PopcornTreeCt

Hey all, I've been shopping around the web looking for Kurosawa DVDs. I found an Asian website that sells all-region DVDs of:
The Most Beautiful
No Regrets For Our Youth
One Wonderful Sunday
They Who Step On Tiger's Tail
Sanshiro Sugata
Sanshiro Sugata 2
Record Of A Living Being
The Bad Sleep Well
Drunken Angel

As a big Kurosawa fan I was ecstatic to find these. However, I am a little hesitant to order them because I noticed the same company that is releasing those films also released Throne Of Blood, Ikiru, Stray Dog, Yojimbo, and Seven Samurai all-released much better by Criterion. So my question is, should I buy these now or wait for Criterion? I don't see why Criterion wouldn't release them eventually.

nemein

Personally unless you REALLY want them I'd hold off. The quality of the asian DVDs is very mixed (if these are the ones I'm thinking about [blue cases w/ drawings on the covers]). For instance the Sanshiro Sugata versions I picked up were so dark in some places you couldn't tell what was going on Of course there's no way to be certain but it seems slowly all the Kurosawa titles are coming out.

Ky-Fi

I got a bunch of the Mei Ah Kurosawas when HKflix was having their $5.95 DVD sale. I thought all the ones I bought were worth that, but maybe not much more. Of the ones I got:

They Who Step on Tiger's Tail: Good movie. Pretty poor picture quality--lots of digital "jumpiness" when the camera moves.

Sanshiro Sugata: Great movie, especially considering it's his first. It is dark in places, but not bad picture quality considering how old it is.

Yojimbo: Widescreen. Blacks are a bit faded, but pretty sharp picture.

Sanjuro: Widescreen. Pretty good picture quality.

BUT, although this didn't matter too much to me, be warned that the English subtitles on these Mei Ah releases are NOT translated from Japanese, they're translated from the Chinese translation of the Japanese. This makes following the story and dialogue kind of like an excercise in interpreting semi-abstract Asian poetry . Also, the names are changed to Chinese, and, for instance, before the protaganist enters the judo competition in Sanshuro Sugata, he says "If I win this I'll be the head of kung-fu!".

ivelostr2

I bought a bunch of the Mei Ah dvds a year or so ago, and the subtitles, like Ky-FI said, were really bad. at points during stray dog, I had to pause it to understand what was said. I would hold off, because they will be released sooner or later (probably by CC) and the quality will be great. Then again, if they are only $5, maybe it isn't a big deal for you to double dip at some point. just know the quality is pretty poor.

jough

Yojimbo and Sanjuro are available in pretty decent editions from The Criterion Collection.

I wouldn't recommend those asian releases.

Criterion has a whole bunch of Kurosawa films on their upcoming lineup. I'm willing to wait.

Maybe try Netflix, and see if they have any of those titles for rent. You could save yourself some $$$.

Kortik

Well frist of all if you understand japanese get the Masterworks box sets.
http://www.kurosawatoho-dvd.com/
http://www.toho-a-park.com/video/kurosawa/index.html

next in quility is Criterion, I own all of the Criterion Kurosawa DVDs. The first releases by Criteion are not that good but they are working on rereleasing (Seven Samurai) some of them and making them anamorphic(if widescreen).

I would recommend renting the Mei Ah DVDs and not buying. I think they are horrible in picture quility and translation.

markdclark43016

The quality of the transfers on these discs is hit and miss, pretty poor in some cases, and the subtitles are uniformly terrible. They are well below the standard of the Criterion and R2 BFI discs.

I purchased several of these to complete by Kurosawa collection, but don't necessarily recommend you do the same. In some cases, the American VHS versions are superior to the Mei Ah DVDs.

The only Mei Ah discs I would recommend from this group are obscure things like The Most Beautiful and Sanshiro Suagata Part 2, which have never received an American release and probably never will.

Record Of A Living Being, The Bad Sleep Well and Drunken Angel I would definitely NOT buy, unless you're desperate to see them, simply because Criterion will probably release all three within the next couple of years.

Psych1

Sure Criterion are better quality but for what one costs you could get All of Kurosawa's films in Asian Ed. CC will release more but certainly not all. Double dipping is the way to go with these and you will know the ones you want.