Search: Starring Toshiro Mifune

Impressionistic direction, bolstered by Lalo Schifrin's evocative scoring, expertly conveys the alternately claustrophobic-agorophobic relationships between the two men and the environment.

Akira Kurosawa's first foray into widescreen is first and foremost a highly entertaining piece of work.

In the leading role, Tanaka is extraordinary.

Even now, the hairs rise at the back of the neck.

Terence Young brings a number of elements from Japanese cinema into the film.

The film concludes with what is probably the most influential special effect in the history of cinema.

It's easy to forget that beyond its huge influence it is also hugely entertaining.

Flawed, but stylish, Sword Of Doom is worth seeing if only for it's obvious contribution to recent cinema.

Once you have acclimatised to the style, this a film of stunning visual imagery.

Kurosawa's masterful synthesis doesn't stop with the script. He weaves a late Edo period samurai film, in its painstaking historic detail, into modernity.