key directors, particularly Kubrick and Coppola. If possible, try to see the British Film Institute DVD release of this, which is in the original Tohoscope 2.55:1 ratio, and looks stunning, such as in the duel with the lances, or Kurosawa's fondness for scenes featuring mist, wind or rain. The story is good fun throughout, with plenty of surprises, comic interludes and a satisfying conclusion. All the cast get into the spirit of it, with Mifune giving perhaps his most relaxed, laid-back performance of the sixteen films he made with the great director. Trivia - many have noted similarities between this film and Star Wars. It can be read as Tahei and Matashichi are C-3PO and R2-D2 (two grumpy bickering friends whom the action largely passes by), Makabe is Obi-Wan Kenobi (a faithful old retainer trying to save his dynasty), Tadokoro is Darth Vader (a scar-faced villain and Makabe's nemesis) and the Princess is, er, the Princess. George Lucas notes that perhaps the key influence is in the method of telling the story from an unconventional point of view, but the connections are all fun to debate. A great rollicking adventure flick. English title - The Hidden Fortress.