Throne of Blood

Original title: Kumonosu-jô

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Toshirô Mifune and Isuzu Yamada in Throne of Blood (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.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.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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

57K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins & 1 nomination total

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Storyline

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Trivia
Originally, Akira Kurosawa was planning on building merely a facade castle for the film, but this proved to be an impractical step, prompting the building of full castle sections to use in shooting. These were built with the help of United States Marines who were based in the area.

Goofs
When the witch runs in the forest, she briefly can be seen wearing sneakers.

Quotes
Old Ghost Woman: [singing] Men are vain and death is long, And pride dies first within the grave, For hair and nails are growing still, When face and fame are gone, Nothing in this world will save, Or measure up man's actions here, Nor in the next - for there is none, This life must end in fear, Only evil may maintain, An afterlife for those who will, Who love this world - who have no son, To whom ambition calls, Even so - this false fame falls, Death will reign - man dies in vain.

Connections
Featured in A Japanese Film Festival (1957)

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Review

Featured review

9/10

Kurosawa's masterful retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth

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.