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| Hidden Fortress [1958] | ![Hidden Fortress [1958]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KXEXCCSSL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Takashi Shimura
Studio: Bfi Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £8.58
You Save: £11.41 (57%)
New (8) from £8.58
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 6008
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Subtitled), Japanese (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 138 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5035673005064
ASIN: B000060NZA
Theatrical Release Date: October 6, 1960
Release Date: March 25, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
In one of the many classic collaborations between director Akira Kurosawa and his leading man Toshiro Mifune, this 1958 film tells the story of a warrior and a princess trying against all odds to return to their homeland with their fortune. Along the way, they are simultaneously assisted and thwarted by two itinerant and not-too-bright farmers with their own designs on the treasure, giving the story a subtle comic bent. Acknowledged by George Lucas as the inspiration for Star Wars (note the similarities, especially the comic duo who are the models for R2D2 and C3PO), Hidden Fortress combines an epic tale of struggle and honour with modern comic sensibilities, creating a masterful addition to world cinema. --Robert Lane, Amazon.com
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Forms the basis of much that is in Starwars June 11, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I watched this directly after watching Kurosawa's much later `Ran' (1985). What a difference! The tone of `The Hidden Fortress' (1958) is much more light-hearted than any other Kurosawa film I have seen. That doesn't necessarily make it easier viewing, however: the story is somewhat hard to follow, though I suspect it's really very simple.
On the issue of it forming the basis of the first `Strawars' film, it is apparent to me that it isn't just the point of view (from two `unimportant' and `minor' characters) that George Lucas copied.
The film opens with the two comic and rather ludicrous main characters both escaping a battle, after which they find themselves in a barren landscape, go separate ways and are then separately caught by the same group, who enslave them. Even the musical score in these sections is very similar. As in `Starwars', horizontal wipes are used throughout.
Lucas says, in his 2001 introduction (which comes along with this DVD), that the repetition in his own film of a story involving getting a princess through enemy lines is a `co-incidence'. Maybe.
However, there are also at least three other elements here that crop up in the `Starwars' films: there is a high-speed chase involving Mifune and two enemy horsemen, where Mifune must catch them before they report his group's presence to HQ (see the identically-motivated Speedy Bike chase on Endor involving Luke and Leia in `The Return of the Jedi' (1983). The chase ends with Mifune running directly into the enemy camp, and this scene is very similar to the scene from `A New Hope' (1977) in which Han Solo chases a couple of Stormtroopers, unwittingly, right into a whole viper's nest of them).
Then there is the story of the princess using a double to protect herself, which forms a large part of the plot in the first half of `The Phantom Menace' (1999).
Despite the film's beatiful framing, Lucas doesn't seem too impressed with it today, and quite rightly rates several other of Kurosawa's works above it.
The Good, the Bad and the Mediocre sides of Kurosawa January 6, 2006
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
The Hidden Fortress has some major problems with pacing and overlength. The first 15 minutes dealing with the aftermath of a war are great and the last hour is pretty good, but the hour of repetitive bickering and clumsy slapstick inbetween from the film's two unlovable clowns is incredibly grating. Yes, it's a bold move of Kurosawa to give centerstage to a couple of greedy, stupid, duplicitous and all but irredeemable scumbags, but unfortunately he neglected to make them particularly interesting greedy, stupid, duplicitous and all but irredeemable scumbags and there's only so much of them shouting, digging holes and performing pratfalls you can take. It might help if some of it was funny, but it's like watching a Bowery Boys movie from the days when they should have been drawing their pensions instead of still pretending to be teenagers.
Themes of honor and compassion are dealt with in passing as nominal hero Mifune fails to appreciate the preciousness of all life, not just that of the princess he is sworn to protect, but this is pure popcorn fodder with more than a touch of Vera Cruz about it (but none of it's economy of line), as evidenced by George Lucas lifting elements for his first Star Wars film. Oddly enough the influence on John Milius is far more noticeable than Lucas - the scene where Mifune chases two soldiers on horseback and cuts them down without leaving his saddle is clearly the inspiration for the fight on the beach in The Wind and the Lion (even the music is similarly orchestrated). It gets there in the end, but it takes its time about it.
The disc is light on extras - only a very half-hearted appreciation by George Lucas, who obviously doesn't think much of the film these days. Annoyingly, the subtitles are constantly presented over the picture area rather than on the black borders of the 2.35:1 widescreen transfer.
 The Original Star Wars December 22, 2004
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Having watched many of Kurosawa's films, I was interested in Hidden Fortress, because I had heard that George Lucus borrowed its plot for the original Star Wars film.
I bought the film hastily, but have not regretted it at all.
It is a little light-hearted than his other films such as Rashomon and Seven Samurai, but this makes it all the more enjoyable, as does the fact that is hard to see where the film is going to lead you.
The 2.35:1 effect works brill on a widescreen TV, capturing Mount Fuji in all its glory.
As with many Kurosawa films, Toshiro Mifune is a central character, but its the two peasants that steal the show.
Buy it, watch it, and see for yourself what made George Lucus make Star Wars.
Brilliant comic masterpiece March 29, 2004
15 out of 19 found this review helpful
One of the funniest films I have ever seen -an absolute delight from start to finish, and which influenced George Lucas' StarWars. The 'heroes' of the film are two peasants, unheroic, greedy and selfish. And yet they have our strong sympathies throughout. They find gold in a stick & from this point onwards they are hooked and come across the Toshiro Mifune character. Thus a brilliant three-act is born that continues throughout the film. Nevertheless the film still belongs to the two peasants, the ultimate bufoons, & one of the greatest double acts in history of comedy. If you enjoy Japanese & slapstick humour, you will absolutely love this film. It also has (in my opinion) one of the greatest fight scenes in cinematic history -which has to be seen to be believed & without the aid of special effects. A definate must see.
Best-kept secret: Japanese original of first Star Wars February 5, 2002
69 out of 87 found this review helpful
From its opening battle scenes with two lucky buffoons escaping certain death, through the Princess-who-must-be-saved-at-all-costs and the strange other-reality of a tavern on the road to redemption, the entire opus of the original Stars Wars episode is here to be seen in its archaic japanese form. For those of you who think that Seven Samurai ripped off The Magnificent Seven, or Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars--here is proof of Jap perfidiousness. For all the rest of us--is there any memorable fantasy film from Hollywood that didn't rip off the Japanese master, Kurosawa? Now you know why Lucas and Spielberg financed Ran and Kagemusha: abject shame.
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