Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Ryûzô Kikushima (written by) &
Hideo Oguni (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

6 October 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

Lured by gold, two greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines. However, they do not realize that their companions are actually a princess and her general.

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Princess | Mute | Fortress | Greed

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	General Rokurota Makabe
Minoru Chiaki	...	Tahei
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Matashichi
Susumu Fujita	...	General Hyoe Tadokoro
Takashi Shimura	...	The Old General, Izumi Nagakura
Misa Uehara	...	Princess Yuki
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Old Lady-in-Waiting
Toshiko Higuchi	...	Farmer's Daughter bought from slave trader
Yû Fujiki	...	Barrier guard
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Samurai on horse
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Old man in front of sign
Takeshi Katô	...	Fleeing, bloody samurai
Kôji Mitsui	...	Guard
Toranosuke Ogawa	...	Magistrate of the bridge barrier
Kichijirô Ueda	...	Slave Trader
Nakajirô Tomita	...	Potential slave buyer
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Potential slave buyer
Ikio Sawamura	...	Gambler
Senkichi Ômura	...	Soldier
Sachio Sakai	...	Captured foot soldier
Makoto Satô	...	Yamada foot soldier
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Akisuki soldier
Akira Tani	...	Captured foot soldier
Yutaka Sada	...	Guard at bridge barrier
Takeo Oikawa	...	Guard at pass barrier
Tadao Nakamaru	...	Young Man
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Yamana foot soldier (as Jirô Kumagai)
Shôichi Hirose	...	Yamana soldier
Etsurô Saijô	...	Yamana samurai
Masayoshi Nagashima	...	Yamana samurai
Fuminori Ôhashi	...	Samurai
Shin Ôtomo	...	Samurai on horseback
Minoru Itô	...	Samurai on horseback
Haruo Suzuki	...	Samurai on horseback
Shigekatsu Kanazawa	...	Samurai on horseback
Kazuo Higata
Haruo Nakajima	...	Akisuki soldier
Ryû Kuze	...	Akitsuki soldier
Ichirô Chiba	...	Yamana foot soldier
Shigemi Sunagawa
Rinsaku Ogata	...	Second Young Man
Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi	...	Samurai on horseback
Haruya Sakamoto	...	Samurai on horseback

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits
Ryûzô Kikushima		(written by) &
Hideo Oguni		(written by) &
Shinobu Hashimoto		(written by) &
Akira Kurosawa		(written by)

Produced by
Sanezumi Fujimoto	....	producer
Akira Kurosawa	....	producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Kazuo Yamasaki		(as Ichio Yamazeki)

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Yoshirô Muraki

Costume Design by
Masahiro Katô

Makeup Department
Yoshiko Matsumoto	....	hair stylist
Junjiro Yamada	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Hiroshi Nezu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yoshimitsu Banno	....	assistant director (as Yoshimitsu Sakano)
Yôichi Matsue	....	assistant director
Samaji Nonagase	....	chief assistant director
Ken Sano	....	assistant director
Yasuyoshi Tajitsu	....	assistant director
Masahiro Takase	....	assistant director

Art Department
Kôhei Ezaki	....	art supervisor
Koichi Hamamura	....	property master
Shinko Kato	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Yoshiro Miyamoto	....	sound assistant
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound mixer
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Sei Arai	....	assistant lighting technician
Masao Fukuda	....	still photographer
Ichirô Inohara	....	lighting technician
Takao Saitô	....	assistant camera
Daisaku Kimura	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Chozo Kobata	....	negative cutter

Other crew
Shigeru Endo	....	horseback riding instructor
Takuyuki Inoue	....	production assistant
Ienori Kaneko	....	horseback riding instructor
Yoji Ken	....	choreographer
Teruyo Nogami	....	script supervisor
Koichi Noguchi	....	accountant
Yoshio Sugino	....	swordplay instructor
Yuichi Yoshitake	....	acting office

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1958) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Albex (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Bright Angel Distribution (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Cowboy Pictures (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Meridian-Films (1961) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1960) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Media Home Entertainment (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2007) (Japan) (TV)
• Sandrew Metronome International (2003) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sandrews (2003) (2009) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Toho Video (2009) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Total Film Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Toho Special Effects Group

Other Companies

• Kyoto Costumes  costumes
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"The Hidden Fortress" - International (English title) (imdb display title), USA
"The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress" - (informal English title)
"Three Bad Men in a Hidden Fortress" - International (English title) (literal title)
"Three Rascals in the Hidden Fortress" - International (English title)
"La fortaleza escondida" - Mexico (imdb display title), Spain
"Den skjulte fæstning" - Denmark
"Den vilda flykten" - Sweden (imdb display title)
"Die verborgene Festung" - West Germany
"Kätketty linnake" - Finland
"La forteresse cachée" - France
"La fortezza nascosta" - Italy
"Rejtett erőd" - Hungary
"Skrivena tvrdjava" - Serbia (imdb display title)
"To mystiko frourio" - Greece (DVD title)
"Trois salauds dans une forteresse cachée" - France
"Ukryta forteca" - Poland

Runtime:

139 min | USA:126 min | Finland:114 min (1959) | Sweden:110 min (cut version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 (re-rating) | Finland:K-16 (original rating) | Spain:13 | UK:PG (video rating) (1994) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Misa Uehara, the actress who played the princess, described her first makeup session involving Kurosawa walking into the dressing room with a picture of Elizabeth Taylor, using it to explain what he was looking for in his princess with regards to makeup.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the opening sequence the two villagers see a soldier killed by cavalry. Within moments the soldier is stiffened with a hand in the air, despite the fact that it takes hours for rigor mortis to set in.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Tahei:Get away from me! You stink of dead bodies!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Heroes: Chapter Ten 'Six Months Ago' (#1.10)" (2006/II)

Waiting for Rokurota

The Hidden Fortress is a fine movie that deserves better than to be remembered as the inspiration for Star Wars. Two more dissimilar movies would hard to be imagined. The peasants bear a striking resemblance to Vladimir and Estragon in their infighting, negotiable affection for each other and their seeming inability to make any real progress toward any goal whatsoever. They are truly a venal pair, loveable only in their humanity and humor.

I saw The Hidden Fortress on the Criterion DVD. Beautiful print but no commentary outside of a brief interview with George Lucas distancing himself from the film's alleged influence on Star Wars. It would have been nice to hear interviews with surviving cast and crew or a knowledgeable historian. Criterion also made a terrible choice in not translating more of the credits. Only Kurosawa and Mifuni had the honor of an English translation. Surely Misa Uehara, Minoru Chaiki and Kamatari Fujiwara deserve to have their names known to we who lack basic Japanese. The Princess and the peasants help make this movie what it is. I gripe too much though. Without Criterion (and Netflix)I would not have been able to see this movie at all.

Again, The Hidden Fortress is a great movie that also happens to be great fun. Highly recommended