Acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa is often credited in the film industry for the the impact his movies have had on the world of cinema, particularly in the western genre. Without his work on the movie Seven Samurai there would have been no The Magnificent Seven, and he practically created the entire Spaghetti Western Genre with his classic Yojimbo. Yet he gets surprisingly little credit for his influence on what is possibly the most popular movie ever made, Star Wars. George Lucas readily admits that Kurosawa's classic The Hidden Fortress had a major influence on him as he created the original Star Wars movie. When you look back it's not hard to see the places, in the basic structure, where Star Wars was influenced by The Hidden Fortress.

A quick look at the story to Hidden fortress doesn't initially reveal any real similarities to Star Wars. It revolves around these 2 young farmers named Tahei and Matashichi. The 2 of them have left their homelands hoping that other lands will help them find glory and fortunes. Unfortunately the kingdom that they are currently traveling through has fallen to it's enemies and the bickering pair are soon mistaken for prisoners of war. They are thrown into the mines and told to dig until they find the missing gold of this fallen kingdom, but luckily for them there is a slave revolt. In the confusion they are able to escape into the local mountains where they are hoping to hide out. However whilst looking for firewood they come across a piece of the lost gold hidden in a stick; and they obviously want to find the rest. Whilst searching though they notice a strange man following them whom they can't seem to escape. This man knows where the rest of the gold is, because he's hiding a mine in a hidden fortress in the mountains. Once again the pair are forced to mine for the gold, but this time they don't mind because they have been promised equal shares. Then the armies start moving into the mountains and the man reveals his name to be General Makabe, a feared soldier from the fallen kingdom. He tells them that he has the gold hidden in sticks in a local spring and that he really will give them equal shares if they help him move the gold and his mute girlfriend to a safe place. They agree but what they don't realize is that the girlfriend is actually a princess that needs to be escorted over the enemies terrain.

I'm aware that the plot description doesn't sound much like Star Wars, it's got a story of a princess being escorted over enemy lines but that's only at a basic level. When you see the film though it becomes clear which areas Lucas was influenced by in his film. Mainly it's in the way the story is told from the point of view of it's lowest characters, but those characters themselves also contain more than a few similarities. When you first meet Tahei and Matashichi they are struggling on a journey through a desert; before their bickering causes them to part ways. The banter between them is clearly the influence for the characters of C3P0 and R2D2, yet unlike in Lucas's film these 2 characters are never annoying. This is because the actors, Minoru Chiaki (Tahei) and Kamatari Fujiwara (Matashici), have tons of chemistry which makes the banter between the characters enjoyable. They veer back and forth between warm camaraderie and backbiting with deceptive ease. Plus they had such obvious enthusiasm for these characters that they manage to get their exaggerated mannerisms spot on.

With the other characters it's a little harder to spot the similarities, but they're still there. Princess Yukihime is a princess who is strong and independent; and the obvious Leia of the film. The reason that the similarities are difficult to spot though is because of the amazing performance by Misa Uehara. She has a screen presence that few women matched in the 50's, because of a burning intensity behind her eyes that shows much more of the characters nobility than Carrie Fishers limited talents achieved.

The final character I'm going to mention is General Makabe. On an interview on this disk George Lucas claims that there were elements of General Makabe in both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. Solo I can see because Makabe has that same rough and ready demeanour and intense experienced personality. The thing is that I can't see where he influenced Luke Skywalker because Makabe is never a whinny little farm boy. He's an intense, honorable and dedicated warrior who is obsessed with completing his mission. He's played by Kurosawa mainstay, and one of my favorite actors, Toshiro Mifune. Mifune once again provides his usual unnerving presence to the general whilst not backing down when he needs to bring out the friendlier part of the character.

Now you're no doubt wondering why I've spent the better part of this review comparing it to it's influences instead of judging it on it's own merits. There were 2 reasons for that, firstly because it seemed like an interesting way to bring out how good the acting was, but mainly because I wanted to show Star Wars fans how deep the similarities between these 2 films go before they get the wrong impression. I said at the start that Star Wars was influenced by the basic structure and that's all it is. It has some similarities in the characters, and the same basic plot but that's about all. OK so this could be because Lucas allowed a wide variety of Kurosawa's films to influence him in some way, but there is also a much more important reason. The Hidden Fortress is much more than just some big budget serial, it's a movie with real heart. By bringing out the acting in my comparisons between characters I was able to show that Kurosawa's film is in a different league entirely.

This is because The Hidden Fortress is a film that benefits from the skillful direction of a true master. Kurosawa was a director who could always produce some amazing cinematography in his movies, and The Hidden Fortress represents the next step in his talents. It was his first film to be filmed in wide-screen, using a process called Tohoscope, and Kurosawa uses this new process to produce some truly breathtaking moments. The landscapes used in the film, including one amazing shot of Mount Fiji, rank among the most beautiful backdrops I have seen to date. Yet it's the films action sequences that really benefit from the process. Kurosawa uses a combination of wide panning camera's and steady cameras, and thanks to the wide-screen process is able to produce some genuinely exciting moments. If I had to pick one moment in particular to describe this, I would choose a scene where General Makabe charges a camp of Soldiers. As he rides toward the camp you get a panning camera angle, full of movement to show him charge the camp. As he reaches the camp though it suddenly changes to a still shot, with the angle revealing the general to be surrounded. It's a scene that looks absolutely superb, and moments like that combined with an excellent soundtrack make this the most exhilarating Kurosawa film that I've seen yet.

Of course Kurosawa was never one to rely on technical details alone, and this is why he will always be a better story teller than Lucas. Whilst The Hidden Fortress may initially appear to be nothing more than a simple, Light Hearted adventure about getting a princess home, there is a lot more going on under the surface. For the most part it's a story told from the point of view of the 2 greedy peasants, but as the film gets closer toward it's ending it is in fact revealed to be an emotionally wrought retelling of The Prince And The Pauper. Tehei and Matashici are in fact secondary characters in the Story of the Princess's journey as she is taken from her relatively sheltered life of royalty. She's taken on a journey through the land, a journey that allows her to witness both the good and bad that is found in the ordinary people, and this awakens her to the realities of the world. By the end her experiences on this journey prove to make her a better leader. I suppose this was typical of Kurosawa though, as he always seemed to take these relatively simple stories, draw out fantastic performances from the actors and include some sort of real depth.

The Disk

Extras
The disk for this film is actually disappointingly bare, but in comparison to most foreign movies it's better than average. The first extra is an interview with George Lucas over how he was influenced by Kurosawa, particularly with The Hidden Fortress. He discusses how impressed he was with Kurosawa's visual style, and how he had mastered the art of story telling. It's an interesting view that comes with or without subtitles. There is also a biography on Akira Kurosawa himself, which made for an interesting read as he is quickly becoming my favorite director. There's a biography on one of Kurosawa's regular collaborators Toshiro Mifune. Again an interesting read because I've been very impressed with his acting abilities and so this left me with a few recommended films to check out. After that there's a pretty disappointing extra that shows the other Kurosawa films available on DVD. I was actually hoping for some trailers, but what I got instead was about a minute of footage looking at the menu's for these disks. That's a minute for each disk, by the way, very boring. The final extra is available in the DVD rom drive of your PC, and gives you links to some web sites on the film.

How does the DVD look?
The visuals, combined with the sound are the reason this disk gets such high marks. Kurosawa's unique visuals, benefited from the wide-screen process, yet the film is still nearly 50 years old. That's why it's so nice that the Criterion cleanup job has been done well on the disk. The picture quality looks superb for a film this old, and while there's still a hint of grain, it really helps to highlight Kurosawa's amazing visuals.

How does the DVD sound?
The sound has also benefited from the cleanup job. It's been decoded using a Perspecta decoder, and re encoded as a Dolby 3.0 soundtrack. It's not 5.1, but since I was expecting mono I was pleasantly surprised. The excellent score that was done for this film also comes through nicely clear.

Overall
Kurosawa was one of the master film makers. The Hidden Fortress is so far my favorite of his films because it's exhilarating and emotional. With the new cleanup this disk has gone through, I recommend film fans get it in fast.

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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD