criterionforum.org

Aren't the ones Criterion has the rights to out on DVD already from Home Vision?

EDIT: They were, at least. Looks like many have gone OOP.

Are you sure about them being OOP? According to Michael's Movie Mayhem the only OOP Home Vision Zatoichi is #6 Zatoichi And The Chest Of Gold and you can get that one in a box set with Zatoichi #5 and #7.

If not OOP, damn hard to find.

I just checked on Amazon and I see what you mean. They may be in between printings and when Image gets around to boxing up the rest of their Zatoichi titles the single releases will become available again. Or, maybe the rights are going over to Criterion (I don't know what kind of deal Home Vision had for the Janus titles they released on DVD.)

In theory Criterion could re-release them in the Eclipse line.

Most Zatoichi titles are OOP now. The boxset containing the first few films is still relatively easy to get but after that it gets really difficult if not impossible to find titles for cheap. Yesasia and a few other retailers had highly desired/rated installments like Samaritan Zatoichi for £16.99 but it turned out that they didn't actually have them in stock and you'll be waiting forever for them to get new copies to their warehouses. The only way to get the most popular films now is through ebay and Amazon Marketplace. In the last few weeks, I paid £30 each for Samaritan Zatoichi and Kenji Fukasaku's Sympathy for the Underdog. Unless Criterion reissue those films in two or three separate Eclipse boxes (I think they only have the rights for the first 19 unless AnimEgo have lost the rights to the last few), it'll take some searching to even find a retailer who has those titles in stock.

Someone in a Zatoichi thread at dvdtalk said he emailed Image about Zatoichi and was told that none are OOP. He emailed them again, because the titles weren't available, and Image told him "...that there should be another zatoichi box set released later this year with the out of stock titles(9 & 11) included."

In any event, it would be nice if Criterion would re-release at least the first 2 Zatoichi films, since neither dvd is anamorphic, and release #14, since it has never had an English friendly release. No need for and Eclipse release, just create a "wacky Z" and let the series have its own line (or, better yet, get the rights to all the Zatoichi films and release a massive AK100 style 26-DVD set)

Thanks for the info dwk.

The HVe Zatoichi's are available still if you are in the UK from Movietyme.com for £10.99 each (not sure if Movietyme supply to the US), except for Zatoichi 6: Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold, Zatoichi 11: Zatoichi and the Doomed Man and Zatoichi 19: Samaritan Zatoichi, which for whatever reason are just not being sold by them at the moment.

I'm needing four from the Home Vision lineup which I'll try and pick up asap.

EDIT: Finch, strangely Animeigo also hold the rights to Zatoichi 16: Zatoichi the Outlaw. It rather annoyingly breaks up the would be matching set of the 1-19 that should have been.

The problem is, as I said previously, to find a retailer that actually has these titles in stock. I did try movietyme myself but at least the films I wanted (6 + 19) weren't in stock and they couldn't get new copies in. It's been the same experience with three other retailers so that after two months (!) I decided to bite the bullet and pay more on Marketplace and ebay. Good luck with your search!

I was wondering why Image would reply that the titles aren't OOP when retailers are evidently struggling to get more copies in and cancelling orders, but perhaps it was certain as early as January that Criterion would acquire the rights after both HVE and AE lost them previously (as per wikipedia).

Oh damn! I was going to order part 15 today. Thanks for the head's-up Finch.

With some of the prices these DVD's are up to on Amazon Market Place, it's shocking that £30 is such a blinding deal. I think I'm just go ahead and grab the Animeigo releases while they are at such good prices, then deal with the HVe's at a later (hopefully more affordable) date. I have become a bit of a poster junkie with these releases, so I'll kick myself if I end up missing out on the remaining posters in the HVe sets (although I have seen a few them doing the rounds on Amazon for a while sans HVe logo).

AnimEigo's site doesn't mention losing the rights to their 7 Zatoichi films and they are really good at letting people know when they've lost the rights to anything. So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say wikipedia is wrong about AnimEigo losing the rights to their Zatoichi, however it does seem that Media Blasters' Zatoichi dvd is OOP. (off topic, but it is a shame that MB botched the release of both the Zatoichi and Lone Wolf & Cub television series.)

Given that they are so hard to find, I am kicking myself for not picking up the 7 Home Vision Zatoichi dvds and the 6 Kinji Fukasaku titles I need.

dwk wrote:Someone in a Zatoichi thread at dvdtalk said he emailed Image about Zatoichi and was told that none are OOP. He emailed them again, because the titles weren't available, and Image told him "...that there should be another zatoichi box set released later this year with the out of stock titles(9 & 11) included."

Hey, that was me. The first e-mail I received from them did not inspire confidence. They acted like I was crazy for assuming they were OOP when every site seemed to indicate that. I hope that boxset comes out soon. It now appears that #10 and #12 have also gone out of print. I do recall the first four films in the series going out of print before the first boxset came out so I'm hoping this is a precursor to the 9-12 coming out. If it doesn't I'm really going to wish I had bought the indivual releases when I had the chance.

I wonder if there's a chance zatoichi 14 would be a mainline criterion release, maybe included in another samurai boxset or something.

Doctor Sunshine wrote:another Nikkatsu set

Has anything definite been said about this? Do we have any idea which films might be included?

fred wrote:

Doctor Sunshine wrote:another Nikkatsu set

Has anything definite been said about this? Do we have any idea which films might be included?

Have you tried looking here.

Cinephrenic wrote:Have you tried looking here.

Sorry, I tried using the search function. That page didn't show up in a search on Nikkatsu and Eclipse. Thanks for the pointer.

fred wrote:Sorry, I tried using the search function. That page didn't show up in a search on Nikkatsu and Eclipse.

It does show up, it's just the 121st result out of a list of 121. Search results are displayed in reverse chronological order by default.

Matt wrote:

fred wrote:Sorry, I tried using the search function. That page didn't show up in a search on Nikkatsu and Eclipse.

It does show up, it's just the 121st result out of a list of 121. Search results are displayed in reverse chronological order by default.

You know, when that Search function is finally fixed, I'm probably going to miss it.

There's really nothing terribly broken or wrong about it, it just doesn't work like Google. Depending on what you're looking for, though, one might be better than the other.

That is true. From what I've seen, google doesn't quite catch everything at all times. Example- a few months ago I was looking for this site's Ken Loach thread. Didn't show up on google at that particular moment. Though I was able to find it using this site's search function. So the best bet is to use both if one or the other isn't quite working.

Cinephrenic wrote:Have you tried looking here.

I'm still not sure those titles are correct. If memory serves, originally they came from a link to these Midnight Eye reviews posted on either the Outcast Cinema blog or Twitch. The reviews are from the original 2005 Nikkatsu Action retro in Italy. There wasn't a lot about Nikkatsu Action online at the time so I think that was more to whet one's appetite rather than link them explicitly to Janus Films. Elsewhere, Marc Walkow's stated Janus does hold the rights to Velvet Hustler, The Warped Ones and Red Handkerchief but with Gangster VIP, for example, Nikkatsu wanted to license it in a package deal with all the sequels, however, Janus didn't bite.

Walkow dropped a couple of clues as to which titles would be release in the form of two Eclipse sets and two possible main line releases. I tried to parse them before the first set was released but I wasn't even close. However, I think it's safe to assume there'll be another Suzuki and something else from the retro in the next set. They also mentioned Kaito X: The Man Without a Face in the liner notes for the first one--occasionally that actually means something but I think they also attributed it to the wrong director so maybe not.

Edit: I just doubled checked my links and in the comment section of the Outcast Cinema link Walkow says they have "five more Nikkatsu Action films in the vault, too, including two more early Suzukis!"

I see Criterion and MoC releasing some Leo McCarey's movies, anyone knows if Ruggles of Red Gap is getting released?

Frances wrote:I see Criterion and MoC releasing some Leo McCarey's movies, anyone knows if Ruggles of Red Gap is getting released?

Released a few months ago as part of Universal's Vault Series here in the US.

Doctor Sunshine wrote:

Cinephrenic wrote:Have you tried looking here.

I'm still not sure those titles are correct. If memory serves, originally they came from a link to these Midnight Eye reviews posted on either the Outcast Cinema blog or Twitch. The reviews are from the original 2005 Nikkatsu Action retro in Italy. There wasn't a lot about Nikkatsu Action online at the time so I think that was more to whet one's appetite rather than link them explicitly to Janus Films. Elsewhere, Marc Walkow's stated Janus does hold the rights to Velvet Hustler, The Warped Ones and Red Handkerchief but with Gangster VIP, for example, Nikkatsu wanted to license it in a package deal with all the sequels, however, Janus didn't bite.

Walkow dropped a couple of clues as to which titles would be release in the form of two Eclipse sets and two possible main line releases. I tried to parse them before the first set was released but I wasn't even close. However, I think it's safe to assume there'll be another Suzuki and something else from the retro in the next set. They also mentioned Kaito X: The Man Without a Face in the liner notes for the first one--occasionally that actually means something but I think they also attributed it to the wrong director so maybe not.

Edit: I just doubled checked my links and in the comment section of the Outcast Cinema link Walkow says they have "five more Nikkatsu Action films in the vault, too, including two more early Suzukis!"

I'll add/edit those.

Most of everything in the lists come from private messages and sources.

Frances wrote:I see Criterion and MoC releasing some Leo McCarey's movies, anyone knows if Ruggles of Red Gap is getting released?

We actually discussed the Universal release on page 2 of this thread

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/vie ... 7&start=25" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and screenshots I made are linked to here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/10471279991 ... directlink#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's quite a decent if barebones release and easily superior to the French disc.

Re Yakuza/Action/Gangster films: I'd love to see Kinji Fukasaku's 1974 film New Battles without Honour and Humanity with the great Tomisaburo Wakayama in a supporting part to be released as part of a potential Eclipse set. I believe this has only been released in Japan, if at all. I don't know who owned the rights previously but I'd imagine it'd have been HVE before they folded.