Principal photography took two years. This movie marked the end of Akira Kurosawa's collaboration with Toshirô Mifune. Akira Kurosawa's last Black & White film. Period construction of the hospital went as far as to use the right kind of aged wood that would have been used in the region at the time the film is set, per Akira Kurosawa's request. According to the DVD commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince, this is the only Akira Kurosawa film to feature nudity. ...[Read Story ]