We need remasters of Kurosawa films!! (1 Viewer)

[Kristoffer]

Just saw Yojimbo and Sanjuro Criterion. Was a little disappointed with the picture quality of especially Yojimbo.
Now that Criterion is re-releasing Beauty and the Beast on dvd maybe they will do this with these titles since they are some of there first batch of dvd's...
Anamorphic picture would be nice!! And my favorite film Seven Samurai deserves to look better on dvd !! It is just a great film as Citizen Kane! and that looks fantastic on DVD!!!!
If Criterion could only give us a dvd of Throne of Blood as well....

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

Seven Samurai looks good to me, although I echo your sentiments on Throne of Blood.

 

[BrentPollard]

I think The Seven Samurai is about as good as we will see with the current technology. And bring on Throne Of Blood.

 

[Tim Fleming]

It would be interesting to see what the quality of the newly remastered releases in Japan is like... perhaps they could eventually be subtitled and released in other regions?

 

[oscar_merkx]

I will third that about Throne of Blood

 

[Richard Waller]

It would be interesting to see what the quality of the newly remastered releases in Japan is like... perhaps they could eventually be subtitled and released in other regions?

Yeah, it's too bad these aren't subtitled. The only good thing about this is my wallet won't suffer.

 

[alan halvorson]

Apparently you haven't seen the restoration segment on the first Criterion release of Seven Samurai - if you had, you would know that it looks about as good as it ever is going to get, short of a very expensive restoration or a better print.

 

[Eric Meske]

DVDBeaver has some comparisons up. Just click on the Graphic Comparisons link.

 

[Richard Waller]

Wow, that region 2 version looks nice.

 

[Robert Harris]

A major problem in attempting to distribute foreign films to the US market is access to prime elements.

In the case of the Kurosawa films, a good number of the early films no longer have extant Onegs, which means that the best possible transfer element would be a dupe negative...

which would be produced from the extant fine grain master.

Which in turns means that whatever exigencies exist in the form of that master, will make their way to the dupe.

Simply put, it isn't as easy as it may seem to get a clean transfer.

 

[Jon Robertson]

But I understand Toho weren't overwhelmingly cooperative in providing top-notch elements/masters to start with - this from Criterion's first chat here in July 2000:

Lee_Kline: You'll be happy to see Hidden Fortress when its out soon.
We have finally gotten Toho to allow us to remaster stuff in a way that wasn't possible before.
The new transfers are going to be amazing for all the Toho titles.

With new and restored prints of loads of seminal Kurosawas, including Seven Samurai, out there now in both the UK and the USA, who knows how Criterion could improve on their early efforts (commentaries and other supplements, for one thing).

 

[Jeff Kleist]

You could use DVDSubber on the Toho remasters if you have an HTPC

 

[Sutjahjo Ngaserin]

My full support!
Jaw