Learning on ScreenKumonosu-Jo
- Alternative title
- Throne of Blood
- Synopsis
- The story of MACBETH transposed to medieval Japan, with Macbeth as a samurai and drawing on traditions from Noh drama. Toshiro Mifune is Macbeth. In Kurosawa’s masterly interpretation of MACBETH ‘the poetry is all visual: brooding castle gates, misty battlefields, empty rooms where only the worst will happen’ (The Guardian, 2019).
With English subtitles. - Language
- Japanese
- Country
- Japan
- Medium
- Film; Video
- Technical information
- Black-and-white / Sound
- Year of release
- 1957
- Duration
- 109 mins; 9,844 feet
Credits
- Director
- Akira Kurosawa
- Producer
- Akira Kurosawa
- Cinematographer
- Asaichi Nakai
- Screenplay
- Akira Kurosawa; Hideo Oguni
- Music
- Masaru Sato
- Art Direction
- Yoshiro Murai
- Cast
Toshiro Mifune Taketoki Washizu (Macbeth) Isuzu Yamada Asaji (Lady Macbeth) Takashi Shimura Noriyasu Odagura (Macduff) Minoru Chiki Miki (Banquo) Takamaru Sasaki Tsuzuki (King Duncan)
Additional Details
- Production type
- Fiction Films
- Historical period
- Medieval
- Plays
- Macbeth
- Subjects
- Drama
- Keywords
- film adaptations; Japan; Noh drama; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
- Related items
- Throne of Blood
Notes
- Notes
- Available on BoB: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0013C8B4?bcast=116227177
The Folger Shakespeare Library holds a photocopy (copy made February 1962) of the English dialogue script obtained from Motion Picture Division, State Education Department, New York.
A 10-minute study extract is available for hire from the BFI Film & Video Library. The scene begins where Washizu’s wife, Asaji, tries to persuade him to take over Cobweb Castle but Washizu is reluctant, wanting to remain loyal to his lord. - General
- "...in the thirty years since THRONE OF BLOOD was released, the film has become for those who have seen it, a part of our thinking about Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It has extended the frontiers of discussion on the play and made Western scholarship more aware of the universal appeal of Shakespeare’s dramatic material". Anthony Davies Filming Shakespeare’s Plays: the adaptations of Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Peter Brook and Akira Kurosawa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
- Reviews
- Dawson, Anthony ‘Cross-Cultural Interpretation: Reading Kurosawa, Reading Shakespeare’ in Diana E. Henderson, ed., A Concise Companion to Shakespeare on Screen. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006.
Buchanan, Judith, ‘Cross-Cultural NarratIve Rhymes: the Shakespeare Films of Akira Kurosawa’ in Shakespeare on Film (Harlow, Pearson Education, 2005). pp. 71-89.
Online Availability
Production Company
- Name
Brandon Films
Distributor
- Name
Learning on Screen Off-Air Recording Back-up Service
- services@bufvc.ac.uk
- Web
- http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/offair External site opens in new window
- Phone
- 020 7393 1514
- Fax
- 020 7393 1555
- Address
- For Learning on Screen Members only
77 Wells Street
London
W1T 3QJ
Distributor (Hire)
- Name
BFI Film Bookings Unit
- bookings.films@bfi.org.uk
- Web
- http://www.bfi.org.uk/about-bfi/help-faq/film-bookings External site opens in new window
- Phone
- 020 7957 8938 / 8935
- Address
- 21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN
Distributor (Sale)
- Name
BFI Video
- video.films@bfi.org.uk
- Web
- http://www.bfi.org.uk External site opens in new window
- Phone
- 020 7957 8957
- Fax
- 020 7957 8968
- Address
- 21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN
- Name
Retail outlets
Record Stats
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