Baby Cart Samurai movies (1 Viewer)

[Thomas D]

For fans of these movies, you also might want to check out the original comic book series now being collected by Dark Horse Comics. They're up to Volume 13 right now and they plan on printing all of the Lone Wolf and Cub stories in a 28 volume set, new relases monthly.
http://www.darkhorse.com
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[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Jeff,
I'm afraid you misunderstood my post. So far, no plans for IFC to air any of the six BABY CART (aka LONE WOLF & CUB) films, as far as I know. ZATOICHI (the 'Blind Swordsman') is a completely different series of samurai movies, begun a decade earlier than the BABY CART series. There are a ton of ZATOICHI films, at least twice as many as the BABY CART series (I'm not even sure of the exact number, or titles, but there was even ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO (with Toshiro Mifune reprising his Kurosawa character) and ZATOICHI MEETS THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (which was, I believe, a very popular Hong Kong action character from the 1960s).
Maybe IFC will do the BABY CART films in the near future, I don't know. The channel has mainly limited its vintage Japanese film fare to high-brow material (Kurosawa epics, the Toshiro Mifune SAMURAI trilogy of the 1950s, etc), apart from a couple of Seijun Suzuki cult crime films. They may well only show the first four ZATOICHI films over and over in the coming months, or perhaps more installments (I hope!), it's anybody's guess. Time will tell.

 

[chris larralde]

Just bumping this to see if anyone has heard of a release date. The website still has old info. but it sounds like they should be out by now.

 

[Norm Lalonde]

I'll get these in a heartbeat if they're released in anmorphic widescreen, which it sounds like they will be. I've seen Shogun Assasin several times and would love to see the whole story.

I also had some of the Lone Wolf and Cub comics from Dark Horse.

Norm

 

[Chris Xolotl]

I dunno. I couldn't wait so I got (last month) all six from Arts Magic UK.

They are the old LD transfers but with the new Animego subtitles.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

I think Animeigo are still working on the transfers. Last I heard was they would be 16x9 and we should finally start to see something later this year.

For what it's worth, the Australian multicultural TV network SBS has recently been broadcasting the BABY CART films in 2.35:1 ratio with subtitles, and these are clearly new transfers, not the old Animeigo LD or UK Arts Magic versions. The films look absolutely gorgeous. SBS tend to source the newest masters/transfers available so seeing them in this fashion gives me hope that Animeigo might be able to access the same materials.

 

[Rolando]

Just to make sure we are talking about the sme thing... these baby cart movies are NOT anime right? They are live action right?

 

[Rich P]

Right and right - live action (not anime).

AnimEigo did release on laser disc some live action "samurai" sword play movies via their Samurai Cinema line. This part of their catalogue has not (yet) been transferred to DVD.

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Good news, everybody! Just received a reply to the mail I sent them:

Late summer, new transfers, digitally restored, working on it now.
Mono sound because that's all there ever was.

 

[chris larralde]

YES!!!
Did they say whether or not it's anamorphic?
chris

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Nope - I'll ask.

 

[Martin G]

The OAR of the lone wolf and cub movies is 2:1, not 2.35:1

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

OK, got some more info. Here's a summary of everything I've been able to find out from my e-mail correspondence with Animeigo's Robert Woodhead:

1. The discs should come out in "late summer".

2. All films in the series are "digitally restored" and have new transfers.

3. All films are in anamorphic widescreen.

3. All films have mono soundtracks only because "that's all that was available".

4. Animeigo does NOT have the rights to "Shogun Assassin".

5. They're not sure at this point whether the films will be released in a box set or only separately.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Some Italian friends of mine saw the 2.35:1 SBS broadcasts and commented that one of them looked overmatted. If the BABY CART films really are more like 2:1, then I guess they were right. It bodes well for the presentation on the eventual Animeigo discs though...

 

[Norm Lalonde]

This is extremely good news. Thanks for the update Jussi.

I'm really looking forward to these DVD's.

Norm

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Some updated info from the Animeigo site:
We will be releasing Lone Wolf & Cub and Zatoichi on DVD in the near future! We have delayed releasing these titles on DVD because we have decided to invest the time and $ in doing new digital transfers from the original master prints. Look for the first Zatoichi film around Xmas of 2002, the first Lone Wolf film at the end of February 2003, and subsequent films on a fairly regular basis thereafter.
I won't mind waiting if the quality will indeed be as good as the company promises. And it's great that they're releasing Zatoichi too... BTW, I just saw this bit of nonsense(?) at DVD File:

Just announced from Home Vision and Criterion are the next three installments in the highly-acclaimed Zatoichi series, all due to hit shelves on 10/22: Blind Swordsman 3 - New Tale Of Zatoichi, Blind Swordsman 4 - The Fugitive, and Blind Swordsman 5 - On The Road. Each is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and Japanese mono, with no extras. Retail is $29.95 a pop.

Criterion? Hardly.

 

[Rich P]

Criterion? Hardly.

While not part of the Criterion collection, HVE and Criterion have an extensive relationship.

HVE used to be the distributors of the Criterion Collection on DVD. And now that HVE is releasing films on DVD, Criterion (and Janus Films) are providing support to HVE's efforts.

As a result, I don't see anything wrong with saying that HVE and Criterion have announced . . . .

 

[chris larralde]

At least the Criterion release will be anamorphic.

 

[Rich P]

Resurrecting this old thread to post the following update from the AnimEigo site:

Several titles have been delayed due to events beyond our control (like the dockworker's strike stranding special amaray cases for Crusher Joe offshore!)
...
Zatoichi 1 : Mid-January
...
Lone Wolf & Cub 1 : Mid-February
Lone Wolf & Cub 2 : Early March

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Someone see if this rings a bell.

Maybe it was HVE, but I'd swear a few weeks ago I saw a couple of Zatoichi titles in the video store.

On the back of the case it said Janus Films. It also said it had been restored or remastered. The price was about $17. I will try to go back to the same store later, and get some details.

I was surprised to see it, since I thought Animeigo had the rights to them...