The Hidden Fortress
Japanese cinema reached its zenith with films from director Akira Kurosawa including "Rashomon", "Ikiru", "Seven Samurai", "Throne of Blood", and "The Hidden Fortress". Other distinguished Japanese directors of the period were Yasujirō Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. Russian fantasy director Aleksandr Ptushko's mythological epics "Sadko", "Ilya Muromets", and "Sampo" were internationally acclaimed as was "Ballad of a Soldier", a 1959 Soviet film directed by Grigory Chukhray.