Asian Cinema - Give us your film suggestions (1 Viewer)

[Phil Lewis]

At ArtsmagicDVD we're always asking customers and reviewers for their opinions and suggestions on the films we should be releasing.
Since our US launch in May 2004 we have had a great response and are currently chasing new titles that have been suggested.
We're also currently contacting a number of magazines & websites that people have suggested we should work with. If you have any suggestions please let us know.

Also if you have any questions you'd like us to answer, feel free to fire away!

 

[Jim_K]

Sword of Doom (1966) would be fantastic to have on DVD. Janus films held the VHS rights, not sure if it's still theirs.

Animeigo's rights have expired for the following titles....

The Razor & Sleepy Eyes of Death film series, along with Red Lion & Samurai Banners.

You could pursue the remaining Zatoichi film not released on DVD........ Zatoichi's Pilgrimage (1966)

and if your company has deep pockets then go for some classic Toho Kaiju '54 - '66 such as Gojira '54, Rodan, Mothra '61, Ghidrah '65, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mothra '64, etc, etc. All must be original un-cut Japanese versions, OSL w english subtitles & OAR of course.

Happy hunting.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Phil,

Thanks much for using the forums here to openly solicit our opinions. It's an example I wish more DVD companies would follow.

I'll echo Jim K's excellent suggestions, and offer some more...

Perhaps the domestic rights to these are already spoken for, but if not, I'd really like to see Artsmagic try their hand at releasing R1 DVDs (widescreen, subtitled) of:

* FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: BEAST STABLE (1973, JOSHUU SASORI: KEMONO BEYA) Toei Studios
* FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: #701'S GRUDGE SONG (1973, JOSHUU SASORI: 701-GO URAMI-BUSHI) Toei Studios

--the final two films starring Meiko Kaji as "Scorpion".

* GOKE: BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL (1968, KYUKETSUKI GOKEMIDORO) Shochiku Studios
* TERROR BENEATH THE SEA (1966, KAITEI DAISENSO) Toei Studios
* GHOST OF THE HUNCHBACK (1965, KAIDAN SEMUSHI OTOKO) Toei Studios
* THE GOLDEN BAT (1966, OGON BATTO) Toei Studios

--the genre films of cult director Hajime Sato, best known here for GOKE. Rumors are going around that another company already has the U.S. rights to GOKE, but if that isn't true, it should be a prime Artsmagic title.

* HELL (1960, JIGOKU) Shintoho Studios
* THE GHOST OF YOTSUYA (1959, TOKAIDO YOTSUYA KAIDAN) Shintoho Studios
* BLACK CAT MANSION (1958, BOREI KAIBYO YASHIKI) Shintoho Studios

--a trio of well-regarded horror films by director Nobuo Nakagawa.

* THE LOST WORLD OF SINBAD (1963, DAITOZOKU) Toho Studios
* ADVENTURE IN KIGAN CASTLE (1966, KIGANJO NO BOKEN) Toho Studios
* THE MAGIC SERPENT (1966, KAIRYU DAIKESSEN) Toei Studios

--period fantasy/adventures, the two Toho films listed star the great Toshiro Mifune.

* INTERNATIONAL SECRET POLICE: KEY OF KEYS (1965, KOKUSAI HIMITSU KEISATSU: KAGI NO KAGI) Toho Studios
* INTERNATIONAL SECRET POLICE: ORDER #8 (1963, KOKUSAI HIMITSU KEISATSU: SHIREI DAI HACHIGO) Toho Studios
* INTERNATIONAL SECRET POLICE: DRIVEN TO THE WALL (1967, KOKUSAI HIMITSU KEISATSU: ZETTI ZETSUMI) Toho Studios

--KEYS OF KEYS was dubbed into the comedy, WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY?, but many would like to see it in its original form, plus the two other entries in the INTERNATIONAL SECRET POLICE series.

* CRAZY ADVENTURE (a.k.a. DON'T CALL ME A CRIME MAN) (1965, KUREJI NO DAIBOKEN) Toho Studios
* OPERATION CRAZY (1966, KUREJI DAISAKUSEN) Toho Studios
* LAS VEGAS FREE-FOR-ALL (1967, KUREJI OGON SAKUSEN) Toho Studios
* MONSIEUR ZIVACO (1967, KUREJI NO KAITO JIBAKO) Toho Studios
* INDUSTRIAL SPY FREE-FOR-ALL (1967, KUREJI DAYO TENKAMUTEKI) Toho Studios
* MEXICAN FREE-FOR-ALL (1968, KUREJI MEKISHIKO DAI SAKUSEN) Toho Studios
* COMPUTER FREE-FOR-ALL (1969, KUREJI NO BUCHAMUKURE DAIHAKKEN) Toho Studios
* THE CRAZY CATS' BIG EXPLOSION (1969, KUREJI NO DAIBAKUHATSU) Toho Studios

--the Crazy Cats comedies. Stuart Galbraith wrote about them several years ago in an issue of FILMFAX magazine, and the descriptions sound to me like a Japanese-style cross between IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD and the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "ROAD" pictures. Apparently large-scale affairs, often with James Bond-ish/sci-fi elements, and lots of familiar faces from Toho's monster & sci-fi pictures (and effects work by Eiji Tsuburaya). I'd love to at least see the first film, CRAZY ADVENTURE (a.k.a. DON'T CALL ME A CRIME MAN) to get a taste of what these films are really like.

* THE LIVING SKELETON (1969, KYUKETSU DOKURO SEN) Shochiku Studios
* SWEET HOME (1989, SUITO HOMU) Toho Studios

--a couple more japanese horror films deserving North American DVD release.

* ULTRA Q (1965) Tsuburaya Productions
* ULTRAMAN (1966) Tsuburaya Productions
* SPACE GIANTS (a.k.a. AMBASSSADOR MAGMA) (1966, MAGUMA TAISHI) P Productions

--classic live-action TV series, with giant monsters galore.

* ALAKAZAM THE GREAT (1960, SAIYU-KI) Toei Studios
* LITTLE PRINCE & THE EIGHT-HEADED DRAGON (1963, WANPAKU OJI NO OROCHI TAIJI) Toei Studios
* JACK & THE WITCH (1967, SHONEN JAKKO TO MAHOTSUKAI) Toei Studios
* ONE THOUSAND AND ONE ARABIAN NIGHTS (1969, SENYA ICHIYA MONOGATARI) Mushi Productions
* ADVENTURES OF SINBAD (1962, ARABIAN NAITO: SHINDOBADDO NO BOKEN) Toei Studios
* THE WHITE SNAKE ENCHANTRESS (1958, HAKUJA DEN) Toei Studios

--"old-school" anime feature films, ignored by the U.S. companies that specialize in all manner of more contemporary japanese animation. MGM Home Entertainment likely still controls the english-dubbed version of ALAKAZAM, but that had scenes drastically shuffled around, a few bits edited out, and several portions re-scored by Les Baxter. It'd be cool if Artsmagic could negotiate an uncut, subtitled version, separate from MGM's dubbed version, much like Image Entertainment's alternate DVD versions of some of Mario Bava's films, like BLACK SABBATH.

Yup, that's a pretty long list of titles (completely out of character for me).

Anyway, thanks again for asking.

Cheers,

-Peter M Fitzgerald

 

[Brook K]

Fantoma released 4 of Yasuzo Masumura's films. I bought them all and would love to see more of this director's work.

 

[Phil Lewis]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

In reply to Jim K, of the movies you mentioned, we obtained the UK rights and released the following titles in the UK under our Artsmagic label:
Red Lion
Zatoichi's Pilgrimage
Sword of Doom

I'm not sure who owns the US rights for these titles, but I'm sure Gerry (the boss) will.

Thanks to Peter for such a huge suggestion list - I'm sure Gerry will need to spend a few hours looking through that!


And thanks to K Brook for mentioning "Yasuzo Masumura". We'll definately lok into it.

Keep the suggestions coming. The more often we see a film/director/actor mentioned, the harder we will try to obtain the rights!

 

[Lew Crippen]

Thanks for the opportunity to comment Phi. I'd like to see some South Asian films on the list. I'll try to post some suggestions, as time allows.

I second both Jim and Brook's suggestions--both excellent as always.

 

[Max Knight]

I'd love to see a US release of Sword of Doom. I've been dying to see that film, and to date the UK DVD has prooved elusive and expensive.

 

[Ian_H]

Battle Royale!! Parts 1 and 2 would be awesome. Also some of the latest muay Thai stuff like Ong Bak and Born To Fight.


--Ian

 

[Jim_K]

I'll second Peter's very long list. Many of which I've never seen but we seem to have very similar tastes in movies.

 

[Stephen R]

Second all the recommendations here, especially Brook's desire to see more Yasuzo Masumura released. I'd love to get an opportunity to see stuff like Red Angel and A Wife Confesses.

I'd also like to see Sogo Ishii's cult classics from the early 80s -- Burst City, Crazy Thunder Road, and The Crazy Family, among others. Those are the most well-known, though.

And I know your company is primarily interested in cult items, but it'd be amazing to see some Shinji Soomai movies released here. He usually made dramas, but I guess the one that comes closest in genre-type to what you guys release would be Typhoon Club, which I haven't seen but have heard many great things about.

Good luck in your future releases, and thanks for letting us all voice our suggestions!