New British Film Institute 4K Restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s much-loved classic.

A story of rival clans, hidden gold and a princess in distress, The Hidden Fortress is a thrilling mix of fairy story and samurai action movie. It was Kurosawa’s first film shot in the widescreen process of Tohoscope, and he exploited this to the full in the film’s rich variety of landscape locations, including the slopes of Mount Fuji.

The Hidden Fortress became Kurosawa’s biggest box office hit to date and won the 1959 Berlin Film Festival. Some twenty years on, the film’s influence would have even greater impact on the world’s box office, when George Lucas borrowed elements of its plot for the first of his Star Wars series.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Restored 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Newly recorded audio commentary by Japanese-cinema expert Tony Rayns
• Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Hidden Fortress (2002)
• Interview with George Lucas (2001, 8 mins)
• Original trailer
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with a new essay on the film by Kenta McGrath, How Star Wars Conquered Cinema with the Help of The Hidden Fortress by Graham Hughes, Kurosawa on The Hidden Fortress (1964) and an original review.