Throne of Blood
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| 蜘蛛巣城 The Throne of Blood |
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 Original Japanese poster |
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| Directed by | Akira Kurosawa |
| Produced by | Sojiro Motoki Akira Kurosawa |
| Written by | Shinobu Hashimoto Ryuzo Kikushima Akira Kurosawa Hideo Oguni William Shakespeare (play Macbeth) |
| Starring | Toshiro Mifune Isuzu Yamada Takashi Shimura |
| Music by | Masaru Sato |
| Distributed by | Toho Company Ltd. |
| Release date(s) | January 15, 1957 (Japan) |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jō?, lit. "Spider Web Castle") is a 1957 film by Akira Kurosawa, which transposes the plot of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth to medieval Japan, shot in black and white. It is regarded as one of Kurosawa's best films.
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[edit] Plot
Kurosawa follows the events of Macbeth fairly closely, although Kurosawa’s Washizu Taketori (played by Toshiro Mifune) is arguably less evil than Macbeth, while his wife Asaji (played by Isuzu Yamada) is even nastier than Lady Macbeth. As with the play, the main character's comrade (General Miki, played by Minoru Chiaki) is killed when he's perceived as a threat to the throne, only to return as a ghost.
There is no Macduff character in this picture; hence Washizu does not meet his end in a duel. Instead, in a spectacular scene he is shot by his own archers and stumbles forward like a porcupine before being shot in the neck. He slowly descends the stairs and dies, collapsing dramatically on the fog-soaked ground.
The film creates a phantasmal world of haunted forests, desolate landscapes and eerie encounters with a malevolent ghost that foretells Washizu's fate--a prophecy that leads him into a web of treachery and deceit, which results in his demise.
[edit] Production
Kurosawa was an admirer of Noh drama, and acknowledged the stylistic influence it had on Throne of Blood. This influence can be seen in many aspects of the film, from the staging, to the characterizations, to the editing and direction.
The famous arrow scene near the end was in fact done with real arrows. That is, the arrows hitting the wooden planks were not done with special effects, but rather choreographed with archers. Mifune waves his arms to brush away the arrows sticking from the planks, indicating to them that he wanted to go in that particular direction.
The real arrows were included to get Mifune's facial expressions of real-life fear, which is exceptionally hard to imitate. Kurosawa also used telephoto lenses for much of this shooting; the flattening-perspective effect of telephoto made the arrows appear closer to Mifune than they actually were. Of course, the arrows that hit the Mifune character were bamboo fakes. Examination of the arrow protruding from his neck and playing the few seconds frame-by-frame reveals that the flying arrow travels behind his neck and the false arrow's U-shaped loop is visible in the collars of his armour. This was achieved with a sudden match cut.
[edit] Pop Culture
In the WB/CW series Smallville, Lex Luthor names this film as his favorite Kurosawa movie. He even owns a prop sword from the film, which he bought at an auction.
[edit] External links
- Throne of Blood at the Internet Movie Database
- Stephen Price, "Shakespeare Transposed", essay on the Criterion Collection website
- Throne of Blood: program note from 1957 San Francisco International Film Festival website
| Japanese Cinema |  |
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| Films directed by Akira Kurosawa | ||
| 1940s | Sanshiro Sugata | The Most Beautiful | Sanshiro Sugata Part II | The Men Who Tread On the Tiger's Tail | Those Who Make Tomorrow | No Regrets for Our Youth | One Wonderful Sunday | Drunken Angel | The Quiet Duel | Stray Dog | |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | Scandal | Rashomon | The Idiot | Ikiru | Seven Samurai | I Live in Fear | Throne of Blood | The Lower Depths | The Hidden Fortress | |
| 1960s | The Bad Sleep Well | Yojimbo | Sanjuro | High and Low | Red Beard | |
| 1970s | Dodesukaden | Dersu Uzala | |
| 1980s | Kagemusha | Ran | |
| 1990s | Dreams | Rhapsody in August | Madadayo | |
| Preceded by The White Sheik |
The Criterion Collection 190 |
Succeeded by Jubilee |
