Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress Released in Japan

On December 28, 1958, Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress premiered in Japan, produced by Toho Studios. The film starred Toshiro Mifune as General Rokurota Makabe and told its story from the perspective of two peasant characters, Tahei and Matashichi. It was Kurosawa's first film shot in Tohoscope widescreen format and became Toho's highest-grossing release that year. The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1959 Berlin International Film Festival. Director George Lucas later cited the peasant-perspective narrative structure as a direct model for the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO in Star Wars (1977), and adopted the film's wipe transitions as a visual motif throughout the franchise.