Akira Kurosawa

[Dick Laurent]

I wanted to order the samurai collection boxset but saw this in the reviews :

(2) Yojimbo is supposed to be in anamorphic widescreen, according to the box, but isn't. It's widescreen but in 4:3 format with the result that it plays in a box in the middle of the screen on a modern TV (you can zoom in using the aspect ratio function on your telly, but that's not ideal as it reduces sharpness).

Can anyone confirm this, if it is 4:3 letterbox I'm going to wait for the BD's

[manicsounds]

Yeah, BFI never re-issued Yojimbo anamorphically. Just the same disc thrown in the box, sadly.

[MichaelB]

Official announcements of the two Kurosawa boxes:

Kurosawa Classic Collection
5-disc box set

Akira Kurosawa has been hailed as one of the greatest filmmakers ever by critics all over the world. This, the first of two new Kurosawa box sets from the BFI this month, brings together five of his most profound masterpieces, each exploring the complexities of life, and includes two previously unreleased films.

An ideal introduction to the work of the master filmmaker, the Kurosawa Classic Collection contains Ikiru (aka Living), I Live in Fear and Red Beard along with the two titles new to DVD, the acclaimed Maxim Gorky adaptation The Lower Depths and Kurosawa’s first colour film Dodes’ka-den (aka Clickety-clack). The discs are accompanied by an illustrated booklet of film notes and credits and selected filmed introductions by director Alex Cox.

Ikiru (Living), 1952, 137 mins
Featuring a beautifully nuanced performance by Takashi Shimura as a bureaucrat diagnosed with stomach cancer, Ikiru is an intensely lyrical and moving film which explores the nature of existence and how we find meaning in our lives.

I Live in Fear (Ikimono no Kiroku), 1955, 99 mins
Made at the height of the Cold War, with the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still a recent memory, Toshiro Mifune delivers an outstanding performance as a wealthy foundry owner who decides to move his entire family to Brazil to escape the nuclear holocaust which he fears is imminent.

The Lower Depths (Donzonko), 1957, 120 mins
Once again working with Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa adapts Maxim Gorky’s classic play of downtrodden humanity. Set in a slum at the bottom of a ravine in which its inhabitants while away their time longing for escape or dreaming of a better life, he remains faithful to Gorky’s exploration of the conflict between the comfort of illusion and bitter reality.

Red Beard (Akahige), 1965, 172 mins
The last and most ambitious of Kurosawa’s collaborations with Toshiro Mifune, Red Beard chronicles the tumultuous friendship, in a nineteenth-century rural clinic, between an idle and socially ambitious intern (Yuzo Kayama) and Mifune’s compassionate yet commanding doctor, and serves as testament to the goodness of humanity.

Dodes’ka-den, 1970, 134 mins
Kurosawa’s first film in colour follows a group of people living around a city dump and is by turns both tragic and transcendent. Made at a critical point in his life, Kurosawa poured himself into this film and the negative reaction it garnered resulted in a suicide attempt.

Release date: 24 October 2011
RRP: £49.99 / cat. no. BFIV939 / Cert 15 / 5-disc box set
Japan / 1952-1970 / black & white, and colour / Japanese with English subtitles /
mixed aspect ratios

Kurosawa Crime Collection
4-disc box set

Akira Kurosawa, one of cinema’s greatest auteurs, has inspired filmmakers as diverse as George Lucas and Sergio Leone. This 4-disc box set, one of two new BFI Kurosawa box sets released this month, highlights his mastery of the crime genre, bringing together four of his finest thrillers.

Packaged with an illustrated booklet of notes and credits, the films are Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low. While previously available individually, this handsome box set offers an opportunity to own the films for half their original price and is an ideal gift.

Drunken Angel (Yoidore Tenshi), 1948, 94 mins
Toshiro Mifune, in his first major screen role, plays a small-time yakuza who embarks on an uneasy friendship with an alcoholic slum doctor, played by Toho regular Takashi Shimura. Drunken Angel is part gangster, part melodrama and part social critique, and establishes the on-screen chemistry and dynamics of these two leading men that Kurosawa was to explore in further films.

Stray Dog (Nora Ino), 1949, 117 mins
A masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo. Kurosawa favourites, Mifune and Shimura, are paired for the second time as a rookie detective and his senior in a desperate hunt for a shooter with the former’s stolen police pistol.

The Bad Sleep Well (Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru), 1960, 105 mins
The first feature brought out under the aegis of Kurosawa’s own production company, The Bad Sleep Well is an impressive tale of corporate greed and corruption starring Mifune as a grieving son seeking revenge for his father’s ‘suicide’. It is a powerful indictment of the dark side of business and politics with distinct overtones of Hamlet.

High and Low (Tengoku to Jigoku), 1963, 143 mins
Based on an Ed McBain novel, High and Low is a gripping police thriller in which a wealthy industrialist, Mifune, faces an agonising choice when a ruthless kidnapper, aiming to snatch his young son, takes the chauffeur’s boy by accident.

Release date: 24 October 2011
RRP: £39.99 / cat. no. BFIV934 / Cert 12 / 4-disc box set
Japan / 1948-1963 / black & white / Japanese with English subtitles/mixed aspect ratios

[knives]

Isn't Dodes’ka-den pushing the term classic a bit? I guess other doesn't look as sexy.

[MichaelB]

It's the only film in that package to wangle a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination.

[knives]

Yes, because that is a good judge of reputation or quality.

[colinr0380]

The problem with the Oscars is the selection process for them even before we get to the shortlist - there is apparently a bit of a storm brewing over the second half of the sequel to Mikhalkov's Burnt By The Sun being put forward for next years Foreign Language Oscar.

[MichaelB]

Yes, because that is a good judge of reputation or quality.

True, but it's nonetheless a fact. And while it's admittedly not a total success, it's a genuinely fascinating film on a great many levels - not least for the way that Kurosawa uses colour.

Anyway, is this really worth quibbling over? Especially since this is the film's British DVD debut?

[knives]

I brought it up mostly as a joke. I don't actually care what the BFI does as a marketing technique. You have a tendency to take those very literally from me.

[MichaelB]

I brought it up mostly as a joke. I don't actually care what the BFI does as a marketing technique. You have a tendency to take those very literally from me.

Well, given your fondness for making hugely contentious statements about other subjects...

Then again, maybe those aren't supposed to be taken seriously either?

(Incidentally, I thought of you when I read this recently.)

[knives]

Aw thanks (also incidental I suppose, but I'm very rarely serious or at least as serious as my posts suggest).

[tenia]

Zavvi cancelled my £15 or so order for the Classic Kurosawa boxset mistake :

Thank you for ordering with us at zavvi, order number 17209345.

I am sorry to advise that we had a limited amount of stock available of Kurosawa Classic Colleciton at the promotional price which has since sold out.

We can confirm that payment has not been taken and you are free to re-order at the current price should you wish.

[Der Spieler]

You're not the only one.

[Opdef]

Got my Classic Collection in the post today, from Play.com for the bargain price of £13.99. Ordered the other Kurosawa set as well (at the same price) which was dispatched yesterday, so hopefully that will turn up tomorrow. Surprised they honoured the price to be honest.

[Der Spieler]

Some retailers do. It may be stupid to expect it, but it does make a difference.

[Ozu Teapot]

The 'Akira Kurosawa - The Samurai Collection DVD Box Set' is currently £14.95 on Zavvi.com with free postage, though it's one of those "Availability: Usually despatched within 1 month.." situations...

[Opdef]

Anyone else bought these recently? I ordered the Classic, Crime and Early Kurosawa, and they're all in similar packs, with all the discs in one box. Then I got the Samurai Collection last week (from Zaavi) and it's 5 thin plastic DVD cases in a shoddy cardboard box (which got crushed in transit). Just seems odd that the BFI reissued and updated them, but didn't bother with the Samurai set.

[Ozu Teapot]

Yes, I've bought all four in the past couple of months although my 'Samurai' turned up in perfect condition and I wasn't really worried about it being different.

I was more concerned that the booklets in 'Crime' and 'Early' are rattling around loose in the boxes, but that's down to the box design and there's not a lot to be done about it.

[antnield]

The Digital Fix on The Lower Depths, one of the new titles (alongside Dodes-ka'den) to be included, exclusively, as part of the Kurosawa Classic Collection.

[antnield]

...and The Digital Fix on the Dodes'ka-den disc.