Throne of Blood (1957)
Tomatometer
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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... [More]
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
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Reviews for Throne of Blood
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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 |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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One of Kurosawa's best and arguably the best Shakespeare ever filmed. Full Review |
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10/10 |
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 |
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A |
Toshiro Mifune gives a winning quirky performance. Full Review |
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A- |
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 |
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5/5 |
With its all-pervading sense of doom, this is a serious contender for the finest celluloid Shakespeare of them all. Full Review |
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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 |
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4/5 |
No review available.
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4/5 |
No review available.
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5/5 |
It is, in our opinion, one of the greatest of reasons to go to the movies.
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4/5 |
One of the best Shakespearean film adaptations out there.
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5/5 |
Genius. No, really: Genius. Obviously.
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5/5 |
No review available.
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A- |
Kurosawa's film ranks as a classic that holds up over the years for its tight construction and masterful cinematic technique Full Review |
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4.5/5 |
This is filmmaking with risk and greatness in its blood. Full Review |
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4/4 |
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 |
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92/100 |
Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's searing adaptation of Macbeth, fluidly weaves Shakespeare's fluid lyricism with a distinct Japanese flavor. Full Review |
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88/100 |
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 |
CommentLatest News for Throne of Blood
July 21, 2008:
Brush Up On Your Shakespeare With Our List Of The Bard's Best Films
Friends, readers, Tomato-fans, lend me your ears. Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty, we at RT humbly present to you the Greatest Shakespeare Movies, a list of the Bard's... More...
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