Hakuchi

Hakuchi (白痴) (The Idiot) is a 1951 film by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It is based on a Fyodor Dostoevsky novel of the same name. Hakuchi was shot in black and white at an aspect ratio of 1.37:1. It was Kurosawa's second film for the Shochiku studio, after the previous year's Scandal. Originally intended to be a two-part film with a running time of 265 minutes, Hakuchi was severely cut by the studio, against Kurosawa's wishes, after a single poorly-received screening of the full-length version. The director's cut has never been released, and thus the theatrical release is a 166 minute cut omitting 100 minutes. According to renowned Japanese film scholar Donald Richie, there are no existing prints of the original 265 minute version. Kurosawa would return to Shochiku forty years later to make Rhapsody in August, and, according to Alex Cox, is said to have searched the Shochiku archives for the original cut of Hakuchi, to no avail.

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Hakuchi

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:00:03

A SHOCHIKU PRODUCTION

:00:13

"THE IDIOT"

:00:24

Associate Producer: Takashi Koide

:00:30

Based on the novel by Fedor M. Dostoevsky

:00:33

Screenplay by Eijiro Hisaita - Akira Kurosawa

:00:35

Photographed by Toshio Ubukata

:00:38

Music by Fumio Hayasaka

:00:47

The Players:

:00:49

Setsuko Hara

:00:51

Masayuki Mori

:00:53

Toshiro Mifune

:00:55

Yoshiko Kuga

:00:57

Takashi Shimura

:00:58

Chieko Higashiyama

:01:00

Eijiro Yanagi

:01:01

Minoru Chiaki

:01:02

Noriko Sengoku

:01:12

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

:01:19

PART l: LOVE AND SUFFERING

:01:27

HOKKAIDO IN DECEMBER

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