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The Radio 3 Boards > Arts Other Than Music > Cinema > Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)
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Author Topic: Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)  (Read 112 times)
Stanley Stewart
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Posts: 1090


Well...it was 1935
« on: 17:16:19, 14-10-2008 »
I've just spent two enthralling hours on a gie dank afternoon, transferring a two part ARENA series, transmitted on BBC 2 in June 2002;  a profile of Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa, to DVD.   Watching the range of his work, I trust that this tribute will be shown again on the centenary in 2010, along with several of his major films which started with Rashomon, the bringer of international fame after it won the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival.    He had a particular brilliance as a maker of historical films: The Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1956), The Hidden Fortress ((1958), and Ran (1981),  spring immediately to mind.   Kurosawa's samurai roots and traumatic early experiences influenced many of his films.    He also managed to portray the beauty of physical grace on the screen and his working relationship with a great actor Toshira Mifune had a sensibility, a rare symbiosis.

Kurosawa's scripts were also in demand in the west and, of course, The Magnificent Seven (1960) was a remake of The Seven Samurai.   Amusing to watch James Coburn - the knife throwing cowboy in the remake - viewing the originator in this role.   Clint Eastwood then spoke about seeing Yojimbo (1961) at an LA art house cinema and remarked to his partner that it would make a wonderful western but nobody would have the nerve to do it!      Ironic laughter was accompanied by a clip from A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

The ARENA was narrated by Sam Shephard with readings from Kurosawa's autobiography, Something Like an Autobiography (1982), by Paul Scofield.

                                  I am a maker of films;
                                  Films are my true medium                     A.K.
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time_is_now
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« Reply #1 on: 00:45:29, 15-10-2008 »
Quote from: Stanley Stewart on 17:16:19, 14-10-2008
Kurosawa's scripts were also in demand in the west and, of course, The Magnificent Seven (1960) was a remake of The Seven Samurai.
Hasn't there been a Western remake/adaptation of Rashomon too, or am I imagining that?

The relationship went both ways, of course: Throne of Blood and Ran are both Shakespeare remakes (of the Scottish play and Lear respectively). As I was saying to Stanley a week or two ago, it's a pity he didn't also get round to Hamlet.

Actually, nothing to do with Kurosawa, but just thinking about film directors, I wish Godard had made a Hamlet: wouldn't that be fantastic?!
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
Mrs. Kerfoops
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« Reply #2 on: 01:24:06, 15-10-2008 »
I could never stand to see any of his movies - he was a very cruel man I think. If you ask me they should all be banned (if you don't mind me saying so).
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Stanley Stewart
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Well...it was 1935
« Reply #3 on: 13:05:04, 15-10-2008 »
Yes, tinners, there was a dire Hollywood remake of Rashomon, in 1964, The Outrage - and it was.   Surprisingly, it was directed by Martin Ritt whose elegiac "Hud" (1963) (seen on Film4 last Sunday) also starred Paul Newman.

Hello, again, Mrs Kerfoops.   Kurosawa is clearly not your cup of bromide but I cannot be sympathetic to any proposal which seeks to ban subject matter which may not tally with my viewpoint.   Coincidentally, I watched the 1933 version of Little Women, a few weeks ago, with the remarkable Katharine Hepburn as Jo.   Louisa May Alcott's world of lavender and lace is always a pleasure to watch on a dank day.      "See as thou are wont to see..."
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