Seven Samurai - 3 Disc Edition - 5/9/2006

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 15 Jun 2006, 09:48

Akira Kurosawa classic gets a 3 disc release by Criterion

http://www.image-entertainment.com/deta ... ctID=57572

Bonus Features

All-new restored, high-definition digital transfer
Commentary by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Donald Richie and more
Commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck
50-minute making-of documentary, "Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create"
Two-hour conversation between Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima
New documentary, "Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences"
Theatrical trailers and teaser
New and improved English subtitle translation
Essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Kenneth Turan, Sidney Lumet and more

Cue Romero saying "This deserves 4 discs and 8 commentaries"

The amount of extras they've assembled looks cool though (but a 2 hour interview sounds rather boring), will be a definite upgrade for me from the old disc however.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 15 Jun 2006, 10:58

Tom must kicking himself in the head now for buying the R3K set!

[Romero mode]See! I told you this was coming, fool.[/Romero mode]

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 15 Jun 2006, 11:06

It's got a great cover art. Thanks grim.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 15 Jun 2006, 11:33

Eva wrote:[Romero mode]See! I told you this was coming, fool.[/Romero mode]

No probs LD

I like the overall cover but I dont like how "Seven Samurai" is written.
Surely I could E-Bay my old Criterion (no point in keeping it since the old commentary is carried over).

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 15 Jun 2006, 17:37

God! there is a God

we all knew it was coming, one day, but its still a suprise a nice one at that.
I have avoided watching the film for ages in time for this new dvd, so I cannot wait to fire up this film again and sit back for over 3 hours and just let one of the best ever asian films wash over me.

Now for the Yojimbo and Sanjuro new dvds

so I can sell my Samurai Criterion set.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 15 Jun 2006, 19:25

This is remarkably arousing news. Thanks Grim.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 Jun 2006, 23:00

I guess they'll be splitting the film across 2 discs. Considering they're extras so the bit-rate isn't to important I can see them all being on 1 disc.

Great news agreed. It will go very nicely with my Ran: Criterion Collection.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 15 Jun 2006, 23:01

Splitting the film? That would suck.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 Jun 2006, 03:18

romerojpg wrote:Now for the Yojimbo and Sanjuro new dvds so I can sell my Samurai Criterion set.

They have already been confirmed for 2006. Remember this thread?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 Jun 2006, 07:38

thelostdragon wrote:Splitting the film? That would suck.

Why? LOTR/Gone With The Wind etc are split over 2 discs.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 16 Jun 2006, 09:18

I don't mind splits in films, in the form of an intermission, provided they're meant to be there. The Godfather Part II has one as well, and that film was split across two discs.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 16 Jun 2006, 12:02

grim_tales wrote:
thelostdragon wrote:Splitting the film? That would suck.
Why? LOTR/Gone With The Wind etc are split over 2 discs.

Which sucks.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 16 Jun 2006, 15:11

Seven Samurai is supposed to have an intermission right? If so then it doesn't really bother me, especially as it's a long film.

Same with LOTR - if it didn't have an intermission then I would've paused it anyway, gone for a piss, then come back to resume the film.

I've got the bladder of a toddler (not literally).

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 Jun 2006, 16:41

An intermission makes sense to me, if its originally there, ie Seven Samurai/Gone With The Wind.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 16 Jun 2006, 17:19

I would much rather have it on 2 dvds than one compressed dvd, as its well over 3 hours! it has to be split to be a perfect picture.

My dvd player holds the 3 dvds anyway, and another 298 to go with them

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 16 Jun 2006, 18:02

So we're all in agreement that intermissions rule. 8)

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 16 Jun 2006, 18:13

Well if you really hate getting up it may be a bit of a bug, I like the Seven Samurai one as its a nice musical number

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Jun 2006, 22:38

Well I could copy it to my hard disk (Home Hard Disk/DVD Recorder that is) and have no intermission but that would be silly

thelostdragon wrote:Splitting the film? That would suck.

Agreed but it's become standard practise for long films and especially when they're determined to keep the bit-rate up. This is a Criterion DVD too.

thelostdragon wrote:
grim_tales wrote:
thelostdragon wrote:Splitting the film? That would suck.
Why? LOTR/Gone With The Wind etc are split over 2 discs.
Which sucks.

In the case of SS it could just get away with it on 1 disc but imagine the compression hell if LOTR and GWTW were only on 1 DVD-9

That would really suck!

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 16 Jun 2006, 22:43

You see, "Seven Samurai" has the advantage of being a black & white-film, which saves a lot of information and hence disc space.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 17 Jun 2006, 08:29

The original Criterion of SS was an early DVD so getting the whole film on 1 disc was an achievement in itself back then.

memetic · Post by **memetic** » 17 Jun 2006, 16:13

IGN wrote:The DVD includes a cleaner transfer of the most regarded Japanese film of all-time spanning over three discs, and will feature a host of bonus materials and extra features.

Kinda makes it sound like the movie is across all three. It's probably just bad wording. Seems unnecessary, so hopefully it's not the case.

thelostdragon wrote:You see, "Seven Samurai" has the advantage of being a black & white-film, which saves a lot of information and hence disc space.

B&W and colour are treated fairly similarly in MPEG-2, so B&W won't end up saving much in the space department unfortunately.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 17 Jun 2006, 16:16

Seems wierd splitting the film into THREE, IMO

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 17 Jun 2006, 16:18

Yup B+W on previous Criterion dvds has taken up massive amounts of space, so they are not much different than colour. Fitting all of Seven Samurai on 1 dvd at the kind of picture quality Criterion now does would never work, it would take up 10 GB at least. HD dvd needs to get here I say, wonder when criterion will dip their toes into that ;D and which format theyu will support.

and it wont be on 3 dvds, I cannot think of any films that ever have, and criterion adhere to breaks in films and no way would they ever put it on 3 dvds

its just worded badly like memetic said

unless Criterion have went mental in the brains.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 17 Jun 2006, 22:24

Over three discs? I won't bother with the new version then. I like the current Criterion version and I am most happy with it. The film is not supposed to look all clean and spotless.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 17 Jun 2006, 23:06

Really no way it will be over 3 dvds

I bet a poo load of cash on that one.

It can look a lot better, the old Criterion edition isnt exactly a great transfer compared to even the Japanese version out now, so Criterion will make it look a lot better this time around. Its not just about cleaning the transfer, its about making it look much better, clearer and more detailed esspecially

for me I love the old Criterion transfer, but it could be far better in practically every way as its one hell of an old decrepid transfer now.

At leats they wont waste time on DTS