Throne of Blood

The Scottish Play transported to medieval Japan, we have been looking for a used copy of this in our local stores for years without success and decided to splurge on a new copy in honor of the Japanese Cinema Blogathon. Throne of Blood is not Kurosawa's best, but as The Younger Son said, "When your best film is Ikuru..." I agree. It's hard to expect better than that. This 1957 film stars favorites Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura and Isuzu Yamada. Having spent $40 on a Criterion edition, I could have wished for more special features.

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The New York Times calls it "amusing". Images Journal describes it as "bravura filmmaking". The BBC has a review. The Guardian says it typifies Kurosawa's art. DVDTalk reviews the Criterion edition.