AK 100 ADDED

[Brent_Reid]

Title: Seven Samurai
Country: US
Region: 1
Releasing Studio: Criterion Collection
Case Type: Special case
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Anamorphic?: No
PAL or NTSC?: NTSC
Soundtracks: Japanese Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
Subtitles (are they optional?): English (yes)
Cuts: (and if you know it, precise run time) No cuts - with intermission (206:16 NTSC)
Commentaries: None
Extras: None
Notes: 2006 Criterion 2K restoration. Full frame transfer. Only available in "AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa" box set
Easter Eggs: None
Amazon ASIN (UK, French, German, USA releases only): B002NOZUEW
Source: DVDBeaver and others

Add to the Criterion 3-DVD set listing:
2006 Criterion 2K restoration. Windowboxed transfer.

Caps BD comparison.
Additional Beaver comparisons: #1, #2.

It's worth adding to the BD footnotes that:
All releases bar the Criterion have Toho's older HD master. Toho carried out an extensive 4K restoration in 2016, but it's so far unreleased on home video.

The Oz DVD Easter Egg notes are grammatically tortuous and have a typo ("is is"). Suggested correction:
Change the menu title number to 6 from 7 and the film will play with the intermission added at chapter 16.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Added and updated. Not really necessary at the moment to update about the 4K restoration.

[Brent_Reid]

Blimey, that was quick work - ta! I mentioned the unreleased resto as we've done so on other titles. It's still worth mentioning the AK 100 set has the 2K resto though.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Updated AK 100 with note.

[Brent_Reid]

Forgot to mention: there's a slight discrepancy between the running times in the Oz DVD's Easter egg note and the footnote.

[Brent_Reid]

Is there a quick way for me to add the rest of those AK 100 DVDs without posting a separate listing for each one? Beaver has all their specs, most of which (apart from runtimes) are identical to the SS disc. They're all completely vanilla and the only things to vary between them are some of the audio tracks and ARs on the later films.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Lidt them all in a single entry

[Brent_Reid]

Here you go, James. They all have identical specs to SS, except where noted. All have Japanese Dolby Digital audio only and all widescreen transfers are anamorphic.

Alter the generic footnote for each disc to "...illustrated 96-page hardback book."

Sanshiro Sugata (1943) 78:44

The Most Beautiful (1944) 75:09

Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945) 81:48

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945) 59:06

No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) 110:12

One Wonderful Sunday (1947) 108:46

Drunken Angel (1948) 97:51
Add a note to the previous Criterion DVD: it has a windowboxed transfer; this one does not.

Stray Dog (1949) 122:08

Scandal (1950) 104:32

Rashomon (1950) 87:45

The Idiot (1951) 166:10

Ikiru (1952) 142:35

I Live in Fear (1955) 103:00

Throne of Blood (1957) 109:16

The Lower Depths (1957) 124:32

The Hidden Fortress (1958) 138:20, 2.35:1 AR

The Bad Sleep Well (1960) 150:30, 2.35:1 AR

Yojimbo (1961) 150:20, 2.35:1 AR

Sanjuro (1962) 95:24, 2.35:1 AR

High and Low (1963) 143:05, 2.35:1 AR, 4.0 Perspecta surround

Red Beard (1965) 184:42, 2.35:1 AR, 4.0 Perspecta surround

Dodes’ka-den (1970) 139:35
Add a note to the previous Criterion DVD: it has a windowboxed transfer; this one does not.

Kagemusha (1980) 180:06, 2.35:1 AR, 2.0 stereo

Madadayo (1993) 134:04, 1.85:1 AR, 2.0 stereo

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Are you sure about the Kagemusha aspect ratio? Is it cropped?

[Brent_Reid]

No, not cropped: it's Beaver's mistake and i didn't pick up on it. He listed it as 2.35:1 at the bottom of this page, but it actually has the same restored/remastered 1.85:1 transfer as the Criterion BD.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

The Most Beautiful (1944) 75:09

Could you recheck the time on this? Seems short.

Yojimbo (1961) 150:20, 2.35:1 AR

The runtime on this is overly long. Please recheck.

The Hidden Fortress (1958) 138:20, 2.35:1 AR

Yojimbo (1961) 150:20, 2.35:1 AR

Sanjuro (1962) 95:24, 2.35:1 AR

Do these only have a standard 1.0 mono track? No 3.0 track?

Kagemusha (1980) 180:06, 2.35:1 AR, 2.0 stereo

This is 2.0 and not 4.0?

[Brent_Reid]

The Most Beautiful (1944) 75:09

Could you recheck the time on this? Seems short. - Sorry, converted the differing time notation incorrectly; should be 85:09.

Yojimbo (1961) 150:20, 2.35:1 AR

The runtime on this is overly long. Please recheck. - Forgot to convert it! Should be 110:20.

The Hidden Fortress (1958) 138:20, 2.35:1 AR

Yojimbo (1961) 150:20, 2.35:1 AR

Sanjuro (1962) 95:24, 2.35:1 AR

Do these only have a standard 1.0 mono track? No 3.0 track? - Like Seven Samurai from this set, they drop the Perspecta track; various reliable sources confirm it.

Kagemusha (1980) 180:06, 2.35:1 AR, 2.0 stereo

This is 2.0 and not 4.0? - Ditto.

Without actually checking the discs myself, I'm as certain as I can be that the specs are accurate. But as I said, I will get this set one day. It has the only legit, English-friendly releases of several of his early films that are in such poor condition, they'll never get a US or UK BD.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Besides this set, the Criterion Eclipse Series boxsets are also a way to get the early films on DVD for a much cheaper price. Added and updated.

[Brent_Reid]

Nice work! I noticed about the Eclipse sets but would have to do more detailed investigation to see how much non-BD material they cover. Besides, I like the fact that a couple have non-windowboxed transfers, which makes them the best English-friendly releases anywhere. I think with AK 100 and a couple more Criterion BDs (I have all the BFI BDs), I'm all set for Kurosawa - until any new BDs come out!

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

The Eclipse sets - none are windowboxed. I have them both and while they are nice to have in cheap yet watchable sets, I'd rather have an upgrade to Blu-ray if possible. There are Japanese Blu-rays for all titles but since they drop the previous DVD extras and some transfers not being ideal, I've made a pass on getting any of them. The AK 25 set is fine if extras are not an issue, but you will still be missing "The Quiet Duel" (not sure what's going on with the rights to that title overseas), "Dersu Uzala", "Ran", and "Rhapsody in August". I've also been waiting for years for Criterion to issue "Madadayo" from the set as a Blu-ray with the lengthy documentary, as well as them possibly acquiring the rights to "Rhapsody".

[Brent_Reid]

Yeah, unlike the earlier standalone releases, the Eclipse sets have the most recent non-windowboxed transfers too.The resolution on some of those films is barely SD, let alone HD, so it's complete overkill putting them on BD. I have Ran as well (reluctantly kept the older problematic transfer rather than the restoration's tealed mess) but not the others. Am still not sure if I'll bother to collect everything. Huh, who am I trying to kid?!

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

It’s not overkill putting the early films on Blu-ray as elements exist and HD masters are available in Japan. Plus it would be nice for upgrades to include the “It’s Wonderful to Create” documentaries made for the earlier Toho Kurosawa films. The question for Criterion would be, are they willing to reissue an Eclipse title to Blu-ray as a mainline release? To my knowledge it hasn’t been done yet. Another would be if BFI would reissue the early Kurosawa box to Blu, which might be more likely.

[Brent_Reid]

Ok, but owing to the sorry state of some of Kurosawa's early films, if releasing a transfer like this on a standalone BD isn't overkill, it comes pretty close. The least they could have done was put two or three such transfers on one disc. But I'd be surprised if we ever get English-friendly BDs anyway, especially when we still don't have many of his later, much better condition films in HD.

As you likely know, part of the reason is that Toho are notoriously uncooperative about licensing their masters to foreign labels. They insist on Japanese releases first and are also happy for licensees to make do with older, inferior masters indefinitely while they hold back newer ones for domestic use. Hence the newly restored Seven Samurai and Ikuru being unavailable, and some of the substandard transfers in Criterion's Godzilla box.