"Actor: Minoru Chiaki"

• The Hidden Fortress (4K UHD) | Unknown | (18/08/2025) from £24.85   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  New 4K Restoration of Kurosawa's much-loved classic. 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 Festival. Some twenty years on, the film's influence would have even greater impact on the world's box office, when George Lucas borrowed elements of its plot for the first of his Star Wars series. Extras Restored 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) Newly recorded audio commentary by Japanese-cinema expert Tony Rayns Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create Hidden Fortress (2002) Interview with George Lucas (2001, 8 mins) Original trailer **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with a new essay on the film by Kenta McGrath

• Kurosawa Samurai Collection | Blu Ray | (01/09/2014) from £36.98   |  Saving you £25.00 (71.45%)   |  RRP £59.99

  The films of Akira Kurosawa one of the cinema's greatest auteurs have had a profound effect on audiences around the world and his acclaimed samurai epics - featuring international star Toshirô Mifune - have inspired filmmakers a diverse as George Lucas and Sergio Leone. This collection marks the first time all these seminal films have been available on High Definition blu-ray in the UK. Seven Samurai (1954)When the residents of a small Japanese village seek protection they hire seven unemployed ronin' (masterless samurai). Paid only in handfuls of rice the samurai remain distant from the villagers knowing that their assignment may prove to be fatal. Unanimously hailed as one of cinema's greatest masterpieces Seven Samurai has inspired countless films including The Magnificent Seven. Japan | 1954 | 190 minutes | Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 Throne of Blood (1957)In this brilliant re-imagining of Shakespeare's Macbeth Toshirô Mifune plays a samurai fated to betray his friend and master in exchange for the prestige of nobility. Kurosawa's bloody tale is a triumph of economic style and the climactic battle scene is full of remarkable and brutal imagery. Japan | 1957 | 104 minutes | Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 The Hidden Fortress (1958)In this classic collaboration between Kurosawa and star Mifune a warrior and a princess try against all odds to return to their homeland with their fortune. Acknowledged by George Lucas as the inspiration for Star Wars The Hidden Fortress combines an epic tale of struggle and honour with modern comic sensibilities to masterful effect. Japan | 1958 | 138 minutes | Original aspect ratio 2.35:1 (16x9 enhanced) Yojimbo (1961)A drifting samurai for hire plays both ends against the middle with two warring factions surviving on his wits and his ability to outrun his own bad luck. Eventually the samurai seeks to eliminate both sides for his own gain and to define his own sense of honour. Yojimbo provided inspiration for A Fistful of Dollars. Japan | 1961 | 106 minutes | Widecreen 4:3 format Sanjuro (1962)After the success of Yojimbo Kurosawa teamed up once again with Mifune one year later to make this comedy of manners. The film which follows a man fighting corruption in local government offers a twist on the classic Samurai tale by gently but perfectly parodying the conventions of the Japanese period action movie tradition. Japan | 1962 | 95 minutes | Original aspect ratio 2.35:1 (16x9 enhanced)

• Seven Samurai (Blu-ray Edition) | Blu Ray | (25/08/2014) from £18.75   |  Saving you £1.24 (6.61%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the greatest films ever made – Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai has influenced the work of directors from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg and spawned remakes such as John Sturges’ acclaimed The Magnificent Seven. With their village raided every year by vicious bandits a group of peasants hire seven warriors to protect them. Initially met with suspicion the warriors eventually gain the trust of the peasants and they join forces to face the bandits. This special edition includes alternative presentations of the film a new and exclusive interview with Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns and the film’s original Japanese trailer. Endlessly copied but never surpassed Seven Samurai is a truly timeless classic. Contents: Digitally re-mastered in High Definition Play with or without original intermission Original Japanese theatrical trailer The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013 49 mins): Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns discusses Kurosawa’a career and influence Fully illustrated booklet with essays and credits

• Seven Samurai | DVD | (22/11/1999) from £17.29   |  Saving you £2.70 (15.62%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Unanimously hailed as one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of the motion picture, Seven Samurai has inspired countless films modelled after its basic premise. But Akira Kurosawa's classic 1954 action drama has never been surpassed in terms of sheer power of emotion, kinetic energy, and dynamic character development. The story is set in the 1600s, when the residents of a small Japanese village are seeking protection against repeated attacks by a band of marauding thieves. Offering mere handfuls of rice as payment, they hire seven unemployed "ronin" (masterless samurai), including a boastful swordsman (Toshiro Mifune) who is actually a farmer's son desperately seeking glory and acceptance. The samurai get acquainted with but remain distant from the villagers, knowing that their assignment may prove to be fatal. The climactic battle with the raiding thieves remains one of the most breathtaking sequences ever filmed. It's poetry in hyperactive motion and one of Kurosawa's crowning cinematic achievements. This is not a film that can be well served by any synopsis; it must be seen to be appreciated and belongs on the short list of any definitive home-video library. --Jeff Shannon

• Ikiru | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £14.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (33.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  ""Sometimes I think of my death "" wrote Akira Kurosawa ""I think of ceasing to be... and it is from these thoughts that Ikiru came."" The story of a man diagnosed with stomach cancer Kurosawa's film is a serious contemplation of the nature of existence and the question of how we find meaning in our lives. Opening with a shot of an x-ray showing the main character's stomach 'Ikiru' tells the tale of a dedicated downtrodden civil servant who diagnosed with a fatal cancer learns to c

• Rashomon | DVD | (13/10/2008) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Famously, Rashomon - which won both the Golden Lion in Venice and the Oscar for Foreign-Language Film - introduced Western audiences to Japanese cinema in general and to the thrilling artistry of Akira Kurosawa in particular.

• Rashomon (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £8.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (122.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Rashomon's most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favourite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. --Tom Keogh

• Akira Kurosawa - The Samurai Collection | DVD | (07/06/2010) from £34.43   |  Saving you £5.56 (16.15%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Akira Kurosawa: The Samurai Collection (5 Discs)

• The Hidden Fortress (Blu-ray) | Unknown | (18/08/2025) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  New restoration of Kurosawa's much-loved classic. 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 Festival. Some twenty years on, the film's influence would have even greater impact on the world's box office, when George Lucas borrowed elements of its plot for the first of his Star Wars series. Extras Newly restored in 4K and presented in High Definition Newly recorded audio commentary by Japanese-cinema expert Tony Rayns Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create Hidden Fortress (2002) Interview with George Lucas (2001, 8 mins) Original trailer **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with a new essay on the film by Kenta McGrath

• 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

• Rashomon (DVD) | DVD | (21/09/2015) from £18.38   |  Saving you £3.37 (20.28%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Rashomon's most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favourite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. --Tom Keogh

• 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

• Rashomon | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Rashomon's most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favourite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. --Tom Keogh

• 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

• 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