INSTANT TRIVIA
THRONE OF BLOOD doesn’t acknowledge its source material, Macbeth, in its credits. This has nothing to do with ‘Scottish Play’ superstition. Instead, it’s reflective of how Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 masterpiece uses William Shakespeare’s work as a mere jumping-off point for its own stunning vision. Nowhere is this more evident than in the film’s finale, when beleaguered warlord Taketoki Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) is attacked by his own troops for killing their previous master (Takamaru Sasaki), arrows raining down on him as he struts along a watchtower.