Kurosawa made action films that were also high art. From 1951, when his Rashomon was an instant sensation, to his death in 1998, he was the one Japanese director who spoke to the whole world. Hollywood remade The Seven Samurai as The Magnificent Seven; Yojimbo was Eastwoodized into A Fistful of Dollars; and George Lucas has often mentioned the debt Star Wars owes to Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. But nothing can top the originals, which after a half-century retain their pictorial vigor and steely machismo. Criterion gets a jump on AK's March 2010 centenary with the biggest and most rewarding box set of the year. It comprises 25 features, spans nearly 40 years and includes a plethora of ancillary scholarship. For his admirers, this will be a valuable keepsake; for those new to Kurosawa, a priceless revelation. — Richard Corliss
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