Japanese cult cinema thread

China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand, etc
Post Reply
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

tolpol wrote:
HungFist wrote:I was already giving a half-serious thought on subbing parts 2-4, but now seems like I won't have to bother after all
Why is that ? Are there English subbed releases available ?
Someone's working on the sub scripts, I believe. The source is probably the old video search of miami bootlegs.
User avatar
Classique
Jackie Chan's Little Toe
Posts: 23
Joined: 26 Jul 2007, 20:40
Location: Shaolin

Post by Classique »

Hungfist, I have a request.

I picked up Lone Wolf & Cub TV volume 1.


Apparently Teruo Ishii directs one or more of the episodes on the disc
but Media Blasters fails to inform us which one.

Any chance you can figure out for me which of the five episodes he directed?

Watched the first two episodes and it's pretty fun stuff.
Nakamura is no Wakayama when it comes to wielding a sword but he has more charisma in the role and doesn't play it so stoicly.

Second episode is basically the first movie but with a few minor differences.A girl still gets boinked to death however that is possible only Kazuo Koike knows.. :lol:

Can't wait to get home and watch some more tonight.
izo
Jackie Chan's Little Toe
Posts: 6
Joined: 22 Mar 2008, 19:45
Contact:

Post by izo »

Classique wrote: Apparently Teruo Ishii directs one or more of the episodes on the disc
but Media Blasters fails to inform us which one.

Any chance you can figure out for me which of the five episodes he directed?
According to this Wikipedia entry and this fan page, Teruo Ishii directed the 1st and the 6th episode of Lone wolf and cub Tv. :wink:
User avatar
Classique
Jackie Chan's Little Toe
Posts: 23
Joined: 26 Jul 2007, 20:40
Location: Shaolin

Post by Classique »

Yes izo thank you very much for the info.


Kinda suprised to be honest because I was actually not very impressed by the first episode particularly the choreography.


Even though the second episode told a story I had already seen in the movie version I thought it was alot more polished.
Here's waiting for disc 2 next month so I can get my hands on episode 6 to see Ishii's second and probably better effort.
izo
Jackie Chan's Little Toe
Posts: 6
Joined: 22 Mar 2008, 19:45
Contact:

Post by izo »

Well, by the way:

Directors' list of Lone Wolf & Cub TV (first season I think)

1- Teruo Ishii
2-3- Kazuo Ikehiro
4- Makito Takai
5- Minoru Matsushima
6- Teruo Ishii
7- Makito Takai
8- Akinori Matsuo
9- Tokuzo Tanaka
10- Akinori Matsuo
11- Minoru Matsushima
12- 土居通芳
13- Yukio Toda
14- Minoru Matsushima
15- 土居通芳
16- Minoru Matsushima
17- 土居通芳
18-19- Tokuzo Tanaka
20-21-Shintaro Sobue
22- Keiichi Ozawa
23- Minoru Matsushima
24-25- Seiji Maruyama
26-27- Kazuo Ikehiro

There's some great ex-Daiei directors (Tanaka, Ikehiro, both worked on Zatoichi/Kyoshiro and so on) and I guess, some assistant directors (it was a common practise for tv shows like that... a shame when we know that some great directors really wished to direct some episodes... anyway...).

I don't know who is 土居通芳!
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

More Nordic Toho Chambara. Apparently the R2J transfers but without windowboxing. Most likely conversions, too. Nice covers, though.

Image

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
eddyospina
Jackie Chan's Little Toe
Posts: 10
Joined: 29 Dec 2007, 21:25
Location: Ireland

Post by eddyospina »

HungFist wrote:More Nordic Toho Chambara. Apparently the R2J transfers but without windowboxing. Most likely conversions, too. Nice covers, though.

...
Nice. Odd that they use the English titles though, rather than romanised Japanese or straight translation. Nice to know they use Tarantino's name to sell these anywhere in the world :D
izo wrote:
I don't know who is 土居通芳
Thanks for the info.

Doi Michiyoshi (that's a guess!) was one of Shin Toho's lesser known directors in the late '50s - early '60s. After that he seems to have moved on to TV gigs. JMDB Link

edit: He seems to only have one Daiei credit to his name: 'Shitto' (Jealousy) from 1962.

He also directed the intriguingly-named 'Kuroi Chibusa' (Black Nipple/Breast) in 1960 with Sugawara Bunta for Shin Toho. (Amazon) Might have to try and track that one down... ;)
Last edited by eddyospina on 24 May 2008, 18:31, edited 2 times in total.
saltysam
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 9357
Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 19:27

Post by saltysam »

watched the first 3 of the Lone Wolf series,it's excellent :)
working class blu-ray fan
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

More Gosha news. According to kfcc Animeigo have licenced Yokiro. That was one of the French Gosha releases that have not been translated yet.

Animeigo are also releasing Imamura's Ballad of Narayama, starring Ken Ogata. The film was released by IVL some years ago, but those subs were translated from chinese...

Image
June 10, 2008.
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Post by Shingster »

The subs on the IVL were a fucking travesty, I look forward to seeing the film again with a proper translation.
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Shing, have you (or anyone else) tested the other IVL Toei releases? I've got Samurai Reincarnation (watched, but can't remember sub quality) and Bullet Train (not watched) myself and I'd be interested in some others too (mainly Fukasaku dramas).
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Holy shit, Cinema Epoch strikes hard
Over the past year or so Cinema Epoch have quietly built themselves into one tasty little boutique label for fans of unusual film, particularly of the Asian variety, and the menu just expanded considerably. The company picked up a fistful of classic titles at the recent Cannes Marche Du Film and will be bringing all of them to DVD in 2009 with brand new anamorphic transfers taken from new prints of the films. What have they got?

BAD GIRL MAKO (Furyo Shojo Mako) (1971)
Director: Koreji Kurahara
Cast: Junko Natsu
Cult classic from Nikkatsu Studios. Patronized by a gang ruling the city, Mako delinquently plays around a nightclub everynight with her bad company. When her lover Hideo is murdered by the gang, Mako swears vengeance on all of those responsible.

TALE OF SORROW AND SADNESS (Hishu Monogatari) (1977)
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Cast: Kyoko Enami, Yoshio Harada, Masumi Okada
Seijun Suzuki’s sole directorial effort from the 1970s follows a professional model poised for success in the golfing magazine fashion world. Pure Suzuki madness ensues when she is confronted by a sexy female blackmailer.

YELLOW FANGS (Rimeinzu: Utsukushiki yuusha-tachi) (1990)
Director: Sonny Chiba/Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Hiroyuki Sanada, Bunta Sugawara
Yuki’s family is killed by a huge maneating bear, and her childhood friend Eiji and his fellow hunters set off in search of the murderous beast. Although she cannot join them as women are forbidden from entering the mountains, she is determined to pursue a perilous quest for revenge. Based on a true story.

THE HEARTBREAK YAKUZA (Saraba itoshiki hito yo) (1987)
Director: Masato Harada
Cast: Hiromi Go, Mariko Ishihashi, Kazuya Kimura, Koichi Sato
A precursor to John Woo’s “The Killer” about an up and coming Yakuza member who accidentally blinds a childhood friend during a shootout. An impressive early work by director Masato Harada. The Japanese title was later used as a Sony Playstation game.
- http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/cinema- ... -classics/

I was about to pick Nikkatsu's R2J Bad Girl Mako. But now I'm gonna wait.

Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Post by Shingster »

I've not tested the IVL Toei titles Hung, only bought a couple from the first batch of titles IIRC, will have to go through my collection to see which ones. I never bought Bullet Train and Makai Tensho though.
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

You don't remember what dvds you own? :lol:

At least IVL used dvd-9 with those Toei films, unlike with the Kadokawa releases. The sad truth was that my custom dvd-5 discs (created from the R2J's) had much better compression than those commercial IVL Kadokawa dvds, although they used the same source material as the R2J's. The subtitles were also badly timed and I had to spent hours fixing them so that they would meet my own fansubbing standards.
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Post by Shingster »

HungFist wrote:You don't remember what dvds you own? :lol:
I own too many DVDs :D
Anyway I found the titles, they're a couple of Fukasaku titles: Rage of Love and House on Fire.
At least IVL used dvd-9 with those Toei films, unlike with the Kadokawa releases. The sad truth was that my custom dvd-5 discs (created from the R2J's) had much better compression than those commercial IVL Kadokawa dvds, although they used the same source material as the R2J's.
Yeah the badly compressed DVD-5 problem is exactly the reason why I avoided those releases. I did want to buy a fair few of the titles, but thought i'd wait and see what made it to R1 land.
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Shingster wrote:BTW Kev Gilvear has put in a request to cover Epoch's Bad Girl Mako DVD, so look out for that to appear (hopefully fast) on DVDTimes.
It may still take some time considering the dvd is not even in production yet :wink:

Image
August 26, 2008
saltysam
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 9357
Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 19:27

Post by saltysam »

These lone wolf releases are great but it's going to be a long and expensive road to acquire them all sadly :?
working class blu-ray fan
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Toei August

See here

Toei September

Shin Abashiri Bangaichi (新網走番外地) (1968)
Image

Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Runin-masaki no ketto (新網走番外地 流人岬の血斗) (1969)
Image

Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Saihate no Nagare-mono (新網走番外地 さいはての流れ者) (1969)
Image

Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Dai Shinrin no Ketto (新網走番外地 大森林の決斗) (1970)
Image

Toei October

Golgo 13 (ゴルゴ13) (1973) (starring Takakura)
Image

Golgo 13: Kowloon Assignment (ゴルゴ13 九竜の首) (Starring Chiba)
Image

Sakitto no ookami (サーキットの狼 ) (1977) (Directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi)
Image

What a crazy Toei year it is... they’re obviosly trying to prove something, lol. And, let me guess, the original Abashiri Prison series will be low priced in December?
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

HungFist wrote:
What a crazy Toei year it is...
... and it just got crazier. November: 4 Hiroyuki Sanada films, including the long awaited Roaring Fire, and Shadow Warriors season 2
- http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?s ... =522&st=97

And more excellent news; Criterion picks seven Nikkatsu action titles, including A Colt is My Passport.
- http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/criteri ... -passport/

Image

+

Kino grabs Suzuki's Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! and Bakuhatsu sanbyomae.

- http://outcastcinema.blogspot.com/2008/ ... pdate.html
- http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthr ... 183&page=2

************************************

Toei’s low priced batch is coming November 1. There seems to be at least a lot of yakuza films, a couple of Hideo Gosha movies (Tokyo Bordello, Wives of the Yakuza + non-Gosha sequels) some pink (School of the Holy Beast, Mantis Wife’s Confession) etc. No Abashiri Prison unfortunately...

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/newrelease/jmo ... 2008-11-01

Kadokawa’s low priced dvds hit the streets October 24th. Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (original threatrical cut, almost certainly), Resurrection of the Golden Wolf, Beast to Die, The Little Girl Who Conquered Time (Obayashi), Legend of the Eight Samurai etc. Note that many of these are available in R1 and / or R3 HK. The R1 dvds should about the same quality, but as mentioned before in this thread, the IVL HK discs feature shitty encoding and badly timed subtitles.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/newrelease/jmo ... 20&step=20

I need to get The Little Girl Who Conquered Time at least. I've been meaning to get rid if the poor HK disc. Tomoyo Harada's face deserves a solid transfer!

Image
Last edited by HungFist on 20 Jan 2009, 12:24, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Toei November

Shogun's Ninja (Ninja bugeicho momochi sandayu) (忍者武芸帖 百地三太夫) (1980) (Sanada, Chiba, Shihomi, Tamba... directed by Suzuki)
Image

The Blazing Valiant (Moeru yusha) (燃える勇者) (1981) (Sanada, Wakayama)
Image

The Kamikaze Adventurers (Bokensha kamikaze) (冒険者カミカゼ) (1981) (Sanada, Chiba)
Image

Roaring Fire (Hoero! Tekken) (吼えろ鉄拳) (1982) (Sanada, Chiba, Shihomi, Ishibashi... directed by Suzuki)
Image

+ Kage no Gundan S2 (sorry, no pic avaible yet)

EDIT:

Missed one release. A film every self-respecting inhabitant of planet earth has been eagerly awaiting to hit the dvd. Yes!

Doberman Deka (ドーベルマン刑事) (1977) (directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Shinichi Chiba
Image
Last edited by HungFist on 06 Sep 2008, 11:34, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Toei December

反逆児 (1961)
Image
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1961/ck004970.htm

関の彌太ッペ (1963)
Image
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1963/cm003550.htm

血と砂の決斗 (1963)
Image
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1963/cm003660.htm

資金源強奪 (1975)
Image
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1975/cy001840.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0326140/

沖縄やくざ戦争 (1976)
Image
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1976/cz002700.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183594/

Okinawa Yakuza War (沖縄やくざ戦争) at least is a must buy.

************************************

All credit to Al Edwards from dvd maniacs for spotting these.

Cinema Epoch’s Yellow Fangs is scheduled for January 13, 2009 release
http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.548 ... etails.htm

And Animeigo is releasing Kosaku Yamashita’s 199 minute war epic Aa kessen kokutai (1974) starring Koji Tsuruta, Akira Kobayashi, Bunta Sugawara, Hideo Murota, Noboru Ando, Tatsuo Umemiya, Goro Ibuki, Tsunehiko Watase, Nobuo Kaneko... damn, that cast is almost on par with the 1970 Toei war masterpiece Saigo no tokkotai (review a few pages back).

Image
http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.548 ... etails.htm

Toei has released the film twice; original and low priced edition.

Image
Last edited by HungFist on 20 Jan 2009, 12:23, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

BCI will release Genji Nakamura's Go for Broke (V Madonna: Daisenso) (V.マドンナ大戦争) (1985) in 2009.

Image Image
http://outcastcinema.blogspot.com/2008/ ... amura.html
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

The second director Outcast Cinema folks interviewed was Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, one of my favourite filmmakers. The interview will appear on Synapse's Wandering Ginza Butterfly dvds.

For once I'm excited about a dvd extra.

http://outcastcinema.blogspot.com/2008/ ... guchi.html

Yamaguchi films I've seen (with ratings out of 5)

Blossoming Night Dreams - 4/5
Tokyo Drifters - 3/5
Ballad of Yokohama Hoods - 4/5
Worthless to Confess - 4/5
Sister Street Fighter - 4/5
Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread - 4/5
Return of the Sister Street Fighter - 3/5
Karate Bull Fighter - 4/5
Karate Bear Fighter - 4/5
Karate for Life - 3/5
Karate Warriors - 3,5/5
Which Is Stronger, Karate or the Tiger? - 2,5/5

Not a single bad movie in the list. Amazing filmography, and that's not even complete. Can't wait to see the Wandering Ginza Butterfly films. Also, hopefully Toei will back us up with Wolfguy Enraged and Tarao Bannai: Kimen mura no sangeki dvds soon.

Image
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Dokaben (1977)

Norifumi Suzuki’s humour has never been very intelligent. But this... is a landmark in stupidity. Based on manga by Shinji Mizushima (who also has a cameo in the film) it’s a baseball – karate comedy with some ”drama” thrown in. The characters are probably 1:1 copies of the manga heroes... it’s really the only logical explanation. Or how else do you explain a character who has a 10 inch flower in his mouth in every scene. Or a guy who wears baseball glove in his leg. Obviously not for everyone, but offers good laughs for those who enjoy Suzuki’s triple-swedish-o grade jokes. Those looking for slightly (only slightly) more substance and higher quality should check out his excellent Truck Yaro films from the same era (1975-1980).

The image quality is good as you can see from the caps, but what's really worth mentioning is that Toei has found not one but two teasers from their vaults. Behind the scenes footage, including some with the manga author Shinji Mizushima can be see in the teasers. Trailer and stills are also included. Toei's Tarao Bannai dvd (see the next post) features one teaser and one trailer, both with some fantastic promo footage (but not behind the scenes clips). The transfer is excellent.

Film
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Promotional footage
Image

Image

Image
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Post by HungFist »

Tarao Bannai (1978)

Tarao Bannai ala Norifumi Suzuki is a dialogue loaded detective film that gets increasingly weird as the case becomes more complicated. Although the tempo is rather slow in the beginning, it will change later. Humour is plenty, and Suzuki has a couple of big surprises in his back pocket, including some Italian genre cinema borrowals. Akira Kobayashi and his numerous disguises play the lead role. Toei’s no. 1 yakuza and karate villains Bin Amatsu and Masashi Ishibashi also appear, among many other stars.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Promotional footage
Image

Image

Image
Post Reply