Displaying items by tag: The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune

Morning, everyone! We’re kicking off the new week with some great news here at The Digital Bits...

We’re very pleased today to welcome a new member to our coterie of film and disc reviewers—the acclaimed film historian, essayist, and author Stuart Galbraith IV!

If you’re a cinephile, no doubt you’re well acquainted with Stuart’s work already, but here’s a little background.

After graduating from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television, Stuart worked as an archivist for the USC-Warner Bros. Archives and eventually MGM.

In 2002, he published the first English-language biography of director Akira Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune entitled The Emperor and the Wolf, a book that’s been a part of my own library here at The Bits for years, and one that I can’t recommend more highly.

This of course is one of several books Stuart has written about Japanese cinema, which include Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films (1994) and Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! The Incredible World of Japanese Fantasy Films (1998) among others. [Read on here...]

“The Hidden Fortress is an irresistible blend of grand comic adventure with Kurosawa’s emblematic humanism and innovative craftsmanship.” — Stuart Galbraith, author of The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 60th anniversary of the release of The Hidden Fortress, Akira Kurosawa’s influential jidai-geki and starring long-time Kurosawa collaborator Toshiro Mifune (Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo).

The popular Kurosawa film turns sixty this year, and for the occasion, The Bits features a Q&A with film historian and Japanese cinema authority Stuart Galbraith. [Read on here...]