CRITERION COLLECTION: SAMURAI TRILOGY

THE SAMURAI TRILOGY, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (THE RICKSHAW MAN) and starring the inimitable Toshiro Mifune (SEVEN SAMURAI), was one of Japan's most successful exports of the 1950s, a rousing, emotionally gripping tale of combat and self-discovery. Based on a novel that's often called JAPAN'S GONE WITH THE WIND, this sweeping saga fictionalizes the life of the legendary seventeenth-century swordsman (and writer and artist) Musashi Miyamoto, following him on his path from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. With these three films -1954's Oscar-winning MUSASHI MIYAMOTO, 1955's DUEL AT ICHIJOJI TEMPLE, and 1956's DUEL AT GANRYU ISLAND Inagaki created a passionate epic that's equal parts tender love story and bloody action.