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By turns tragic and transcendent, Akira Kurosawa’s Dodes’ka-den follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their circumstances are, each of them—the homeless father and son envisioning their dream house; the young woman abused by her uncle; the boy who imagines himself a trolley conductor—finds reasons to carry on. Kurosawa’s unforgettable film was made at a tumultuous moment in his life. And all of his hopes,
fears, and artistic passion are on fervent display in this, his gloriously shot first color film.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, a 36-minute documentary created as part of the Toho Masterworks series, about the making of Dodes’ka-den, including interviews with director Akira Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, actor Yoshitaka Zushi (who played Rokkuchan), and other members of the cast and crew
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film historian Stephen Prince and a new interview with Nogami

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In a magnetic performance, Vittorio De Sica is Bardone, an opportunistic rascal in wartime Genoa, conning and cheating his fellow Italians, exploiting their tragedies by promising to help find their missing loved ones in exchange for money. But when the Nazis force him to impersonate a dead partisan general in prison to extract information from fellow inmates, Bardone finds himself wrestling with his conscience for the first time. Roberto Rossellini’s gripping drama, among his most commercially popular films, is further evidence of the compassionate artistry of one cinema’s most important voices.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• New video interviews with Isabella, Renzo, and Ingrid Rossellini, as well as film scholar Adriano Aprà
• New visual essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic James Monaco and an excerpt from a 2000 interview with Indro Montanelli, author of the story that inspired the film

31 Mar 2009
DVD
1 Disc
SRP: $29.95

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Gérard Depardieu and Wojciech Pszoniak star in Andrzej Wajda’s powerful, intimate depiction of the ideological clash between the earthy, man-of-the-people Georges Danton and icy Jacobin extremist Maximilien Robespierre, both key figures of the French Revolution. By drawing parallels to Polish “solidarity,” a movement that was being quashed by the government as the film went into production, Wajda drags history into the present. Meticulous and fiery, Danton has been hailed as one of the greatest films ever made about the Terror.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:

• New high-definition digital transfer
• Video interviews with director Andrzej Wajda, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, and Polish film critic Jerzy Plazewski
• Wajda’s Danton, a 42-minute behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the film
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Leonard Quart

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Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve star as members of a French theater company living under the German occupation during World War II in François Truffaut’s gripping, humanist character study. Against all odds—a Jewish theater manager in hiding; a leading man who’s in the Resistance; increasingly restrictive Nazi oversight—the troupe believes the show must go on. Equal parts romance, historical tragedy, and even comedy, The Last Metro (Le dernier métro) is Truffaut’s ultimate tribute to art overcoming adversity, and the winner of ten César awards (France’s equivalent of the Oscars), including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress.


SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer (uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
• Two audio commentaries: one featuring Annette Insdorf, author of François Truffaut, and one with actor Gérard Depardieu, historian Jean-Pierre Azéma, and Truffat biographer Serge Toubiana
• Deleted scene
• French television excerpts of interviews with Truffaut, actress Catherine Deneuve, Depardieu, and actor Jean Poiret
• New video interviews with actresses Andréa Ferréol, Sabine Haudepin, and Paulette Dubost, assistant director Alain Tasma, and camera assistants Florent Bazin and Tessa Racine
• Une histoire d’eau, Truffaut’s 1958 short film co-directed by Jean-Luc Godard
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by Armond White

24 Mar 2009
DVD
2 Discs
SRP: $39.95

Blu-Ray
1 Disc
SRP: $39.95

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Of all the directors who made names for themselves during the Japanese studio golden age of the 1930s, Hiroshi Shimizu was one of the most respected—and, today, one of the least well-known. A curious, compassionate storyteller who was fascinated by characters on the outskirts of society, Shimizu used his trademark graceful traveling shot to peek around the corners of contemporary Japan. In these four lyrical, beautifully filmed tales, concerning geisha, bus drivers, and masseurs, Shimizu journeys far and wide to find the makings of a modern nation.

Collector's set includes:

Japanese Girls at the Harbor
Hiroshi Shimizu, 1933

Shimizu’s exquisite silent drama tells of the humiliating social downfall experienced by Sunako after jealousy drives her to commit a terrible crime. With its lushly photographed landscapes and innovative visual storytelling, this film shows a director at the peak of his powers and experimentation.

The Masseurs and a Woman
Hiroshi Shimizu, 1938

A pair of blind masseurs, an enigmatic city woman, a lonely man and his ill-behaved nephew—The Masseurs and a Woman is made up of crisscrossing miniature studies of love and family at a remote resort in the mountains.

Mr. Thank You
Hiroshi Shimizu, 1936

Shimizu’s endearing road movie follows the long and winding route of a sweet-natured bus driver—nicknamed Mr. Thank You for his constant exclamation to pedestrians who kindly step out of his path—traveling from rural Izu to Tokyo.

Ornamental Hairpin
Hiroshi Shimizu, 1941

Two bruised souls enact a tender, hesitant romance in Shimizu’s alternately poignant and playful wartime love story. A soldier is waylaid at a rural spa when he accidentally cuts his foot on the titular object. Soon enough he tracks down its lovely owner and finds himself smitten.

17 Mar 2009
DVD Box Set
4 Discs
SRP: $59.95

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François Truffaut sensitively re-creates the trials of his own difficult childhood in The 400 Blows, the film that marked his emergence as one of Europe’s most brilliant auteurs and signaled the beginning of the French New Wave.

24 Mar 2009

Blu-Ray
1 Disc
SRP: $39.95

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This stream of later Rossellini titles makes me wonder if/when the war trilogy (Open City, Paisan, & Germany Year Zero) is coming out.. as previously rumored.

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