- The Hidden Fortress (allthetropes.org)
Kakushi Toride No San Akunin (which translates approximately to “Three Bad Men of the Hidden Fortress”) is Akira Kurosawa’s first widescreen film. The film is a Jidai Geki with an interesting twist: rather than concentrating on The Hero, the film instead focuses on a pair of bickering peasants, with none of the other major characters putting in an appearance until twenty minutes or so in. Once the audience’s sympathies have been firmly attached to the peasants, the Hero, the Rebellious Princess, and the rest of the film’s major characters begin to show up. From then on, it’s a series of hairbreadth escapes as the protagonists have to travel through enemy territory to reach safety.