DougL

I see that the Mei Ah company is offering a number of Kurosawa titles on DVD. These are advertised as having English subtitles.

Some questions:
* quality of the transfers?
* how's the English subtitling?
* any particularly favorable experiences with a particular Hong Kong DVD retailer?

Thanks!

nemein

I picked up Hidden Fortress from Blue Laser (which I thought was a Mei Ah DVD but there is a rumor floating around that atleast some of the BL DVDs are boots ). Anyway, assuming it is a MeiAh DVD it was ok. The subtitles were readable, although sometimes close to being washed out by the background. The main "complaint" I have with it though is that it's a flipper

FWIW (which probably isn't much )

Mac

Are the subtitles burned into the picture, or can you turn them off?

nemein

Well I decided to give it a spin and let you know what I found First off I have to say if it is a boot it is a VERY well done boot, down to using a MeiAh case for the DVD itself (MeiAh is molded in the plastic). Although it is supposedly 5.1 it really sounds like the same thing is coming out of all of the speakers There is also a "regular" DD track. Japanese is the only language choice, but there are 3 subtitle choices. Chinese traditional/simplified and English. Overall I have to say it's a nicely done DVD, however I personally would wait for the Criterion version...

Remember this is only wrt Hidden Fortress. I'm still tempted to by some of the other ones available, but I want to find out more about what Criterion has in mind first, and also if there is any truth to the Blue Laser rumor...

FWIW

hanami

I also have Ah Mei's The Hidden Fortress DVD. First of all, It's not a bootleg. The picture is in widescreen and is clear with no artifacts. The sound is in DD2.1 or DD5.1. You can also choose to have the subtitle removed or in either English or Chinese. The menu contains 4 selection: start the movie, chapter selection, sound selection ( DD 2.1 or DD 5.1), language selection (English, Chinese, Chinese Simplified, None). The DVD has no extra as usual. My only complaint is that it's a flipper when they can easily fit the whole movie in one side using RSDL. The movie is in black and white and has a running time of 136 min. The Criterion version should be coming out in autumn or winter but I doubt that it will have any extra. But wait for the Criterion version anyway. The Ah Mei's disc is fine except that its a flipper. I bought Ah Mei's DVD before Criterion announced the plan to release this film on DVD. Finally, I just want to say that I love this movie and that I have watched it 3 times on DVD...in addtion to once on tape and twice on VCD. I would expect other Kurosawa's titles on DVD by Ah Mei of the same quality.

muldoon

I think this Kurosawa Mei Ah bootleg rumor started at DVDFile. I just sent them an email so hopefully they will post a correction.

The Hong Kong Kurosawa DVDs put out by "Mei Ah" are not bootlegs (they are licensed from Toho). However, the Taiwanese Kurosawa DVDs put out by "COSmos" are bootlegs (they even have xeroxed covers).

Good points about the Mei Ah DVDs:
-Some of the transfers are great.
-All have removable English subtitles.
-Not region coded
-A few have 5.1 remixes (the original mono is also provided)

Bad points about the Mei Ah DVDs:
-Some of the transfers are bad.
-No time codes (but they do have chapters).
-English subtitles are derived from the Chinese translation. Therefore, the English subtitles are ackward at times and all the characters are given Chinese names.

Here's a complete list of Kurosawa DVDs Mei Ah has put out:
-Bad Sleep Well, The (1960)
-Drunken Angel (1948)
-Hidden Fortress, The (1958)
-High And Low (1963)
-Lower Depths, The (1957)
-Men Who Tread On the Tiger's Tail, The (1945) aka They Who Step On The Tiger's Tail
-Most Beautiful, The (1944)
-No Regrets For Our Youth (1946)
-One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
-Record Of A Living Being (1955)
-Red Beard (1965)
-Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
-Sanshiro Sugata 2 (1945)
-Seven Samurai (1954)
-Stray Dog (1949)
-Throne Of Blood (1957)
-Yojimbo (1961)

These DVDs will be released by Mei Ah in the near future:
-Ikiru (1952)
-Sanjuro (1962)
-Dodesukaden (1970)

For scans and reviews of these DVDs, check out: http://www.public.asu.edu/~muldoon/hk/jponhk.html

For a list of online stores selling these DVDs, check out: http://www.public.asu.edu/~muldoon/hk/buyjp.html

You should not be paying more than $20-$25 for any of the Mei Ah Kurosawa DVDs.

==
Hong Kong Films On DVD
http://www.public.asu.edu/~muldoon/hk/


[This message has been edited by muldoon (edited February 07, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by muldoon (edited February 07, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by muldoon (edited February 07, 2000).]

nemein

muldoon, IMHO I think you just won the award for most helpful first post Thanks for all the great info. It was the dvdfile rumor I was talking about and I was hoping if I mentioned it enough someone would know some more info. I decided last night though given the quality of the DVD from BlueLaser that I would probably just order from them anyway

welcome BTW