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The Hidden Fortress is a 1958 movie directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshirō Mifune as General Rokurota Makabe and Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki. A literal translation of the Japanese title is The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress.

The film begins with two luckless peasants, Tahei and Matashichi (Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara) escaping the aftermath of a battle. While trying to make their way home, they meet and begin to travel with General Rokurota Makabe (Toshirō Mifune).

The general is trying to transport the princess of a defeated royal family and what remains of their wealth to safe territory in secret. The peasants mostly impede his mission sometimes trying to run off with the gold. They are later joined by a farmer’s daughter (Toshiko Higuchi), whom they acquire at an inn from a slave-trader, or procurer.

Together, the five make an arduous and desperate trek through enemy territory, transporting a treasure of gold that the princess and the general hope to use to rebuild the princess’s military to one day retake her land and rebuild her realm.

This was Kurosawa’s first feature filmed in a widescreen format, Tohoscope, which he continued to use for the next decade. Hidden Fortress was originally presented with Perspecta directional sound, which was re-created for the Criterion DVD release.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “The Hidden Fortress“.