Throne of Blood

One of a number of films that Akira Kurosawa made in the 1950s and which have become classics, <i>Throne of Blood</i> is the director's adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in feudal Japan but showing that lust for power is a perennial feature of human society. Washizu (the Macbeth character, Toshiro Mifune) is a soldier serving the lord of Spiders-Web Castle. While riding through a forest with his comrade and childhood friend Miki (the Banquo character, Minoru Chiaki), they come upon a forest spirit that foretells an elevation in rank for the two, and eventually Washizu's reign over Spiders-Web Castle. While Washizu denies that he has any desire to seize the throne, the forest spirit could see into his heart, as can his wife Asaji (the...

I think that this is a superb tragi-adventure story that stands out well amongst the numerous loose adaptations of Shakespeare that have been made over the years. Kurosawa takes the Scottish play and gives it the "Noh" treatment that delivers an enigmatic and tautly directed rendition of a story of betrayal, power and insanity. Toshirô Mifune is magnificent as "Washizu" who after getting lost with his colleague (Minoru Chiaki) in the doleful "Spider's Web" forest is given a cryptic prophecy that one day he too is destined to rule the great "Spider's Web castle"... Initially reluctant to embark on this path, he soon becomes blinded by this ambition on the misguided advice of his wife (Isuzu Yamada) and so he sets out on a despotic path than ...