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Akira Kurosawa discovering the style of his next period, vast constructions and lateral sweep for the Tohoscope rectangle. The introductory feint is on La Grande Illusion, bickering tramps (Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara) on a desert road, "both smell of corpses." The unlucky peasants are separated and reunited at a slave camp that explodes in an astonishing stampede down giant stone steps, a few fierce slashes to paint feudal times. They flee only to be forcibly recruited by a general with a booming laugh (Toshiro Mifune), the mission is to escort the princess (Misa Uehara) across enemy territory, gold concealed in firewood is needed to rebuild the kingdom. The slapstick of craven nitwits is the basic human condition, scramble hard enough and maybe get a backhanded compliment from the gallant gods. "Sometimes even moss can be smart." A ripping expansion of The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, action and farce in nimble balance, an epic canvas for Shakespeare's Gravediggers to rattle in. An up-angle at the mountain stronghold provides an invocation of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and a divination of Woman in the Dunes. The incognito damsel is a tomboy, sharp-voiced and handy with a switch, revealing her anguish before the landscape as the clan's flag is superimposed over her weeping visage. "A rare meeting" with the noble opponent (Susumu Fujita), the protracted duel is reworked by Mann in The Fall of the Roman Empire. The elemental aspect passes through hideouts under waterfalls and silhouettes in mist for the culmination of the Fire Festival, where the pyre rouses an existential song: "When you realize / The world is dark / Life is just a dream / Lose yourself." Pure Kurosawa, a virile spectacle that closes with a wink to Roman Holiday. Cinematography by Kazuo Yamasaki. With Takashi Shimura, Eiko Miyoshi, Toshiko Higuchi, and Koji Mitsui. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |