Three by Kurosawa: The Vision Is Pure

“The Hidden Fortress” (Criterion Collection/Janus Films-Voyager Press, 139 minutes, black-and-white, three CAV regular play discs in Japanese with English subtitles, wide-screen format, stereo sound).

“Ran” (CBS-Fox, 160 minutes, color, one CLV extended play disc in Japanese with English subtitles, stereo sound).

“Seven Samurai” (Criterion Collection/Janus Films-Voyager Press, 203 minutes, four CAV regular play discs in Japanese with English subtitles).

These three films by Akira Kurosawa are presented intact and, with the exception of the panned-and-scanned “Ran,” presented just the way Kurosawa envisioned--uncut with the original language and image preserved.

The 1958 “The Hidden Fortress” is one of Kurosawa’s personal favorites, acknowledged by George Lucas to be the primary inspiration for “Star Wars.” For years, the film was seen in the United States in a 90-minute version. This is the original 139-minute Cinemascope version of arguably the greatest adventure-action film ever made.

The cast of characters includes Princess Yuki and her faithful military commandant, Gen. Rokurota Makabe, played by Toshiro Mifune. The story is told through the eyes of two minor characters, a pair of peasant farmers whom the princess and the general use to aid their escape (their names, however, are not R2D2 and C-3PO). The crystal-clear print and the letter-box image retaining the original wide-screen format do full justice to Kurosawa’s startling images. There are 19 chapter stops marking key scenes on the five sides.

The 1985 “Ran,” Kurosawa’s version of “King Lear,” is riveting on the small screen even though much of Kurosawa’s images (especially the two amazing battle scenes) are destroyed in this pan-and-scan version. This laser video disc was produced before CBS-Fox video decided to letterbox its wide-screen laser editions. That’s a pity. It’s almost worth waiting for the letter-box version of the film, when and if it is released.

Unlike the videotape, this laser disc edition, however, captures Kurosawa’s brilliant use of color (he almost makes the color a separate character in the film). The CBS-Fox package is sloppy, however; there are no chapter stops listed and no digital sound.

By contrast, Criterion’s “The Seven Samurai” is a model of laser video disc production. The 1954 classic, which has served as an inspiration for many U.S. Westerns, including “The Magnificent Seven,” was reproduced from a new, unsubtitled 35mm print and struck from the restored Japanese negative. Subtitles were added electronically so they would not take away from the film’s images. The translation is new and closer, the experts say, to the Japanese original. In addition, there is an audio essay by Kurosawa expert Michael Jeck discussing the making of the film.

One of the most popular Japanese films ever made, “Seven Samurai” features Mifune in one of his greatest roles, that of a would-be samurai. Twenty-nine chapter stops make it possible to review some of Kurosawa’s startling achievements: the use of slow motion in the sword-fight scenes (Chapters 4 and 7), the heart-stopping battle scenes (Chapters 23, 25 and 28), and the memorable surprise attack (Chapter 21).