Red Beard Details

The plot is simple: an ageing doctor (Toshiro Mifune) persuades his younger, rather feckless assistant to dedicate himself to work among the disadvantaged in 19th-century Japan. But what (almost) justifies the film's three-hour running time is Akira Kurosawa's wider interest in Japan's transition from its feudal past to its future as a modern industrialised society. Perhaps too slow for modern tastes, and too obscure for western audiences, it's a major work from a major director, whose use of architecture and the elements like wind and snow creates an indelible impression.

A monumental hospital soap opera which looks exactly as though Kurosawa had taken a long look at Ben Casey and Dr... read more on Time Out