One of a number of films that Akira Kurosawa made in the 1950s and which have become classics, Throne of Blood is the director's adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in feudal Japan but showing that lust for power is a perennial feature of human society. Washizu (the Macbeth character, Toshiro Mifune) is a soldier serving the lord of Spiders-Web Castle. While riding through a forest with his comrade and childhood friend Miki (the Banquo character, Minoru Chiaki), they come upon a forest spirit that foretells an elevation in rank for the two, and eventually Washizu's reign over Spider... read the rest.