Throne of Blood (4K UHD, Region Free/B) w/SLIP

Transposing the action to sixteenth century Japan,Throne of BloodisAkira Kurosawa’sremarkable re-telling of Shakespeare’sMacbeth.

A new 4K restoration ofAkira Kurosawasastonishing filmthatsconsidered to be one of the great adaptations of ShakespearesMacbeth.

A truly remarkable film,Throne of Bloodmanages to combine beauty and terror to produce a mood of truly haunting power. Starring the irrepressible Toshiro Mifune as the doomed warlordWashizuand a wonderfully creepy turn by Isuzu Yamada as the Lady Macbeth-inspiredAsaji, the film shows Kurosawa’s familiar mastery of atmosphere and action combined with the savagery of war.

Extras

• Newly restored in 4K and presented in High Definition
• Audio commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck
• Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create Throne of Blood(2002, 23 mins): this documentary about the making of
• Throne of Bloodfeatures interviews with Akira Kurosawa, production designer Yoshiro Muraki, Noh performerMitsuhiro Honda (from the Konparu School), and actress Isuzu Yamada
• Macbeth(1909, 16 mins): transposed from the typical dreich Scottish landscape to medieval Italy, this Italian versionhas Russian titles, demonstrating how widely exported these films were in the 1900s
• Macbeth(1945, 16 mins): two scenes from Shakespeares famous Scottish tragedy, with Wilfrid Lawson andCathleen Nesbitt as a fine murderous duo
• Original trailer
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with writing on the film by Alex Barrett, an essay on Kurosawasadaptations of Shakespeare by Ben Nicholson,Kurosawa onThrone of Blood(1964) and an original review