{"id":83095,"date":"2022-04-18T13:51:47","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T20:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=83095"},"modified":"2024-05-28T23:04:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T06:04:33","slug":"throne-of-blood-1957","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=83095","title":{"rendered":"Throne of Blood (1957)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;This is a wicked world. To save yourself you often first must kill.&#8221;<\/strong> <\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Poster-205x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"205\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-83096\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Poster-205x300.png 205w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Poster-87x128.png 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Poster-184x270.png 184w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Poster.png 573w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 205px) 100vw, 205px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nOn their way home from an invasion, two loyal samurai &#8212; Taketori Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Yoshiteru Miki (Akira Kubo) &#8212; are told by a mysterious forest spirit (Chieko Naniwa) that they will become inheritors of their lord&#8217;s castle. When Washizu&#8217;s status-hungry wife (Isuzu Yamada) hears this news, she poisons two guards and sets in motion a bloody rampage of killings and treachery.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Akira Kurosawa Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Japanese Films<\/li>\n<li>Royalty and Nobility<\/li>\n<li>Samurai<\/li>\n<li>Shakespeare<\/li>\n<li>Toshiro Mifune Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAkira Kurosawa had purportedly wanted to make an adaptation of Shakespeare&#8217;s <em>Macbeth<\/em> for awhile, but delayed this production given the release of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=80395\">Orson Welles&#8217; adaptation in 1948<\/a>. This highly stylized iteration (incorporating elements of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Noh\">Noh drama<\/a>) succeeds on its own merits, transplanting Shakespeare&#8217;s play from Scotland to feudal Japan, retaining none of Shakespeare&#8217;s original text, and replacing the three witches with a forest spirit: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2-1024x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-83102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2-768x557.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2-372x270.png 372w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Spirit2.png 1488w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Indeed, as described by film scholar Stephen Prince in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criterion.com\/current\/posts\/270-throne-of-blood-shakespeare-transposed\">essay for Criterion Collections<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Kurosawa\u2019s movie is a brilliant synthesis of diverse cultural, aesthetic, and historical sources, only one skein of which derives from Shakespeare&#8230; Kurosawa often turned to foreign literary works for his films, but in all cases, the result was a transposition of the source rather than anything as straightforward as an adaptation. His appropriations of Shakespeare&#8230; were acts more of historiography than of analysis, and descriptions of the films as adaptations minimize the true nature of what Kurosawa accomplished. In <em>Throne of Blood<\/em>, with his keenly developed sense of Japanese history, he found a kind of mirror universe in the period of turmoil, treachery, and succession battles that Shakespeare wrote about in <em>Macbeth<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Prince goes on to describe Japan&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sengoku_period\">Sengoku period (1467-1615)<\/a>, &#8220;which was marked by internecine conflicts among rival clans, the absence of a central political power, and the kind of treachery, prevarication, and murder that Kurosawa dramatizes&#8221; in this film &#8212; thus assuring us that the events displayed are entirely authentic to the setting. (It seems, sadly, that war and paranoid power grabs are both universal and timeless among humanity.) <\/p>\n<p>In terms of parallels between the two tales, Washizu&#8217;s wife (stoic Yamada) is just as cruelly ambitious and neurotically guilty as Lady Macbeth, attempting in vain to cleanse her hands of the blood she&#8217;s caused to spill: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands-1024x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-83103\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands-768x557.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands-372x270.png 372w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Hands.png 1488w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; and while Washizu himself suffers a different type of final blow than Macbeth, it is most definitely fatal (and oh-so-dramatic to watch on-screen). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1488\" height=\"1080\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-83150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows.png 1488w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows-768x557.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Arrows-372x270.png 372w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1488px) 100vw, 1488px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This atmospheric film remains among Kurosawa&#8217;s best, and should be seen at least once by all film fanatics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Toshiro Mifune as Taketori Washizu<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune-1024x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-83099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune-768x557.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune-372x270.png 372w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Mifune.png 1488w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography and sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets-1024x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-83100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets-768x557.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets-372x270.png 372w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Sets.png 1488w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Eiji Tsuburaya&#8217;s special effects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects-1024x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-83098\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects-1024x743.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects-768x557.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects-372x270.png 372w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Throne-of-Blood-Effects.png 1488w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as another masterful outing by Kurosawa. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Foreign Gem<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=1458\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0050613\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s4390bloo.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.criterion.com\/current\/posts\/270-throne-of-blood-shakespeare-transposed\">Criterion Essay<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/review\/2971\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1961\/11\/23\/archives\/screen-change-in-scenejapanese-production-of-macbeth-opens.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This is a wicked world. To save yourself you often first must kill.&#8221; Synopsis: On their way home from an invasion, two loyal samurai &#8212; Taketori Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Yoshiteru Miki (Akira Kubo) &#8212; are told by a mysterious forest spirit (Chieko Naniwa) that they will become inheritors of their lord&#8217;s castle. When Washizu&#8217;s status-hungry wife (Isuzu Yamada) hears this news, she poisons two guards and sets in motion a bloody rampage of killings and treachery. Genres, Themes, Actors,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=83095\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83095"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97177,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83095\/revisions\/97177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}