Throne of Blood (1957) - film review

Sent by the Lord Tzuzuki, two samurai warriors, Washizu and Miki, succeed in crushing a local uprising led by a treacherous warlord.  On the return to their master’s castle, they lose their way in the forest and encounter a strange old woman who prophesies their future.  Washizu shall succeed Tzuzuki, but his reign will be short and Miki’s son will be his successor.   The two men laugh this off and return to Tzuzuki, who showers them with honours in reward for their valour.   Tzuzuki’s wife Asaji is determined that the old woman’s prophesy will come true.  Playing on her husband’s fear and vanity, she goads him into murdering Tzuzuki when he visits their castle.   Once he has been appointed Tzuzuki’s successor, Washizu becomes wary of Miki.  He has no intention of surrendering his hard won throne to Miki’s offspring, so he hires a murderer to kill Miki and his son.  Miki is slain, but his son escapes.  Washizu then receives news that samurai loyal to Tzuzuki are preparing to turn against him.  Fearful of what the future now holds for him, Washizu returns to the forest to visit the old woman.  She tells him that he will never lose a battle until the forest moves towards his castle.  Reassured by these words, Washizu returns to his castle, confident that his throne is secure...

Bringing Shakespeare’s Macbeth to a Japanese audience had been a lifelong ambition of director Akira Kurosawa. It was not until he had mastered the art of cinema and become a world class filmmaker that Kurosawa rose to the challenge, and crafted what is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest Shakespearean adaptations.   Although the film contains not one line of dialogue from the original play, it closely follows its plot and perfectly evokes its chilling atmosphere and sense of brooding evil.

Stylistically, Throne of Blood is a complete contrast to Kurosawa’s previous great samurai film, Seven Samurai (1954).  Stripped of the western influences seen in that earlier film, Throne of Blood is much closer in style to the Noh theatre of traditional Japanese culture.  Most of the scenes are theatrical compositions, statically photographed, with actors giving exaggerated performances - either manically over-the-top (Toshirô Mifune in the leading role) or subdued to the point of statue-like (Isuzu Yamada in the Lady Macbeth part).  This stylisation gives the film a chilling stillness that somehow amplifies the grotesque evil that Washizu and his wife succumb to as they let ambition get the better of them.  

Whilst the film lacks the remarkable fluidity seen in Kurosawa’s other films, the visuals are just as striking.  Particularly memorable is the sequence at the top of the film when Washizu and Miki lose their way in a mist-shrouded forest and encounter the old woman who predicts their future.  There is a mesmeric dreamlike quality to this part of the film, which is mirrored by a similarly mystical sequence near the end, when Washizu sees the trees of the forest apparently walking through a mist towards his castle.  Kurosawa leaves open the possibility that what we are seeing is not real, but rather the fevered hallucination of a deranged mind.

There are some departures from the original play, but these are pretty inconsequential and it is perhaps surprising how effectively Macbeth is transposed to a medieval Japanese setting.  The purists will lament the fact that there is no Macduff (hence no one ’not born of woman’ to slay the principal villain with a smug grin), but this is surely compensated for by the spectacular fashion in which Washizu is despatched, butchered by his own archers.   Its seems incredible that this stunning denouement was performed without the aid of special effects or stunt men.   Actor Toshirô Mifune really did put himself at risk of personal injury when he agreed to have showers of arrows fired into the set around him by experienced archers.  Well, it’s one way to get a convincing performance...

Throne of Blood is one of Kurosawa’s most visually potent masterworks.  Not only is it a brilliant reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s play but it succinctly conveys the very essence of the play and shows that its central themes - of ambition, betrayal and retribution - are indeed universal.  Every decent production of Macbeth should leave you shaken and chilled to the bone.  Kurosawa’s film does just this, for what it reveals is the utter blackness of a human soul that has been totally warped by the baser instincts.  Here is a naked depiction of pure evil that will haunt you forever.

© James Travers 2010

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