The Hidden Fortress

Japan/1958 — directed by Akira Kurosawa | 139 min.

A grand-scale action adventure, The Hidden Fortress stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a general tasked with guarding his defeated clan’s princess while smuggling royal treasure across hostile territory. 

Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving, and squabbling peasants who may—or may not—be their friends. If the plot sounds familiar, it’s because this rip-roaring ride (one of Kurosawa’s most beloved films) was a major influence on George Lucas’s Star Wars. 

The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa’s trademark blend of wry humor, breathtaking action, and compassionate humanity, more intoxicating than ever in this new 4K widescreen restoration, presented as part of the DFT’s two-weekend festival, Kurosawa Restored. 

"Marvelous, exhilarating, confident and clever." —Donald Richie, The Films of Akira Kurosawa