The chase scene on horseback also illustrates Kurosawa's mastery of the widescreen format in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Most directors emphasize the width of action in that format, whereas Kurosawa expanded the depth of field. For example, once Tadokoro helps the trio escape, they look out over a mountain to their territory and much depth of field is sharpened and its density heightened. However, in the chase scene, the camera moves diagonally, but with the riders and closeup, so that the twigs of the trees are seen, rather than some awesome background landscape. The quick cuts in editing also make the scene crackle with kinetic energy. The cinematography of Ichio Yamazaki is filled with details, yet the clarity is amazing — especially at night, when there is an almost tactile depth to the grays on blacks. The score by Masaru Sato is full of throbbing percussion, yet it also has comic lilts to it — a nod to Kurosawa's Western influence — whenever the fools are about to get into trouble. There is also a small cameo role for Kurosawa's great early film star Takashi Shimura, as General Nagakura, the mentor to General Makabe.
The DVD is one of The Criterion Collection's earlier film releases (2001) and lacks many features. Included are a long theatrical trailer and an interview with George Lucas called "Lucas On Kurosawa." In the interview, Lucas tries desperately to equate his schlock with this terrific movie, but had Lucas not mentioned this film's influence on his films, I doubt many others would notice the similarities.
Unfortunately, there are only white subtitles with this release, which often wash out against pale backgrounds. Examples of this are the scenes that pan the rocks of the mountains where the Princess's clan has their titular Hidden Fortress, but this is only a small portion of the film. However, with a film like this, any of the already pale arguments against dubbing the film into English are mooted. This is a comic swashbuckling film, and the fealty to realism and dialogue that anti-dubbers obsess over (albeit wrongly) is not even present. Also, the subtitles in this edition are sometimes anachronistic. For example, the fools use terms like, 'It sucks,' and the Princess tells the General not to try and use reverse psychology on her when he wants her to feign muteness to avoid detection. This is a comedy, so such anachronisms are not that big a solecism. Dubs are best used in comedies; a voice can intone things in ways that no word for word translation can. While the former translation is silly, the latter may not be a subtitling error, but rather a script flaw in the screenplay.
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