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Criterion Press Release: AK 100: 25 FILMS BY AKIRA KUROSAWA - Page 2

post #31 of 46
1/15/10 at 4:01pm
well i know, but i dont have it physically in my hands yet ;). OCD-esque ;).

unfortunately being that way is bad on the wallets. i NEVER KNEW Criterion's DVDs HOLD THEIR PRICES even in the used markets! they are really good on resale =). i think this bodes well for people who upgrade from DVD->Blu-Ray =).
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AK 100: 25 Films of Akira Kurosawa (Criterion Collection)
post #32 of 46
1/18/10 at 8:06pm
There's a Criterion quote floating around somewhere where they confirm that they have full Criterion releases of "Madadayo" and "The Men Who Treat on the Tiger's Tail" in the works plus an Eclipse set with "Sanshiro Sugata", "Sanshiro Sugata Part II" and "The Most Beautiful" on the way as well.  I'll see if I can dig it up.

But yeah, it's not like they weren't going to put these things out seperately eventually.

Wait: here it is:

[url]http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1330[/url]

I just noticed that they have removed part of the original description.  I'll bold that part:

Original text:
[quote]To answer the most frequently asked question: yes, we will be releasing separately the five titles in the set that had previously been unavailable from Criterion: Sanshiro Sugata; The Most Beautiful; Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two; The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail; and Madadayo. Sanshiro Sugata; Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two; and The Most Beautiful will be released in an Eclipse set; The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail and Madadayo will be released in Criterion editions. [/quote]

Maybe they let the cat out of the bag a little early but that release configuration certainly makes sense and I'd be surprised if it changed.  If anything "Tiger's Tail" could be folded into an Early Kurosawa Eclipse set.

In any case, that leaves only 4 Kurosawa films unreleased by Criterion.






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post #33 of 46
1/19/10 at 8:16am
Bill you referring to the titles that Criterion doesn't have rights to? thinking of Rhapsody in August, Dreams, Quiet Duel, etc.

as far as Elipse ed. are concerned there aren't any bonus/extras on the last postwar collection... so i'm not expecting that to deviate here as well. so it *should* be the same as the AK 100 flicks. there may have been a booklet in postwar collection right? so maybe there'll be one too in the Eclipse set here too.

as for Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail and Madadayo, i hope they come to Blu-Ray. i (technically) stopped buying DVDs in 2007, but i'm the biggest AK fan there is. couldn't resist passing up on this boxset to finally complete everything. i have Kagemusha already, will absolutely grab 7 Sam, Yojimbo&Sanjuro when that arrives on BD.

hoping for EVERYTHING to be on BD ofc. 1day i hope to have this entire AK boxset in BD >P that'd rock. even if they started releasing Eclipse BDs, i'd be fine by it.

meanwhile i've seen the Madadayo BD from Japan. i think all of his popular movies are being released in Japan (though non-Criterion ofc).
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post #34 of 46
1/19/10 at 10:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JediFonger View Post

ok, i've done some research: is this accurate?

 Akira Kurosawa Filmography

1. 1943 Sanshiro Sugata/Judo Saga (Sugata Sanshiro)
2. 1944 The Most Beautiful (Ichiban Utsukushiku)
3. 1945 Sanshiro Sugata Part II/Judo Saga Part II (Zoku Sugata Sanshiro)
4. 1945 The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi)
5. 1946 Those Who Make Tomorrow (Asu o tsukuru hitobito) AK Disowned making this (also not available w/subtitles)
6. 1946 No Regrets for Our Youth (Waga seishun nu kuinashi)
7. 1947 One Wonderful Sunday (Subarashiki nichiyobi)
8. 1948 Drunken Angel (Yoidore Tenshi) Single Disc
9. 1949 The Quiet Duel (Shizukanaru ketto)
10. 1949 Stray Dog (Nora inu) Single Disc
11. 1950 Scandal (Shubun)
12. 1950 Rashomon Single Disc
13. 1951 The Idiot (Hakuchi)
14. 1952 Ikiru (Living/To Live) Double Disc
15. 1954 Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) Three Disc
16. 1955 I Live in Fear/To Live in Fear (Ikimono no kiroku)
17. 1957 Throne of Blood (Kumo no su-jo) Single Disc
18. 1957 The Lower Depths (Donzoko) Double Disc (Renoir on the other)
19. 1958 The Hidden Fortress (Kakukshi toride no san akunin) Single Disc
20. 1960 The Bad Sleep Well (Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru) Single Disc
21. 1961 Yojimbo Single Disc
22. 1962 Sanjuro (Tsubaki Sanjuro) Single Disc
23. 1963 High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku) Double Disc
24. 1965 Red Beard (Akahige) Single Disc
25. 1970 Dodes’ka-den (Dodesukaden)
26. 1970 Dersu Uzala
27. 1980 Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) Double Disc
28. 1985 Ran Double Disc
29. 1990 Dreams (Yume)
30. 1991 Rhapsody in August (Hachigatsu no kyoshikyoku)
31. 1993 Madadayo (Not Yet)
 

You're missing their single-disc release of Dodeskaden.  No commentary, but it does have another episode of "It's Wonderful to Create".

It's really a shame that there's no commentary on it, there's so much interesting context (Tora Tora Tora, the Four Horsemen, suicide attempt, Mifune split, first color film).
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post #35 of 46
1/19/10 at 3:00pm
oh crap, you are right!!! oh man, more $. ummm, i noticed there is a ton of It's  a Wonderful to Create, can anyone confirm if this is unique just to this copy or is it the same exact thing on other AK discs?

screw it i just ordered it.
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post #36 of 46
1/19/10 at 3:44pm
Each episode of IWTC is about the accompanying movie.

I gotta say you don't really sound like "the biggest AK fan there is".
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post #37 of 46
1/19/10 at 6:05pm
Quote:
Bill you referring to the titles that Criterion doesn't have rights to? thinking of Rhapsody in August, Dreams, Quiet Duel, etc.
Those three plus "Dersu Uzala".

All 4 are readily available, though "The Quiet Duel" is out-of-print due to the fact that BCI/Eclipse folded.

Said corporate death probably puts "TQD" within Criterion's reach.  "Rhapsody" and "Dreams" are controlled in the US by Fox and Warner Bros respectively and that makes both of them available to Criterion as well.  That leaves "DU" which obviously becomes pretty high priority for Criterion once it becomes the lone Kurosawa film unrepresented in the collection.  As far as I'm concerned they very obviously want his entire filmography under the Criterion banner.

Also, that one is Kino which means the film's availability depends on licensing so I'd be very surprised if Criterion wasn't just waiting the Kino deal to lapse.  Some splinter of BCI may still control the rights to "The Quiet Duel" so they may be waiting that out as well.
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post #38 of 46
1/19/10 at 11:29pm
lol, only based on 7 sam and a handful of viewings of some of his other works though. AK 100 collection is what pushed me into becoming the 'biggest fan'. i'm a huge OCD collector. if i collect a dead director's complete works, i get the COMPLETE works =).

after i grabbed the boxset, i've also grabbed all the single and double disc individual releases. so i'm lucky in that i haven't watched every single one of his films... but that is a joy because now i can experience them 1by1 for the very first time! i can't say that about star wars (for example). pretty disposed to liking all of them already =P. thus i dunno what IWTC is about, only in passing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Teller View Post

Each episode of IWTC is about the accompanying movie.

I gotta say you don't really sound like "the biggest AK fan there is".

Bill, i got all those titles already =). i just simply can't wait for Criterion to get to them and release them on Blu-Ray =P.

meanwhile, i even have the "disowned" movie Those Who Make Tomorrow, unfortunately it's poor VHS encode and has no ENG subtitles =(. visuals are nyce, havne't seen it through yet.
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post #39 of 46
1/20/10 at 3:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill GrandPre View Post


Those three plus "Dersu Uzala".
And now Ran, controlled by StudioCanal/Lionsgate.

RE:

Rhapsody in August - MGM, not Fox, have US rights. MGM does work with Criterion however.

Dreams - Warner has US rights, and has yet to agree to license any film to Criterion.

Dersu Uzula - Kino has US rights, and Criterion has stated they are unlikely to ever acquire it.

The Quiet Duel - Who knows now that BCI is done.
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post #40 of 46
1/21/10 at 8:50am
yikes... i overdid it >P. i ordered duplicate copies of Dodeskaden.

the only thing i have left is Rhapsody in August (not in my hands).
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post #41 of 46
1/25/10 at 10:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Conway View Post



And now Ran, controlled by StudioCanal/Lionsgate.

RE:

Rhapsody in August - MGM, not Fox, have US rights. MGM does work with Criterion however.

Dreams - Warner has US rights, and has yet to agree to license any film to Criterion.

Dersu Uzula - Kino has US rights, and Criterion has stated they are unlikely to ever acquire it.

The Quiet Duel - Who knows now that BCI is done.
 

I own Criterion's Ran so that's a non-issue to me as well as a lot of other people who own it.

re: your other comments:
 

Fox has controlled MGM's video library ever since Sony bought MGM and dumped the back catalog shortly thereafter.

Criterion announced Warner titles were available to them last February, though it is admittedly troubling that nothing's materialized nearly a year later.  Richard Linklater's "Suburbia" was  confirmed, albeit not officially.

and again, it's a hunch at best but if the other 3 made their way into the collection I just can't see Criterion not making Dersu Uzala high priority, and again, it's a licensed film and licenses expire.  I'm not doubting that comment was made re: them not licensing it (though I'd like to see it and see when it was said) but I can't imagine Criterion wouldn't be willing to jump in and round up some extras along with an anamorphic transfer.

Kino's disc came out 10 years ago this October and I can't imagine their license lasts much longer.  They definitely don't give you the impression that they plan on doing anything with it.

I think the Criterion/Eclipse editions of the 5 Kurosawa titles from the box will fill their Kurosawa quota for '10 but those 4 can pretty easily make for a no-brainer '11.

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post #42 of 46
1/26/10 at 11:14am
what do you think of the chances of any of those appearing on Blu-Ray as well? it'd be awesome to even have an eclipse line for Blu-Ray =).
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post #43 of 46
1/26/10 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill GrandPre View Post



Fox has controlled MGM's video library ever since Sony bought MGM and dumped the back catalog shortly thereafter.

This is incorrect. Fox is the distributor for MGM. MGM still makes the decisions on what to release, and who to sub-license their films to. (This may change if they are sold outright).
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post #44 of 46
2/5/10 at 11:21am
ight kids! HERE IT IS! =D

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/kurosawa.html
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post #45 of 46
2/5/10 at 3:20pm
yes read the same site.

Very tempting indeed
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post #46 of 46
2/5/10 at 11:50pm
i have it it's very good if you are a huge AK fan like me ;)
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AK 100: 25 Films of Akira Kurosawa (Criterion Collection)
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