"Actor: Eiko Miyoshi"

• Throne Of Blood | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £22.89   |  Saving you £-2.90 (-14.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A champion of illumination and experimental shading, Kurosawa brings his unerring eye for indelible images to Shakespeare in this 1957 adaptation of Macbeth. By changing the locale from Birnam Wood to 16th-century Japan, Kurosawa makes an oddball argument for the trans-historicity of Shakespeare's narrative; and indeed, stripped to the bare mechanics of the plot, the tale of cut-throat ambition rewarded (and thwarted) feels infinitely adaptable. What's lost in the translation, of course, is the force and beauty of the language--much of the script of Throne of Blood is maddeningly repetitive or superfluous--but striking visual images (including the surreal Cobweb Forest and some extremely artful gore) replace the sublime poetry. Toshiro Mifune is theatrically intense as Washizu, the samurai fated to betray his friend and master in exchange for the prestige of nobility; he portrays the ill-fated warrior with a passion bordering on violence, and a barely concealed conviviality. Somewhat less successful is Isuzu Yamada as Washizu's scheming wife; her poise and creepy impassivity, chilling at first, soon grows tedious. Kurosawa himself is the star of the show, though, and his masterful use of black-and-white contrast--not to mention his steady, dramatic hand with a battle scene--keeps the proceedings thrilling. A must-see for fans of Japanese cinema, as well as all you devotees of samurai weapons and armour. --Miles Bethany

• Hidden Fortress | DVD | (25/03/2002) from £25.63   |  Saving you £-5.64 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A story of rival clans hidden gold and a princess in distress The Hidden Fortress is a thrilling mix of fairy story and samurai action movie. It was Kurosawa's first film shot in the widescreen process of Tohoscope and he exploited this to the full in the film's rich variety of landscape locations including the slopes of Mount Fuji. The Hidden Fortress became Kurosawa's biggest box-office hit to date and won several awards including the Golden Bear at the 1959 Berlin Film Fest

• I Live In Fear | DVD | (28/03/2005) from £11.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (66.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When a wealthy foundry owner and bullying patriarch decides to move his entire family from Tokyo to Brazil to escape the nuclear holocaust which he fears is imminent his family tries to have him declared mentally incompetent... Made at the height of the Cold War when the superpowers were engaged in series of nuclear tests this blazing attack on complacency was one of the director's most deeply-felt but least commercially successful films. Nonetheless it deserves to be more widely

• Musashi Miyamoto | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Samurai Trilogy is based around the life of the historical character Musashi Miyamoto. Born around 1584 he perfected the technique of two sword fighting as well as developing into a considerable Zen black ink artist. Having fought his first duel at the age of thirteen he was involved in 60 other engagements before his death in 1645. Several versions of his life have been produced for cinema and television in Japan but none more prestigious than Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1955 it was also Toho's first foray into colour. The first episode of the trilogy covers Miyamoto's formative years as he emerges from rural obscurity to search for fame and glory in civil war but returns home a broken man. Brought back to sanity through the love of a warm hearted girl she persuades him to place himself under the spiritual guidance of an unorthodox Buddhist priest. His methods of teaching the ways of enlightenment would make the fiercest of Zen masters seem positively gentle. Gaining in spiritual stature and insight Miyamoto is forced to choose between settling for domestic happiness or continuing his search for perfection in the art of the sword.

• Classic Kurosawa | DVD | (28/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Throne of Blood (1957): Kurosawa's film career began in 1936 at the Photo Chemical Laboratories in Tokyo. His directorial debut in 1943 Judo Saga bore evidence of his economy of expression and marked his humanist approach. His Rashomon won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1951 and this led to the 'discovery' of his other works and those of his mentors and peers notably Ozu and Mizoguchi. Kurosawa's transposition of Shakespeare's Ma