Akira Kurosawa on DVD and Blu-ray

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manicsounds · #26 Post by **manicsounds** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:16 am

The Quiet Duel (Kurosawa 1949)

Here's the first review of the disc i've found. looks promising from BCI

#27 Post by **kinjitsu** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:01 pm

Michael Den Boer wrote:Kyoji Fujisaki (Akira Kurosawa) contracts syphilis from a patient while working as doctor during the war.

I didn't know that Kurosawa made an appearance in this.

batiar · #28 Post by **batiar** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:47 pm

Is this the legendary (Criterion spinoff) Eclipse release?

Tommaso · #29 Post by **Tommaso** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:45 am

Dodes'kaden (Kurosawa, 1970)

An overlooked gem, Kurosawa's "Dodes'kaden" has recently been released in a 2-DVD edition on Wildside Films in France, and although it does not live up to Criterion's standards, it's certainly very good. Especially the colours look gorgeously natural, there's very little damage, and only little compression artefacting, although there are some instances (slight) of ghosting, due to improper NTSC/PAL-conversion probably. The shortcoming is that there are only French subs (and that they are NOT removable), but I did not have too many troubles following the narrative although my French is not very good at all.

Fantastic extras, too: we get another installment of that Japanese TV series called "Kurosawa Masterworks", plus two all new (2005) interviews with Kurosawa's daughter (39. min.) and son (17 min.), both of which have been involved as costume designers and producers with his late works. These provide a fascinating and unique glimpse at the man's personal life and his approach to work.

And of course (almost forgot): the film itself is wonderful, and radically different from almost anything else in Kurosawa. Slow-going at first, but then increasingly fascinating, there's no conventional narrative,but rather interweaved 'instances' portraying the life of Japanese slum dwellers, and all rendered in an almost surrealist manner. It looks like an early study for some of "Dreams", and has a very deeply touching quality in places. I was also very obliquely reminded of some Pasolini films ("Accatone" because of the subject matter, but even more of "Uccelacci e Uccelini" because of its loose and poetic structure).

In absence of a Criterion release of this, I would recommend this new edition whole-heartedly to anyone who can read at least a little French. The film is a must-see.

manicsounds · #30 Post by **manicsounds** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:03 pm

Tommaso wrote:An overlooked gem, Kurosawa's "Dodes'kaden" has recently been released in a 2-DVD edition on Wildside Films in France.

It looks like a port of the Japanese disc, with added subtitles. There has been no English subtitled release for this film on DVD. Criterion announced it years ago, but then disappeared. Maybe they are looking for the original longer cut?

Tommaso · #31 Post by **Tommaso** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:21 am

manicsounds wrote:It looks like a port of the Japanese disc, with added subtitles. There has been no English subtitled release for this film on DVD. Criterion announced it years ago, but then disappeared. Maybe they are looking for the original longer cut?

How long would that original cut be? This edition runs for 135 min., including PAL speed-up, so it's about 140 min. long.

HerrSchreck · #32 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:48 am

I'm really really surprised that HVe hasn't pushed this one out as they had a good enough VHS of it back inna day-- seems as it's Kuro's first in color it's kinda a no brainer for the market ("See AK slash his wrists in gorgeously restored technicolor!") in R1. Perhaps the holdup's connected to the OAR controversy. Some say 1/1.33 others say 1.66.

Choo Choo!

Tommaso · #33 Post by **Tommaso** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:14 am

HerrSchreck wrote:Perhaps the holdup's connected to the OAR controversy. Some say 1/1.33 others say 1.66.

Interesting question, this French one is 1.33 and looks completely natural to me. But there may indeed be some more 'room' at the top in many scenes than is usual (especially in Kurosawa), so one could try a little zooming in provided you got a 16:9 set. I tried this procedure with 'This Island Earth' after the debate here, and it worked perfectly even in 1.78 (and actually in that case the 1.33 looked wrong to me...too much space over people's heads). So I guess Kurosawa did something similar: film it in such a way that the composition looks right both in widescreen and in academy screenings. Would be unusual for him, nevertheless.

HerrSchreck · #34 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:17 am

There was a bit of debate on the OAR of the film Here.

Complete w wise assed remark near the closing by your's-truly. In truth, in considering the available evidence, it's Janus vs. (allegedly) Toho on this one.

Janus thought 1.66, and Toho (allegedly, as I'm going by someone's word) is reported to have put it out @ 1.33

There's also this thread. As I searched on individual spelling of this film, my search created url's which will land you several posts down from the top. Hit the links and scroll up to the beginning of each.

Matango · #35 Post by **Matango** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:22 pm

batiar wrote:Is this the legendary (Criterion spinoff) Eclipse release?

You can find details here. Just finished watching it. Not a bad transfer at all, and some nice extras. Good price, too. A well-presented, well-produced DVD, I thought.

Just to add: The review linked up top here says "Extras for this release include the films original trailer, a news reel about the film and a photo gallery with over fifty stills."

The news reel is actually about the Daiei Stars baseball team and only touches on The Quiet Duel for a few seconds. And there are only 33 stills, but all good and very clear, showing, as does the trailer, some deleted scenes. I haven't seen all the documentary yet, but before anyone asks, it's not an AK: It is Wonderful to Create episode.

#36 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:41 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:I'm really really surprised that HVe hasn't pushed this one out as they had a good enough VHS of it back inna day-- seems as it's Kuro's first in color it's kinda a no brainer for the market ("See AK slash his wrists in gorgeously restored technicolor!") in R1. Perhaps the holdup's connected to the OAR controversy. Some say 1/1.33 others say 1.66.

Choo Choo!

Well Criterion was planning to release it for years, but it seems to have been postponed indefinitely, probably due to transfer or element problems.

Gordon · #37 Post by **Gordon** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:49 pm

Review of Wild Side edition with comparisons to the Arte edition.

More screenshots (click on "voir les autres menus")

Another review

In places it looks like an open-matte transfer, intended for 1.66:1 matting, but in others, it appears too tight, which is puzzling.

atcolomb wrote:Criterion did release Dersu Uzala on laserdisc about 10 years ago

A definitive edition of this fascinating, wonderful film is sorely needed. Any info on any new releases? What of the $35 Ruscico edition?

There is a PAL and NTSC version - which is the best? No reviews anywhere; I checked DVD Basen and all you get is this. Any thoughts?

Ashirg · #38 Post by **Ashirg** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:35 pm

atcolomb wrote:Criterion did release Dersu Uzala on laserdisc about 10 years ago

Korean set includes Ruscico version. All of Ruscico discs are better in PAL since it's how the original transfer is done.

Gordon · #39 Post by **Gordon** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:20 pm

Ashirg wrote:
atcolomb wrote:Criterion did release Dersu Uzala on laserdisc about 10 years ago
Korean set includes Ruscico version. All of Ruscico discs are better in PAL since it's how the original transfer is done.

Thanks, Ash. And just to be clear: the Spectrum transfer of 135-minute cut, though anamorphic, is of poor quality, whereas, the Image/Ruscico transfers of the longer version are NON-anamorphic NON-profressive with shimmering. Is there a Japanese edition? And I wonder what ever happened to that UK edition from Arrow Films.

Steven H · #40 Post by **Steven H** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:51 am

tigerarmy13 wrote:Could anybody recommend a good version of Dersu Uzala?

Has anyone seen the Warner/MK2 edition of this film? It has english subs (not sure about the extras) and everybody loves MK2, don't they? Here's an amazon.fr link.

Ashirg · #41 Post by **Ashirg** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 1:28 am

Steven H wrote:Has anyone seen the Warner/MK2 edition of this film? It has english subs (not sure about the extras) and everybody loves MK2, don't they? Here's an amazon.fr link.

mk2 also loves Ruscico, so they are likely to use the same print

MichaelB · #42 Post by **MichaelB** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:56 am

Ashirg wrote:Korean set includes Ruscico version. All of Ruscico discs are better in PAL since it's how the original transfer is done.

Seconded - NEVER buy anything in NTSC from Ruscico. I remember being baffled by DVDBeaver reviews of their titles and wondering why my copies seemed so much better until I twigged that they produced PAL and NTSC versions and the NTSC versions were invariably poor-quality conversions.

Here's a comparison between PAL and NTSC Ruscico releases (of Kozintsev's King Lear).

Gordon · #43 Post by **Gordon** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 3:54 am

I see that MK2 actually released a 1-disc edition last year: Amazon listing

And the new 2-disc: Amazon listing

Tommaso · #44 Post by **Tommaso** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:25 am

Thanks, Gordon, for the links. It seems as if the two versions do not differ all that much. Judging from the screenshots, I tend to prefer the colours on the Wildside, but I may think different when actually watching on a TV set. The cropping on the Wildside seems mainly to affect the bottom of the image, which seems negligible. But, if you own the arte version, there's probably no need to update apart from the excellent bonus materials.

MichaelB · #45 Post by **MichaelB** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 6:05 am

Gordon McMurphy wrote: the Image/Ruscico transfers of the longer version are NON-anamorphic NON-profressive with shimmering.

My Ruscico PAL edition is definitely anamorphic - it's playing on my Mac's desktop in an unmistakably 16:9-shaped window as I write this (and even if it weren't for the evidence of my own eyes, the 'Disc Info' option confirms that it's 16:9).

Gordon · #46 Post by **Gordon** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:38 am

MichaelB wrote:
Gordon McMurphy wrote: the Image/Ruscico transfers of the longer version are NON-anamorphic NON-profressive with shimmering.
My Ruscico PAL edition is definitely anamorphic - it's playing on my Mac's desktop in an unmistakably 16:9-shaped window as I write this (and even if it weren't for the evidence of my own eyes, the 'Disc Info' option confirms that it's 16:9).

Thanks for the clarification, Michael. So, is the Ruscico transfer of high quality?

Steven H · #47 Post by **Steven H** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:19 am

Gordon wrote: So, is the Ruscico transfer of high quality?

Gordon, I had assumed it was just a "different cover", but it looks like the single disc has no english subs, only french.

Ashirg, maybe Derzu Uzala has recieved the Ivan's Childhood treatment? Is it possible that RusCiCo or MK2 have improved upon the transfer, especially since it's a very recent release (the two-disc version, that is)? I don't currently have a copy of the film on DVD, so maybe I'll end up taking the dive on this double-disc.

Gordon · #48 Post by **Gordon** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 3:52 pm

Steven H wrote:
Gordon wrote: So, is the Ruscico transfer of high quality?
Gordon, I had assumed it was just a "different cover", but it looks like the single disc has no english subs, only french.

Yeah, I'll order the 2-disc set soon and post my thoughts on the quality of it.

tavernier · #49 Post by **tavernier** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:57 pm

Specs on the 2-disc set from MK2's website:

Dersu Uzala

Format vidéo: 2.35 (16/9 Anamorphique)
Zone: 2
Spécificités produit: Keep Case, Couleurs, DVD-9
Audio: FranÃ§ais:DD5.1, Russe:DD5.1, Anglais:DD5.1
Sous-titres: Anglais, FranÃ§ais, Espagnol, Russe, Italien

Suppléments:
Biographie et images d'archives d'une expédition au Khamtchatka
Images du tournage
Galerie photos
"Youri Solomine raconte"
"Pendant les tournages"
Filmographies
Bandes-annonces

Ashirg · #50 Post by **Ashirg** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:44 am

tavernier wrote:Specs on the 2-disc set from MK2's website

All the specs are from Ruscico edition.

Steven H, Ivan's Childhood had a privelege of a better transfer from Russian Studio Krupniy Plan which mk2 most like used. For Dersu Uzala Krupniy Plan used the same shitty transfer as Ruscico.