Eclipse Series 7: Postwar Kurosawa

Discuss releases in the Janus Contemporaries, Eclipse, and Essential Art House lines and the films on them.
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colinr0380
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#26 Post by colinr0380 » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:36 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:..and (2) Yamamoto's Uma / Horse (1941), parts of which were supposedly directed by Kurosawa.
That is a film I have wanted to see ever since seeing the short clips from it in A.K. I find that image of the horse perfectly framed on the screen from what I guess is the point of view of the girl as she sees and runs to it very moving, and that is without knowing anything about the plot of the film itself, whereabouts that short sequence comes in the film or what the relationship between the girl and the horse is!

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Michael Kerpan
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#27 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:42 pm

Uma was an important film for its young (17 year old) star, Hideko Takamine -- and featured the work of some of Toho's best cinematographers (and the editing work of Kurosawa). Almost certainly a film that deserves to be seen.

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TheRanchHand
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#28 Post by TheRanchHand » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:12 pm

This is great! Two days after my birthday so it is on my wish list. I saved getting all of these films so am stoked I waited. Great news. No complaints here....

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#29 Post by ByMarkClark.com » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:28 am

I'll happily buy this, but I'm disappointed that NO REGRETS isn't getting the deluxe, SE treatment.

Anybody wanna buy MoC discs of THE IDIOT and SCANDAL? ;-)

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Matango
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#30 Post by Matango » Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:44 am

Already owning Scandal and The Idiot on MoC, and I Live in Fear on BFI, it's going to be tough shelling out for just No Regrets and Sunday. Might have to pass. Just a thought.
colinr0380 wrote:
Michael Kerpan wrote:..and (2) Yamamoto's Uma / Horse (1941), parts of which were supposedly directed by Kurosawa.
That is a film I have wanted to see ever since seeing the short clips from it in A.K. I find that image of the horse perfectly framed on the screen from what I guess is the point of view of the girl as she sees and runs to it very moving, and that is without knowing anything about the plot of the film itself, whereabouts that short sequence comes in the film or what the relationship between the girl and the horse is!
I once interviewed the Filipino director Eddie Romero at his home in Manila. He told me that he once asked Kurosawa at a film festival what the latter had learned from one of his favourite directors John Ford. "How to shoot a horse" was the answer.

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teddyleevin
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#31 Post by teddyleevin » Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:50 pm

I'm tempted to pre-order this at amazon for $48.99. Is it expected to be cheaper anywhere else over the next month?

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Shrew
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#32 Post by Shrew » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:31 pm

You can get it from Barnes and Noble for 40ish. Cheaper if you're a member. Look in the Bona Fide Bargains thread.

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#33 Post by teddyleevin » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:38 pm

Shrew wrote:You can get it from Barnes and Noble for 40ish. Cheaper if you're a member. Look in the Bona Fide Bargains thread.
I just checked it out. It's actually about $55 (member price is $50, but I'm not a member).

Does anyone know when DVDplanet will have this set listed?

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Shrew
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#34 Post by Shrew » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:50 pm

You can use a coupon code to bring it down by 25%. The code's in the bargain thread.

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teddyleevin
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#35 Post by teddyleevin » Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:02 pm

Shrew wrote:You can use a coupon code to bring it down by 25%. The code's in the bargain thread.
Thanks a lot. Helped to bring the price down a lot.

bluesea
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#36 Post by bluesea » Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:24 am

Michael Kerpan wrote:Uma was an important film for its young (17 year old) star, Hideko Takamine -- and featured the work of some of Toho's best cinematographers (and the editing work of Kurosawa). Almost certainly a film that deserves to be seen.
For the reasons above I have looked for it during two of trips to Japan, and have not found any evidence of it being released on DVD.

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Steven H
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#37 Post by Steven H » Fri Nov 23, 2007 11:09 am

bluesea wrote:
Michael Kerpan wrote:Uma was an important film for its young (17 year old) star, Hideko Takamine -- and featured the work of some of Toho's best cinematographers (and the editing work of Kurosawa). Almost certainly a film that deserves to be seen.
For the reasons above I have looked for it during two of trips to Japan, and have not found any evidence of it being released on DVD.
It isn't, but it was released there on VHS, I believe. There is precious little Yamamoto on DVD, but at least some are available like Colonel Kato's Flying Squadron (1944), Battle Troop (1944), Samurai Joker (1965), and for next month The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay (1942) (which I think was out already but now out of print). Maybe there's more, but that's all I could turn up.

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htdm
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#38 Post by htdm » Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:33 pm

Horse was available on VHS through the (now-defunct) mail-order only company called Kinema Club. In addition to the titles Steven H mentions, the following Yamamoto titles were also released on VHS and sometimes still surface on various Japanese auction sites.

Glory to the Jazz Girls (1958)
Children of the Wind (1949)
The New Age of Fools (1947)
Four Love Stories (1947)
Horse (1941)
Songoku aka Enoken's Monkey King (1940)
Enoken's Cropped Hair (1940)
Roppa's Honeymoon (1940)
Enoken's Surprising Life (1938)
Composition Class (1938)
Tojuro's Love (1938)
Enoken's Chakkiri Kinta (1937)
Enoken, the Millionaire (1936)
Enoken's Kondô Isamu (1935)

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Steven H
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#39 Post by Steven H » Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:50 pm

Great job on the VHS listings! I've seen a few of those Enoken films, and they're pretty ridiculous. More of a physical comedian than Frankie Sakai (the only person I can really think to compare him to.) I'd love to see the Underworld series that Yamamoto and Okamoto worked on (starring Mifune as a gangster.) That's one of those "dream finds" for me.

I wonder if Yamamoto's Children of the Wind is related to the Shimizu film Children in the Wind (slightly different title.)

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Michael Kerpan
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#40 Post by Michael Kerpan » Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:02 pm

I'd love to see Composition Class (more my sort of thing than gangster films). ;~}

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Steven H
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#41 Post by Steven H » Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:09 pm

I'd love to see Composition Class as well (hopefully there are gangster undertones... ha)

For what it's worth, I have subtitles for Yamamoto's War From Hawaii to Malay, but they *are* malay, so not much use to me.

bluesea
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#42 Post by bluesea » Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:50 pm

Steven H wrote:
bluesea wrote:
Michael Kerpan wrote:Uma was an important film for its young (17 year old) star, Hideko Takamine -- and featured the work of some of Toho's best cinematographers (and the editing work of Kurosawa). Almost certainly a film that deserves to be seen.
For the reasons above I have looked for it during two of trips to Japan, and have not found any evidence of it being released on DVD.
It isn't, but it was released there on VHS, I believe.
Well then, we can only hope... I never would have believed that Tiger's Tail (or Twenty-Four Eyes) would make it to DVD.

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Tommaso
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#43 Post by Tommaso » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:51 am

I don't know if anyone has noticed yet, but on the excellent documentary about censorship on the new CC "Drunken Angel" there are some short clips of "No regrets" and "One wonderful Sunday". Assuming that's the way they will be on the Eclipse set: both looked sharp and clear, but also rather damaged. Tramlines and speckles all over the place (much more than on "Drunken Angel")... too bad CC won't use their usual routines probably. "No regrets" at least should have been worth the effort.

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souvenir
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#44 Post by souvenir » Tue Jan 01, 2008 7:31 pm

DVD Beaver has reviewed the set. A little odd that Scandal has more information than the MoC, but I Live in Fear has slightly less than the BFI. Great to see the titles aren't windowboxed though.

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arsonfilms
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#45 Post by arsonfilms » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:32 pm

I finally pre-ordered this set a few days ago, and was a little nervous about it considering the existing R2 editions of some of the films, but these comparisons are surprising. I didn't think these films would look nearly this good (even with the damage), and it really seems like a no-brainer for anyone who doesn't already have any of the previous R2 releases. I'm realizing that I have a lot of un-watched Kurosawa backing up on my shelves, so after this comes in I may have to immerse myself for a week or two. Can't wait!

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HerrSchreck
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#46 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:52 pm

Yea those caps just totally turned me around on it... now I can't wait.

Believe it or not I got no DVDs for xmas.. though I knowi either "die puppe" or Late Ozu is waiting for me in a secret sant w my bro's.

Big money gift sitting around will probably see me go biberkofing...

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TheRanchHand
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#47 Post by TheRanchHand » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:13 am

I am really looking forward to this too. I have a birthday coming up in two weeks but may just order this myself just in case it doesn't get picked off my Amazon wish list.

Have one more to watch in my Ozu set so the timimg will be good (still need to get Drunken Angel).

By the way, did anyone notice on Beaver the mention of I Live In Fear as a Criterion release in 2008? Is this going to get the treatment later?

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HerrSchreck
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#48 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:56 am

Over on another thread (I think Random Spec4) that was just brought up. That and Un FEMME rerelease (and a "Chavelier/MacDonald Eclipse" lol) has led many-- including me-- to see this as confirm that someone at the beev been smoking some mighty tasty yayo.

I think they been sledding offa the wrong side of the roof up there in Canadianpersonland.

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Tommaso
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#49 Post by Tommaso » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:04 am

Ah, I really planned to resist this set, but it seems my powers get weaker and weaker...
These caps from "No regrets" look pretty wonderful, and "Scandal" might be the first release of a Japanese film where the CC image seems to be more accurate (less contrast-boosted, apart from less cropping) than the MoC, though I always thought that the MoC looked very natural greyscale-wise. Surprisingly little difference in the "I live in fear" caps between BFI/CC, although of course the compression issues on the BFI that Gary mentions won't be visible. I don't remember how bad they were on the BFI, but what I do recall was that the image itself wasn't particularly great. Must be the print, then.

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colinr0380
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#50 Post by colinr0380 » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:31 pm


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