Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Yo' has anyone picked up the new three-disc set of "The Seven Samurai" yet? Is it worth the expense? It's preety pricie up here in Canada.

YIKES!!! I've got to watch my spelling a little more carefully! SHEESH!!!

$55 Canadian does sound high, but is that preety close to $32 US in price? Those are the prices offered through Deep Discount DVD's Canadian and US sites.

I am tempted to buy it just for the film commentaries by David Desser, Joan Mellen, and Donald Richie. The two other film scholars I've never heard of.

3-Disc Set
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital - Japanese
Subtitles - English - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - 1. David Desser; Joan Mellen; Stephen Prince; Tony Rayns; Donald Richie
2. Michael Jeck
Behind The Scenes - Making Of - "Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create"
Featurette - 1. "My Life In Cinema"
2. "Seven Samurai: Origins & Influences"
Trailers - Theatrical Trailer
Text/Photo Galleries:
Stills/Photos

Dear Readers,
The new Criterion collection 7 Samurai release is the best dvd i own.
The film transfer is the best i have ever seen. The clarity is amazing. I could find only 3 flaws in the entire movie transfer.
The extra scenes that were cut from the previous disks now included, make the movie even richer and totally full (i did not think this would be possible).
If you could own only one dvd, in my opinion this is the one.
Stunning!
Best wishes to all!
go
ps. the new Gojira/Godzilla release (both 7 Samurai and Gojira were made in 1954) is wonderful to see the original Japanese movie but the film transfer is terribly poor......

Well...I guess that I'm gonna have to add it to my list of DVDs to get.

That Godzilla/Gojira DVD is actually quite affordable...I think our local comic/record store has it for 9.99. That Seven Samurai DVD sounds really cool! I also am interested in a review if anyone has it...I have the Criterion collection DVD and I agree about the film quality but those special features sound great. By the way, there are several Kurosawa box sets available if you search his name on Amazon.

Dear Readers,
The new Criterion collection 7 Samurai is even a vast improvement over the original Criterion release.
I think 7 Samurai is the best Samurai movie.
I do not work for Criterion nor do I profit from the sales of their dvds.
If nothing else, you may start or already be in a small (4-5 people) group that gets together once a month or so to watch movies and eat pizza, etc. If every member of the group donates a little money, you could buy the dvd set. Everyone will be happy!
The box is very nice and the little booklet is a quaint bonus.
The Godzilla set is fairly priced because of the bad quality of the print.
The box is very cool and comes with an obe which is very hip.
Both were made in 1954.
The original Gojira is a wonderful movie and a must see for any Godzilla fan. I was totally disappointed that the movie was not restored. I watched 7 Samurai first, of course. I have never seen such a crisp clean film transfer. Watching Gojira next was painful, especially the stock footage of depth charges where the film scratches are so bad it looks like black rain going up! Gojira also comes with a quaint little book. Again, the original Gojira is a wonderful movie and a must see for any Godzilla fan.
I also acquired the new Castle of Cagliostro by Miyazaki about which Steven Spielberg said has the best car chase scenes of any movie.
He may be correct!
I hope these ramblings have helped.
Best wishes to all!
go

Any Kurosawa film is worth it, even if you already own an older copy. The older copy of 7 Samurai that comes in the Criterion boxed set is a good transfer, but this new transfer is amazing. And they did it on one of those new Kodak Datacines, with someone from the ASC (American Society of cinematographers) overseeing it. So yeah, its beautiful, and worth the 50 bucks.

yeah... 55 canadian for 3 discs is a little much... considering an entire season of macgyver is only 40, and the alien quadrilogy (9 discs) is only 80.