*

Akira Kurosawa made this commercial and accessible film as a way to repay Toho Studios for allowing him to make riskier, more artistic fare such as Rashômon (1950). It was later one of the greatest inspirations for George Lucas' La guerre des étoiles (1977).

*

In an interview for the Criterion collection DVD, George Lucas stated that while this film is a story about a princess and her protectors that this was not the primary element that he employed in La guerre des étoiles (1977). He stated that he was more concerned with the way that Hidden Fortress is told through the eyes of two lesser characters. In Hidden Fortress it is the two thieves; in Star Wars it is C3PO and R2D2. In both films the comical interplay between the two characters is a major theme.

*

Misa Uehara, who played the princess, described her first makeup session involving Akira Kurosawa walking into the dressing room with a picture of Elizabeth Taylor, using it to explain what he was looking for in his princess with regards to makeup.

*

The wide shot of the horsemen killing the samurai in the first scene was achieved in one take.

*

Akira Kurosawa: [weather] The long rainy sequence where the farmer's daughter returns to her company's hideout.