Throne of Blood Poster

Throne of Blood (1957)

Drama  
Rayting:   8.1/10 47.1K votes
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Release date: 15 January 1957

A war hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.

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ma-cortes 14 October 2018

Prestigious recounting marked by evocative production design , unflinching violence, intense drama and fatalistic atmosphere . It is an incredibly detailed vision in its own right . Akira Kurosawa masterful retelling of Macbeth transports the tale to Medieval Japan and the world of Samurai . As it is so steeped in Japanese style that it bears little resemblance to the Shakespearean Macbeth original . It deals with two war-hardened generals Washizu , Toshiro Mifune , and Miki , Chiaki, who after securing an important victory on the battlefield return home, they are to rewarded by their overlord after having put down a rebellion , as they are promoted because of their breathtaking victory. Then they come across a spirit-alike seer and tell them of their future . But they find themselves lost on woods on their way to their castle . Then they meet at a maze-like the mysterious old woman, a spirit-like who prophesizes that Mifune will soon rule , but his realm will be short . The witch is missed as crazy but her prophesies come to pass . The tough general egged by his scheming as well as ambitious wife lady Adaji , Yamada , works to fullfill a prophecy that he would become lord of spider's cobweb castle but with unexpected consequences . As Washizu takes action winding up to its inevitable result .

Big budgeted production , with lavish setting , lots of mood , impressive battles , sad atmosphere, though it holds limited likeness to the Shakespearean play , due to Samurai and Japan style . Classic tragedy is performed with a celebrated lead acting by Toshiro Mifune, he is the tragic lord as a demonic leader of a feudal society who is prophecised to have a short reign . Mifune gives an extraordinary acting as the angry lord who receives a prophecy by a witch , as he one day will become the main ruler, while Miki'son will someday govern as Great Lord as well . It contains stunning fight scenes , fine performances, overwhelming sets , intense drama in which all of the fire , ambition, and doom of the Shakespearean text come brilliantly to life.

The motion picture titled Cobweb castle or The castle of the Spider's web was stunningly directed by Akita Kurosawa . He was a master filmmaker who made a lot of masterpieces . He realized several films about Samurai world such as Ran , Kagemusha , Yojimbo , 7 Samurai , The hidden fortress , Rashomon . And influenced in American and European cinema . As Rashomon inspired The outrage by Martin Ritt , Basic by John MacTiernan and Yojimbo inspired Sergio Leone's For a fisful of dollars . And he directed other versions based on Dostowieski's The Idiot, and Ran based on Shakespeare's King Lear. Other notorious films by Kurosawa were Doden Kaden , High and low, Sanjuro, The bad sleep well, Red beard, Scandal , A quiet duel , On wonderful Sunday, The lower depths, I live in fear, Ikuru . With the help of admirers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, he made the samurai tale Kagemusha (1980), which Kurosawa described as a dry run for Ran (1985), an epic adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear" . His last films were a larger-scale Russian co-production Dersu Uzala (1975) , it is an epic tale and nature ode as well as adventure in turn-of-the-century Siberia , the colorful : Dreams in which plays Martin Scorsese , and finally , Rapsody in August 1991 about Hiroshima atomic bombings .

Other films based on Macbeth are the followings : Macbeth 1948 starred and directed by Orson Welles with Daniel O'Herlihy , Roddy McDowall, Jeanette Nolan , Mac

claudio_carvalho 7 September 2005

Fmovies: In the Sixteenth Century in Japan, the brave generals Taketori Washizu (Toshirô Mifune) and Yoshiaki Miki (Minoru Chiaki) are invited to visit their lord in his castle after a battle wined by them against a traitor general. In the way to the castle, they meet in the forest an evil spirit that foresees their future from the bottom of their hearts, with Washizu being the lord of an important mansion in the fields of their lord, Miki the commander of the First Fortress and Miki's son the successor of Washizu. When they meet their master, the first part of the prophecy comes true for Washizu and Miki. However, the wife of Washizu poisons his heart with calumnies and malicious feelings against the lord and Miki. Washizu kills them both, becoming the new lord of the Spider's Web Castle, but tormented by his guilty and afraid of his future.

"Kumonosu Jô" is another masterpiece of Akira Kurosawa, indeed a version of Shakespeare's Macbeth play brilliantly transposed to the scenario of the feudalistic Japan of the Sixteenth Century. The shootings and the cinematography are very impressive even in the present days, and the performances are outstanding, highlighting Toshirô Mifune in the role of a strong warrior in the battlefields, but weak in front of his venomous and ambitious wife. The sequence with the arrows in the end of the story is amazingly perfect. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Trono Manchado de Sangue" ("Throne Stained by Blood")

PureCinema 26 December 1998

Akira Kurosawa would end up using Shakespearean influence on two of his films. Throne of Blood is Kurosawa's adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, but in a feudal Japanese setting.

The film begins with Taketoki Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Yoshaki Miki (Minoru Chiaki) winning a fierce battle for their lord. Afterwards, they are invited to the lord's castle. On their way there, they come across a spirit in the forest. the spirit tells Washizu that he will soon become in command of a castle but that he will not rule long, and Yoshaki's son will soon takeover. Washizu is soon convinced that these predictions will come true, and becomes consumed with greed and evil in order to make sure that they do indeed come true.

In this film Kurosawa uses a more still and quiet filming style than was used in his previous films (with the exception of Ikiru). A style that he continued to use for the rest of his career. The Shakespearean influence is obviously there, not only in story, but the film itself has a very theatre-esque feeling to it.

TheUnknown837-1 15 May 2009

Throne of Blood fmovies. Akira Kurosawa is one of the most celebrated and renowned of all filmmakers not only because he created some of the world's greatest visionary masterpieces such "Seven Samurai" (1954), "Rashomon" (1950), and "Yojimbo" (1961) but because he had the nerve to draw in on formulas and elements from all around the world and not just those of his native Japan. He is considered the most Western of all Japanese filmmakers, having owed a lot of his influence to men such as John Ford. But there also came times when Kurosawa would tend to the realm of William Shakespeare and the influential plays that he created so many years before.

The Shakespearian play "Macbeth" is considered one of the playwright's classics, so it wasn't a surprise when Akira Kurosawa decided to film his own adaptation of the story and blend it with his own shocking twists and ideas. His 1957 film "Throne of Blood", while not entirely faithful to Shakespeare's play and not alluding to any of the original dialogue is ranked one of the greatest "Macbeth" adaptations of all time. And remember, this is a story that has been modified and reconstructed over and over again through the centuries.

The basic plot remains the same. Toshiro Mifune stars as the Japanese equivalent to Macbeth: a war hero-turned-ruler who, upon being egged by his vindictive and cynical wife (Isuzu Yamada) and being told a strange prophecy about his future, plots to murder his own master and anybody who stands in his way. Once the murder is committed, peace does not follow, but rather a long chain of bloody killings until the position Mifune holds is exactly what the title personifies.

Although I strongly feel that Kurosawa did a better treatment of the Shakespeare play "King Lear" with "Ran" (1985) and that this film does not rank on top with some of his others, "Throne of Blood" is still a very good and very visionary and creative opus. And part of the reason why I like it is because of its inherently dark nature. Unlike "Yojimbo" (1961) which made a sort of glory out of violence, "Throne of Blood" has an atmosphere of terror and intensity around it. Right from the beginning, when we hear Masaru Sato's chilling opening score, we know this is going to be a dark film. Toshiro Mifune was perfect casting as the bloodthirsty Washizu. Although he is far less evil that Macbeth from the play, Washizu is in his own way, more intimidating due to his viciousness and again, those eyes. Mifune maintains the impression of a madman throughout the course of the film and gives us the impression of a wild animal hungry for human flesh and blood. I was also very fond of the performance by Isuzu Yamada as Lady Macbeth's equivalent. Although her performance is mainly a one-note ordeal, it still works out well and there was something about her that reminded me not of a snake like one would expect, but a rat. I do not know if Kurosawa did this intentionally, but when she walks, the lower garments of her robe rubs against the floor with a kind of squeal-like wisp. And like a rat, she spreads her disease: the thirst for blood.

"Throne of Blood" is not a perfect film, however. The music score by Masaru Sato, save for the opening theme and a few cues here and there, is rather forgettable. Some of the supporting cast members, such as those by Akira Kubo and Takashi Shimura seem very underdeveloped. However, any weaknesses that become noticeable are soon fo

Anonymous_Maxine 7 August 2001

Throne of Blood is, in fact, ambitious as a film as well as in its meaning. It suggests that ambition, when based on whimsical motivation, can sometimes lead to the destruction of very close relationships, and even one's own ruination. Throne of Blood begins with a series of messengers bringing news to their daimyo about an invasion of North Castle by the Fujimaki, which is led by an enemy samurai named Inui. The invasion is broken and then bravely retaliated against by two armies which are led by two samurai, Washizu and Miki. As they are returning to the daimyo, they come across a ghostly spirit in the woods, who predicts leadership positions to be attained by each of them that very day. These predictions come true to the last detail, which sets off a destructive chain of events.

Miki becomes the leader of Fort One, as predicted, and Washizu becomes the leader of the North Castle, as predicted, but it is also predicted that Miki's son will rule North Castle after Washizu, which causes problems later in the film. Despite their good fortune, Miki and especially Washizu must keep their encounter with the fortune-telling spirit in the woods a secret because, if word gets out, Washizu is likely to become endangered because people will want him dead out of suspicion that he will try to kill Yoshiteru, Miki's son, to keep him from taking over Washizu's position. In an effort to prevent any of this, Washizu decides to name Yoshiteru as his heir, but Asaji, his wife, forbids this, saying that she is pregnant. It is Asaji who pressures Washizu into having Miki killed so that he can be the sole ruler of all of the provinces, but when this happens, the other castles turn against him and seek to avenge the leaders who have been killed under his orders. In the end, he is killed by his own army, which has lost all faith in him and has also turned against him.

There was a very interesting use of symbolism in Throne of Blood that is worth pointing out here. From literally the beginning to the end of the film, the setting is covered in thick fog. One scene that comes to mind that quite clearly communicates the meaning of this fog is early in the film, just after Washizu and Miki saw the spirit in the woods, and had their futures revealed to them. As they are riding out of the woods and back to the castle, they begin to cross large, flat plains that are covered in this stiflingly thick fog. There is literally a couple of minutes of footage of them riding their horses into the fog, then back toward the camera, then into the fog in another direction, and then back toward the camera, and so on. This fog seems to symbolize a natural inability to see ahead, or to see the future, as it were. This technique is especially effective this early in the film because much of the two men's decisions later in the film are founded on what the spirit told them, yet the fog symbolizes a type of foreshadowing that suggests that this premonition cannot be correct.

Throne of Blood is also structured in a very unique way. The film starts off showing a desolated castle, as well as its surroundings, in which there is a sizeable gravestone marking a burial site. While this is being shown, there is a song being sung by an unseen choir about a brave warrior who once ruled this now-deserted castle, but who was `murdered by ambition.' At the end of the film, we see this same montage, and the same song is heard, and this is where we learn that the gravestone marks Washizu's burial site.

Kurosawa used different camer

OttoVonB 25 May 2002

The Scottish Play gets a very Oriental makeover in this combination of samurai film and Noh theater from master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. As a fan of both AK and Shakespeare I owed it to myself to give this a go, particularly as this play has drawn many gifted filmmakers over the years, always to interesting results.

If you know Kurosawa's Seven Samurai or Yojombo, your expectations going into Throne of Blood will probably let you down at first. The energy and visual flair are there, but expressed very differently: a suffocating formality and simmering rage replaces the vitality and dynamism of those other films. Lost in a thick, perpetual fog, Kurosawa's characters stumble around like broken puppets, heavily made up in Noh theater makeup that is at first hard to adjust to. it creates a useful distance, and underlines the power of the cruel hand of Fate, moving its victims across an apocalyptic landscape to a shockingly violent conclusion, one you would do well not to preview online before viewing the film.

Of his three adaptations - Ran being a masterful retelling of King Lear and The Bad Sleep Well using elements of Hamlet - this is the least accessible, but also the most visionary and unique. Oddly enough, it has similarities to Orson Welles' earlier adaptation made half a world away. Both films focus on tribal symbolism, are doused in fog and could never conceivably have had the same impact in color.

If you're interested in either Japanese cinema or Shakespeare, this should definitely be near the top of your list. As an entry-point to Kurosawa's catalog, you'd probably be better off with some less weighty fare.

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