Samurai Trilogy boxset question (1 Viewer)

[Sam Tanry]

Is this:

Samurai Trilogy from Criterion
the same as the
Samurai: The Book of the Five Rings DVD that was apparently just released???

I understand the bottom one probably wouldn't have the Criterion transfers but I've heard they're not that good anyways. So what's the difference between them? I can't find much info on the lower one...can't even tell if it's an actual set. It's just so cheap(15 dollars). I would post links but I can't.

 

[Brandon Conway]

They are entirely different films.

And while the Criterion transfers of the Samurai Trilogy are not of any high quality, this is a fault of the very poor source materials available and not Criterion.

 

[Matt Czyz]

Criterion's is only a repackaging of three separate dvds of theirs that already exist. No changes made to anything, just grouped together with a lower price.

Check www.criterionco.com for more info.

 

[Sam Tanry]

I understand what you are saying, but then what is the Book of the Five Rings 15 dollar DVD? Under the description of it on Deep Discount DVD and several other sites it says:

"This program contains three classic martial arts dramas based on the life of samurai Miyamoto Musashi: MUSASHI MIYAMOTO, DUEL AT ICHIJOJI TEMPLE, and DUEL AT GANRYU ISLAND. Please see individual titles for complete information."

Those are the same titles as the Criterion set, and that is where my confusion comes in.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Huh - the only Five Rings DVDs I could find on Amazon.com described them as documentaries about samurai of 16/17th Century Japan.

Sam - perhaps a link would help us see what the other set is you are referring to.

 

[Sam Tanry]

I can't post links until after 15 posts, or I would've included them already. But if you search for the words 'First Samurai' on Deep Discount DVD you can see the title I'm speaking of. I did some more searching before posting here and couldn't find much more info. I found some other sites listing it but no one had any description besides that it stars Toshiro Mifune.

 

[Matt Czyz]

I'm going to guess database error if this isn't showing up anywhere else.

 

[Tom June]

Here's the link to DeepDiscount.

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=RDD001002

It seems like they're the same set as the criterion. Probably too good to be true though. :frowning:

 

[Sam Tanry]

I've ordered the 15 dollar set off DDD. They moved the release back to 5/18(same as Criterion...strange). I figured what could I lose? I'll post back when I get it.

 

[Tom June]

Awesome, let us know.

 

[Sam Tanry]

I got the set today. It is a set, three dvds pf the three Musashi films in one large amaray case with paper slip cover. I'm sorry to say I haven't seen the films before so I can't comment on the video quality as compares to the Criterion DVD's. It's not a very good picture, scratches and choppy frame switches, but it's completely viewable. I heard the Criterion editions weren't very good anyways.
I figure if you've never seen these you can't really go wrong for 15 dollars. Think of it as three rentals if nothing else.

 

[Rodney]

Can anyone do a comparison between Criterion and Red?
At a $30 savings, the Red one sounds great.

 

[Craig Forsythe]

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...684308-7876328

Amazon has more information about the movies, and has chapter breakdown. The reviewer guy hasn't seen the Crit versions so its hard to compare.
But he does mention that it has burnt in subtitles, a bit hued to the red, and he was happy for the price.

 

[Rodney]

Anyone know of a site that has compared these?

 

[Douglas Bailey]

I've not seen any comparisons of these two sets, but maybe Sam could take a look at these DVDBeaver comparison pages:

http://207.136.67.23/film/DVDCompare3/samuraii.htm
http://207.136.67.23/film/DVDCompare3/samuraiII.htm
http://207.136.67.23/film/DVDCompare3/samuraiIII.htm

...and tell us how the images on his "Five Rings" discs compare to the Criterion screen-captures posted there?

 

[Sam Tanry]

I just did a quick comparison of the first three shots in Samurai 1 off that page. The subtitles seem to be the same as displayed in the second(PAL) image when they are in the tree, but the image quality is much brighter and seems clearer. That could just be monitor versus screen though. The second image of the stream looks more like the Criterion version. The third image also looks more like the Criterion version to my eyes. All the shots are much brighter and more colorful though and that must be due to his screencaps. As far as clarity I think it looks like the Criterion shots, with the other subtitles.

To me, that doesn't make sense since the subtitles are burned on, but I don't know much about this process. It might be that PAL version but it looks better to me.

 

[Rodney]

According to HKFlix.com First Samurai is no longer available:




I cannot find it on DDD anymore. Does anyone know the status of this DVD?