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Movies / On DVD / Throne of Blood
Throne of Blood

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Throne of Blood (1957)

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Reviews Counted:32

Fresh:31

Rotten:1

Average Rating:8.6/10

Consensus: A career high point for Akira Kurosawa -- and one of the best film adaptations of a Shakespeare play.

Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: Akira Kurosawa's stunning reconception of Shakespeare's MACBETH is a dark samurai drama, set in feudal Japan. As the film begins, two soldiers--Washizu (Toshirô Mifune) and Miki (Minoru... Akira Kurosawa's stunning reconception of Shakespeare's MACBETH is a dark samurai drama, set in feudal Japan. As the film begins, two soldiers--Washizu (Toshirô Mifune) and Miki (Minoru Chiaki)--find themselves lost in a dense forest during a powerful thunderstorm. Seemingly unable to leave the woods, they encounter a ghostly old woman who predicts that Washizu will soon rise to power. At the goading of his ruthless wife, Asaji (Isuzu Yamada), Washizu embarks on a murderously ambitious path and quickly fulfills the prophecy. However, his ascension is cursed by his brutal actions and soon opposition arises to challenge his blood-stained rule. One of the finest Shakespeare adaptations to appear in any medium, Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD is covered in an entrancingly macabre web. The always-amazing Mifune gives one of his greatest performances as the haunted yet unrelenting Lord Washizu, while Yamada portrays the eeriest version of Lady Macbeth to ever grace the screen or stage. A master of reinterpretation, Kurosawa incorporates strong elements of Japanese Noh drama into the film, and the result adds to the somber and chilling mood. The film's highlight, however, is the tense and skillfully paced finale, which features Washizu literally up against the wall as he faces an army of vengeful archers. [More]

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Screenwriter: Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa
Story: William Shakespeare

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Release:

Sep 15, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • The greatest screen adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth is Akira Kurosawa's visceral THRONE OF BLOOD (Kumonosu jo), starring Toshiro Mifune and Isuzu Yamada as the ambitious warrior and ruthless wife who try to murder their way to power and glory. Featuring some of the Japanese master's most unforgettable, hallucinatory imagery, inspired by Noh theater as much as the classical source, this is Kurosawa at his atmospheric best.
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    Reviews for Throne of Blood

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    N/R

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    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    03/26/09
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Akira Kurosawa's remarkable 1957 restaging of Macbeth in samurai and expressionist terms is unquestionably one of his finest works -- charged with energy, imagination, and, in keeping with the subject, sheer horror.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 1 Comment
    07/01/08
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    07/01/08
    Channel 4 Film
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    One of Kurosawa's best and arguably the best Shakespeare ever filmed.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    05/30/08
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid

    In fact, in the scene where Lady Asaji leaves a room and disappears into the darkness to get sake to make the guards drunk, the ominous rustling of her silk gown is as chilling as Lady Macbeth's lines.

    Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
    10/06/07
    Beth Accomando
    Beth Accomando
    KPBS.org

    Toshiro Mifune gives a winning quirky performance.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    04/05/07
    Dennis Schwartz
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    Transplanted to medieval Japan, Kurosawa's brutal film is one of the best Shakesperean adaptations on screen, with a tour de force performance from Toshiro Mifune; it makes a fascinating double bill with the masterful Ran

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    01/04/07
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    With its all-pervading sense of doom, this is a serious contender for the finest celluloid Shakespeare of them all.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    12/30/06
    David Parkinson
    David Parkinson
    Empire Magazine

    It's visually ravishing, as you would expect, employing compositional tableaux from the Noh drama, high contrast photography, and extraordinary images of rain, galloping horses, the birds fleeing from the forest.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    02/09/06
    Time Out
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    01/07/05
    Philip Martin
    Philip Martin
    Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    03/10/04
    Mark Palermo
    Mark Palermo
    Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

    It is, in our opinion, one of the greatest of reasons to go to the movies.

    comment Comment
    03/09/04
    Jake Euker
    Jake Euker
    F5 (Wichita, KS)

    One of the best Shakespearean film adaptations out there.

    comment Comment
    02/22/04
    Widgett Walls
    Widgett Walls
    Needcoffee.com

    Genius. No, really: Genius. Obviously.

    comment Comment
    01/21/04
    Gregory Weinkauf
    Gregory Weinkauf
    New Times

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    11/04/03
    Frank Swietek
    Frank Swietek
    One Guy's Opinion

    Kurosawa's film ranks as a classic that holds up over the years for its tight construction and masterful cinematic technique

    Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | comment Comment
    07/31/03
    John A. Nesbit
    John A. Nesbit
    Old School Reviews

    This is filmmaking with risk and greatness in its blood.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    07/30/03
    TV Guide's Movie Guide
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Filters themes of greed and power lust through visuals that are so rich and densely textured that they take on a life of their own.

    Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
    07/30/03
    James Kendrick
    James Kendrick
    Q Network Film Desk

    Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's searing adaptation of Macbeth, fluidly weaves Shakespeare's fluid lyricism with a distinct Japanese flavor.

    Full Review Source: Film and Felt | comment Comment
    07/29/03
    Gabe Leibowitz
    Gabe Leibowitz
    Film and Felt

    May not approach the lofty standards of something like The Seven Samurai, but it certainly stands as one of the director’s finest and most accessible efforts.

    Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
    07/23/03
    Scott Weinberg
    Scott Weinberg
    Apollo Guide
     
     
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