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Excellent news, consider this a pre-order. I like the package design alot Nick; am I right in assuming yourself and Craig Keller are the designers ala Hanzo the Razor and Female Scorpion Trilogy Boxsets? If so i'm very much hoping for some more hilarious and utterly fitting descriptions on the covers which sold me instantly with Female Prisoner Scorpion (and certainly prepared me for what was in store):

"It's in this instalment that full blown artifice locks horns with psychosexual horror - before collapsing in a pile of offal, wearing the grin of a gassed corpse. Prepare yourself for lockdown."

peerpee wrote:
What do you think?

(new Japanese masters)

Well you've got yourself a customer then.

I found the Lone Wolf series to be the Japanese James Bond, with Ogami's baby cart being the equivalent of Bond's Aston Martin (complete with gadgets)

broadwayrock wrote:From the MOC twitter: "we've been working on this for Eureka (it's non-MoC)"

Dear Mother of God, this is like Christmas coming early: great artwork and new transfers =D>

I have the AnimEigos of Sword of Vengeance, River Styx and Lands of Demons: the transfers of these are all quite pleasing (the first one is particularly strong) but to hear that these are now coming out on new masters almost makes me weep with joy. Agree with docmccoy though: I'd rather not have Shogun Asssassin in there either and the ideal scenario for me would be to have all titles released individually as well (if only because I don't rate the fourth and especially the sixth film - Kenji Misumi's absence is keenly felt in those). Nick and co could do worse than just using the AnimEigo subtitles (which were very thorough) in a white font.

I never need to see Shogun Assassin again in my life, but I don't see how you can have a "complete" boxset without it. Think of it more as an extra.

You have a point there swo. I really hope though that Eureka will consider releasing the films individually as well as in the boxset. I realise that spending, say £50 or so, on seven films (the original six plus Shogun Assassin) works out cheaper than presumably £35 on the three I really want (the first, second and fifth) but unless Eureka included a MoC-style booklet in the set, I'd definitely prefer buying them individually. That's just me though and if it's only going to be a set, I'd be foolish not to get it. This autumn and winter is going to be brutal on my wallet: the two Borzage sets from the BFI, the new Sunrise, Z, the North by Northwest resto, Up, Sony's first Film Noir set, For All Mankind and Phantom from MoC and now this. It almost makes me wish that Criterion don't release anything I want in December.

This autumn and winter is going to be brutal on my wallet: the two Borzage sets from the BFI, the new Sunrise, Z, the North by Northwest resto, Up, Sony's first Film Noir set, For All Mankind and Phantom from MoC and now this. It almost makes me wish that Criterion don't release anything I want in December.

Don't forget Fritz Lang's Dr Mabuse collection from Moc!

bigP wrote:Excellent news, consider this a pre-order. I like the package design alot Nick; am I right in assuming yourself and Craig Keller are the designers ala Hanzo the Razor and Female Scorpion Trilogy Boxsets? If so i'm very much hoping for some more hilarious and utterly fitting descriptions on the covers which sold me instantly with Female Prisoner Scorpion (and certainly prepared me for what was in store):

"It's in this instalment that full blown artifice locks horns with psychosexual horror - before collapsing in a pile of offal, wearing the grin of a gassed corpse. Prepare yourself for lockdown."

Craig's responsible for the ripsnorting blurb. I designed the HANZO package and the LONE WOLF AND CUB box.
Craig did the three FEMALE PRISONER sleeves, but not the FEMALE PRISONER box (that was Liza).

----

Tom Mes has written new essays for each LONE WOLF & CUB film. This will be packaged Eclipse-style. No separate releases for the LONE WOLF films I'm afraid -- not planned anyway --- but SHOGUN ASSASSIN will be released separately around Easter or something, as that typically outsells the originals (ie. stoners can't be arsed with subtitles)

Thanks for the reply Nick! Hanzo and Female Prisoner are two of my favourite box sets and sit proudly on show. Excellent artwork and suprisingly (for me at least) the films are absolutely wonderful, inventive, audacious works of art; and my recommending the Female Prisoner set to people is always accompanied by one of Craig's blurbs. Works like a charm.

Great artwork all around, look forward to adding the Lone Wolf set to the collection.

swo17 wrote:so this timing is rather...erm, ridiculous

My timing was more than a little ridiculous. I only just bought all the AnimEigo Lone Wolf & Cub DVDs in the last few weeks. Some of them haven't even arrived yet. Oh Bugger! This is seriously great news though. The Hanzo box set is amazing and the Female Prisoner one is great as well, although the transfers are not quite as good with that one.

I have one question about the Lone Wolf set. The earlier DVD of BABY CART TO HADES was cut by 20 seconds. Here is the BBFC page. I'm wondering if it will be uncut in the new box set. I can't imagine the BBFC having a problem with this film now.

So who wants to buy some AnimEigo Lone Wolf & Cub DVDs?

Lone Wolf & Cub set out on 16th of November £49.99

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content/id/71 ... ember.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The films included in this set are:

* Sword of Vengeance (1972, Kenji Misumi) 84 minutes
* Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972, Kenji Misumi) 82 minutes
* Baby Cart to Hades (9172, Kenji Misumi) 89 minutes
* Baby Cart in Peril (1972, Buichi Saito) 81 minutes
* Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973, Kenji Misumi) 90 minutes
* White Heaven in Hell (1974, Yoshiyuki Kuroda) 84 minutes
* Shogun Assassin (1980, Robert Houston) 86 minutes


Features include:

* Freshly remastered, anamorphic, original aspect ratio transfers
* Newly translated optional English subtitles
* Original Japanese theatrical trailers for each film
* Liner notes for each film by Japanese film scholar Tom Mes (midnighteye.com)
* New packaging based on original Japanese poster design

DVD Outsider review of Bad Boy Bubby.

Eureka's BD of The Black Shield of Falworth has put right the great wrong of their cropped SD version; presented at last in the correct Cinemascope AR, like the SD version it's very clean (but not spotless), and boasts a really nice Technicolor palette. The movie (Universal's first Cinemascope production) is quite good fun too...

John Hodson wrote:Eureka's BD of The Black Shield of Falworth has put right the great wrong of their cropped SD version; presented at last in the correct Cinemascope AR, like the SD version it's very clean (but not spotless), and boasts a really nice Technicolor palette. The movie (Universal's first Cinemascope production) is quite good fun too...

Hello, Kevin from Eureka here.

Thanks John. Here are a bunch of screencaps direct from the BD:

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Many thanks Kevin.

Got an email from amazon that Eureka have delayed the release of the Lone Wolf set by a week so it'll ship on the 23rd instead.

Hmmm - we received finished product last week. It's all wrapped.

That is odd - wouldn't be the first time Amazon have sent out misinformed emails. I also meant to ask you, Nick, if the films come each in slimcases or in a digipak?

I can answer this - seven colour-coded slimline cases in a robust-looking cardboard sleeve, the spines labelled as follows:

LONE WOLF & CUB #1: SWORD OF VENGEANCE
LONE WOLF & CUB #2: BABY CART AT THE RIVER STYX
LONE WOLF & CUB #3: BABY CART TO HADES
LONE WOLF & CUB #4: BABY CART IN PERIL
LONE WOLF & CUB #5: BABY CART IN THE LAND OF DEMONS
LONE WOLF & CUB #6: WHITE HEAVEN IN HELL
DISC #7: SHOGUN ASSASSIN

Each case features sleeve notes by Tom Mes facing the disc, whose transparent inlay is over a reproduction of the Japanese poster art - except in the case of Shogun Assassin, which appears to be the original US artwork.

Thanks for that Michael. I also cancelled my Amazon order and am getting the set from Play instead (no change of dispatch date on their website).

All 6 movies are quite strong, but I think that 3, 5 and 6 are the low half, when the other 3 are much better, especially the fourth one, which brings a lot of sensibility that is not usually there in the other ones.
The 2nd one is easily the second best, with a lot of ideas in terms of action scenes. The introduction scene is a must.

However, Shogun Assassin is really useless : it's kind of the digest of the first 2 movies, all recut without any sense. Calling this shame a "classic" on Amazon is really unbelievable.

Anyway, this series is more than good. That's a shame it took so much time to have decent copies.

Just for fun, here are the French covers for the movies :


And the first HKV ones :

:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/672/ ... enace8.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/677/en ... cre5za.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/5512/ombrewb2.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8426/unfils1lu.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.horreur.net/img/babycart5let ... onsaff.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9066/enfer9zz.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

tenia wrote:However, Shogun Assassin is really useless : it's kind of the digest of the first 2 movies, all recut without any sense.

But, as Nick points out above, it's the one that sells. I'd certainly favour its inclusion as a curiosity, and I'm actually quite looking forward to rewatching it for the first time in about 25 years.

I am completely in the dark about the Lone Wolf series so can someone tell me more about the films (aesthetics, storylines, form etc.) and any comparisons to some of the Japanese films released by Criterion to convince me to invest in this boxset as a blind buy?

MichaelB wrote:

tenia wrote:However, Shogun Assassin is really useless : it's kind of the digest of the first 2 movies, all recut without any sense.

But, as Nick points out above, it's the one that sells. I'd certainly favour its inclusion as a curiosity, and I'm actually quite looking forward to rewatching it for the first time in about 25 years.

I can only advice you not to watch it again before having watch the whole six movies.
Then, you will realize how useless it is.

It's like doing a 2h dubbed digest of The Godfather I & II. Without any respect of the narration or the plots involved.

I really think this "movie" is a shame. And the fact that it's still the one who sells shows how much people don't know the movies and prefer to watch an awful piece of * only made for movies than really caring about the movies.

Even if HKV or WS would have had the rights for a release, it's highly unlikely that it would have been included.

I think the only way I heard about this "movie" was "an awful and shameful digest, with the only advantage to make the people discovering the series".

Anyway.
I have the habit of complaining against the add of a "useless" disc, cause in France, most of the time, it's just a way to really increase the price of the box set.
But compared to UK prices, it's really higher anyway, and I don't think it would change a lot without, for you.

Ovader wrote:I am completely in the dark about the Lone Wolf series so can someone tell me more about the films (aesthetics, storylines, form etc.) and any comparisons to some of the Japanese films released by Criterion to convince me to invest in this boxset as a blind buy?

On the top of my head, I think of all the Criterion Samurai releases I've seen, the closest match to Lone Wolf I can think of is Sword of Doom but with twice the gore and more outrageous and inventive kills. All the same, at least the Kenji Misumi-directed films (parts one, two, three and five) never tip over into ludicrousness and they play it seriously, no late Connery or Moore Bond-style knowing winks and self-awareness (not a criticism of Moore's Bond as such). The fight choreography is a major asset and only very rarely less than ideal; the score sometimes reminds me of Spaghetti westerns and becomes more versatile as the series goes on; the actors are game and the plots intriguing enough. Plot-wise the original and the labyrinthine story of Land of Demons are the most in depth but, as most people I suppose, I regard the second film as the best if only because the first, in spite of its excellence, still feels a bit too much like a set-up for most of its running time. It's been too long since I've seen the third film but I remember it as a pretty good film in its own right and clearly preferable to parts four and six. And if you look past the gore and the (IMO undeserved) exploitation label, you'll find that these films are more moral and humane than you'd suspect. Condemning this as a video nasty in the 80s is one of the most misguided decisions we made in this country. There's a chance you may well enjoy or love these films: I blind-bought the AnimEgo of Sword of Vengance two years ago and loved it so much I immediately ordered the second film. But you might want to netflix the first film first before you plunge for this set.

tenia wrote:I can only advice you not to watch it again before having watch the whole six movies.
Then, you will realize how useless it is.

Au contraire, I was fully aware of its shortcomings on the basis of a single viewing 25 years ago! But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful for its inclusion - nostalgia is nostalgia, after all.