'Akira Kurosawa, Screenwriter,' on Display at the National Film Archive!

A sign advertising the "Akira Kurosawa, Screenwriter" exhibit outside the National Film Archive of Japan. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier today, I had a long break at work, so I made my way over to the National Film Archive of Japan to view its current "Akira Kurosawa, Screenwriter" exhibit that runs until November 27. I picked a pretty good time to go, as I had the exhibit to myself most of the time I was there. 

A banner for Ran (1985) on display. Photo by Brett Homenick.

As expected, there were quite a few cool items on display. One was an American first-run poster from 1956 for Seven Samurai (1954), which was released under the title The Magnificent Seven. (Say, that title sounds vaguely familiar!) Another was Larry Forrester's second draft (dated June 5, 1967) of the Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) screenplay. Also on display was a 650-page (!) printed version of the script that Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, and Ryuzo Kikushima completed in May 1967. 

Additionally, there was an English translation of the final draft of Kurosawa's "The Mask of the Black Death" screenplay, which was translated by Ian Hideo Levy. The year given was 1977.

Signage for the "Akira Kurosawa, Screenwriter" exhibit. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Perhaps most interesting of all for me was the material about the unmade project "AND...!" This was a script written by Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, and Shinobu Hashimoto, the English synopsis of which was  registered with the Writers Guild of America West on February 29, 1972. A "Memorandum of Understanding" was signed by Kurosawa and John C. Dutton on behalf of Cromwell International Pictures.

According to the memorandum, Steve McQueen was intended to have a starring role in this movie, which was to be based in and around Japan. The memorandum signed by both parties on April 10, 1971. The movie was apparently going to be an adaptation of an Ichiro Shiraishi novel about a blue-eyed samurai who was half-Japanese and half-Portuguese.

So, yes, there was a lot to see, and it was a lot more interesting than I had expected. I might even check out the exhibit one more time before it closes -- I certainly have a lot of time before that happens!