Red Beard
Some commentators claim that Kurosawa can at times be excessively didactic about the ethical points he makes in his films. Donald Richie, speaking of the upright hero of "Red Beard" (a film he otherwise praises highly), writes: "These [wise moral] precepts are known to Dr. Niide before the film opens; they are not revealed to him in the course of the action. As a result "Red Beard" contains a didactic quality absent from Kurosawa's finest works, films like "Ikiru", which also treat social themes."