The glorious vigour and strength of this film is presented with such theatrical relish and flair: its energy flashes out of the screen like a sword.

There are many excellencies in [Seven Samurai]. The acting of the men who are unknown to American audiences but whose talents are obvious; the careful building of suspense; the realism of the battle scenes... [and] the beauties of the countryside.

[Seven Samurai ] rates my unqualified whoops of approval.

You mutter "How on earth?" because of Kurosawa’s humanism, which emerges as you spend two-and-a-half hours watching the film’s comic relief shift to its shattered moral centre.