Throne of Blood
Unquestionably one of [Kurosawa’s] finest works -- charged with energy, imagination, and, in keeping with the subject, sheer horror.
-- Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Throne of Blood
Akira Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD (1957)
65th Anniversary Screenings
Wednesday, September 21, at 7 PM
Three Laemmle locations
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present this month’s installment in our popular Anniversary Classics Abroad program: Akira Kurosawa’s unique Shakespearean adaptation, Throne of Blood. The Japanese auteur was always an admirer of the Bard. His late film Ran offered a variation on King Lear.
For many years Kurosawa dreamed of adapting Macbeth, and he put the film together in 1957, with his favorite actor Toshiro Mifune starring as the ambitious, murderous leader. Isuzu Yamada co-stars as the Lady Macbeth character, with Takashi Shimura as the equivalent of Shakespeare’s Macduff. Kurosawa wrote the screenplay with Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Ryuzo Kikushima. They transposed the story from medieval Scotland to feudal Japan and Kurosawa came up with striking visual concepts to revitalize the classic story. The castle exteriors were filmed on the slopes of Mount Fuji and the memorable climax—with a massive array of arrows aimed at the deranged protagonist—remains one of the greatest images in any Kurosawa movie.
Writing of this climactic scene, The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane declared,“No stage production could match Kurosawa's Birnam Wood, and, in his final framing of the hero -- a human hedgehog, stuck with arrows -- he conjures a tragedy not laden with grandeur but pierced, like a dream, by the absurd.” British critic Derek Malcolm of the Guardian acclaimed Throne of Blood as “a landmark of visual strength… possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen.”
On its original American release, Time magazine praised the film as “a visual descent into the hell of greed and superstition.” In his four-star review, Leonard Maltin called the film a “graphic, powerful adaptation of Macbeth in a samurai setting.” It was not simply film critics who endorsed the film. Renowned literary critic Harold Bloom said that Throne of Blood was “the most successful film version of Macbeth.”
Laemmle Theatres will screen Throne of Blood on September 21 at three Laemmle locations.
65th Anniversary Screenings
Wednesday, September 21, at 7 PM
Three Laemmle locations
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present this month’s installment in our popular Anniversary Classics Abroad program: Akira Kurosawa’s unique Shakespearean adaptation, Throne of Blood. The Japanese auteur was always an admirer of the Bard. His late film Ran offered a variation on King Lear.
For many years Kurosawa dreamed of adapting Macbeth, and he put the film together in 1957, with his favorite actor Toshiro Mifune starring as the ambitious, murderous leader. Isuzu Yamada co-stars as the Lady Macbeth character, with Takashi Shimura as the equivalent of Shakespeare’s Macduff. Kurosawa wrote the screenplay with Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Ryuzo Kikushima. They transposed the story from medieval Scotland to feudal Japan and Kurosawa came up with striking visual concepts to revitalize the classic story. The castle exteriors were filmed on the slopes of Mount Fuji and the memorable climax—with a massive array of arrows aimed at the deranged protagonist—remains one of the greatest images in any Kurosawa movie.
Writing of this climactic scene, The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane declared,“No stage production could match Kurosawa's Birnam Wood, and, in his final framing of the hero -- a human hedgehog, stuck with arrows -- he conjures a tragedy not laden with grandeur but pierced, like a dream, by the absurd.” British critic Derek Malcolm of the Guardian acclaimed Throne of Blood as “a landmark of visual strength… possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen.”
On its original American release, Time magazine praised the film as “a visual descent into the hell of greed and superstition.” In his four-star review, Leonard Maltin called the film a “graphic, powerful adaptation of Macbeth in a samurai setting.” It was not simply film critics who endorsed the film. Renowned literary critic Harold Bloom said that Throne of Blood was “the most successful film version of Macbeth.”
Laemmle Theatres will screen Throne of Blood on September 21 at three Laemmle locations.
Genre
Drama,
Repertory,
Auteur Cinema,
Anniversary Classics
Runtime
109
Language
Japanese
Director
Akira Kurosawa
Writer(s)
Hideo Oguni,
Shinobu Hashimoto,
Ryûzô Kikushima,
Akira Kurosawa
Cast
Minoru Chiaki,
Isuzu Yamada
Awards:
Nominee, Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival
Played at
Fine Arts Theatre 12.08.16 - 12.08.16
Newhall 9.21.22 - 9.21.22
Royal 9.21.22 - 9.21.22
Glendale 9.21.22 - 9.21.22
Throne of Blood Get Tickets
There are currently no showtimes for this film. Please check back soon.