Throne of Blood (BFI) (4K UHD Review)
Director
Akira KurosawaRelease Date(s)
1957 (May 19, 2025)Studio(s)
Toho Co., Ltd. (The British Film Institute)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: A+
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B
Review
[Editor’s Note: The film review here is by Todd Doogan, from his review of Criterion’s AK100 DVD release. The BFI 4K disc comments, including video/audio quality and special features, are by Bill Hunt.]
Quite possibly one of the greatest adaptations of any of Shakespeare’s works, Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood takes the famous Scottish play (Macbeth for those who don’t know their Bard) and drops it dead center into 16th century feudal Japan. Bloody, chilling, and highly stylized, Throne of Blood ranks among the best and most experimental films of Kurosawa’s career.
Samurai Washizu (Toshirô Mifune), en route back to home base after a major battle, meets up with a malevolent forest spirit, who lays out his future in a song. As Washizu comes to realize that these prophecies are coming true, he desires more and more. Not helping matters is the fact that his wife Lady Asaji (played by Isuzu Yamada, wearing some of the most evil make-up ever created) is manipulating his desires, sending him further in a downward spiral and into the darkest depths of the human soul.
Throne of Blood (aka Spider Web Castle, as translated literally from the original Japanese title) strikes many of the same chords created by Shakespeare in Macbeth, though it excludes the iconic line delivery of the original and drops the antagonist MacDuff ending in favor of one of the most violent screen deaths of any “hero” captured on film. The resulting film works so well, and on so many different levels, that it’s no surprise many historians consider it to be the best version of Macbeth ever put to celluloid.
Kurosawa reaches into many different theatrical styles here, making every moment of this film feel wide open, yet also constrained like a stage play. Most of this comes from Kurosawa’s heavy use of Noh traditions, including the classic stage layout, haunting musical atmospheres, and the shocking make-up design. The actors all put in exceptional performances, the best of which are Mifune and Yamada. The end result of all this effort is that Throne of Blood is a truly haunting cinematic experience.
Throne of Blood was shot by cinematographer Asakazu Nakai (High and Low, Dersu Uzala, Ran) on 35 mm B&W film using Mitchell cameras with spherical lenses, and it was released into theaters at the 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio. The BFI’s new 4K Ultra HD edition of Throne of Blood takes advantage of a new 4K scan and digital restoration of the original 35mm camera negative by Toho Archive Co. Ltd, in Setagaya, Japan. The film was then graded for high dynamic range (both Dolby Vision and HDR10 are available) and encoded for release on a 66 GB disc (with mastering by Fidelity in Motion in NYC). It’s presented here on UHD at full 1.37.
Since there’s surviving camera negative to scan for this film, Toho’s restoration is outstanding, and a very pleasing upgrade of previous Blu-ray and DVD releases (including those of both the BFI and Criterion). Detail is clean and wonderfully refined, rendering impressive depth of field (save for the odd shot that’s optically shot as photographed). The photochemical grain structure is intact and light-moderate. Despite the use of a 66 GB disc, the video data rate is frequently in the range of 60-80 Mbps—Fidelity in Motion’s encoding remains a marvel. The HDR grading makes a difference here too—shadows are deeper and highlights are slightly more bold, enhancing the overall dimensionality of the image, particularly in scenes set in the Cobweb Forest. Little details are improved by this throughout, including the sheen of water on samurai armor. This is a great 4K image—pretty damn close to reference quality for black and white film.
The film’s original monaural audio has also been remastered for this release by Toho to reduce unwanted noise and age-related defects. That audio is available here in Japanese 1.0 mono in DTS-HD Master Audio format. The track is largely clean, with clear dialogue. Composer Masaru Sato’s chilling score is presented in excellent fidelity. Optional subtitles in English are also included.
The BFI’s Ultra HD release is a single disc that includes the remastered film in 4K on UHD (a region-free disc, as you’d expect). No movie Blu-ray is included in the BFI package, but one is available separately. The 4K disc includes the following special features:
- Audio Commentary by Michael Jeck
- Introduction by Sir Ian McKellen (HD – 1:59)
- Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create – Throne of Blood (SD – 22:44)
- Introduction by Mamoun Hassan (HD – 7:25)
- Macbeth (HD – 16:11)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (HD – 3:44)
The audio commentary is the same one that was recorded by the Criterion Collection for their 2002 DVD release and it’s excellent, featuring film professor Michael Jeck of George Mason University, a noted expert on Japanese cinema. He discusses the film’s production design, Kurosawa’s finicky nature, the fact that real arrows were shot at Mifune for the climax, and other interesting gems of information.
The Introduction by Sir Ian McKellen was recorded in 2016 by the BFI. The documentary episode about the making of the film from the Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create series was produced in 2002 by Toho, and you’re probably familiar with it from previous releases (including Criterion’s DVD and Blu-ray editions). The Introduction by Mamoun Hassan was shot by the BFI prior to a screening of the film. The feature entitled Macbeth is actually a short film called Famous Scenes from Shakespeare No. 2: Macbeth – Act II. Scene 2; Act V. Scene 1 (1945) directed by Henry Cass for the British Council. It features actors Wilfred Lawson and Cathleen Nesbitt. And of course, you get the film’s theatrical trailer. All of this material is quite worth your time.
The disc comes packaged in a thicker UK-style Amaray case with a cardboard slipcase. Inside, you’ll also find a 25-page booklet featuring essays by Alex Barrett, Akira Kurosawa (excerpted from Sight and Sound magazine’s 1964 Kurosawa on Kurosawa article), Ben Nicholson, and Kenneth Cavander.
If you’re a fan of the work of director Akira Kurosawa and you have 4K Ultra HD capability, absolutely do not sit on the sidelines with regard to these new BFI 4K releases—every single one of them so far has been spectacular in terms of picture and sound quality. Throne of Blood is remains one of the most impressive looking films of Kurosawa’s long career, and it’s certainly not to be missed, especially on 4K disc.
- Todd Doogan and Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)