Memories of Murder -- Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence -- Seijun Suzuki double -- Zatoichi Collector's Edition -- Kagemusha from Criterion -- Warner gangster set -- Memento 3-disk edition -- Oshii's Innocence update -- Breaker Morant gets a Masterworks makeover

Memories of Murder on region 2 in January [28 November 2004]

Optimum have announced a UK region 2 release of Bong Joon-Ho's superb police drama for a January 24 release. The question is not can you wait, but should you? Based a a true case, this story of two mismatched detectives investigating a series of brutal murders is beautifully developed and charismatically played, and without doubt one of the best releases of the year, so the release news is welcome. Well, sort of. Featuring an anamorphic transfer, deleted scenes with optional director's commentary, an interview with the director about the case that inspired the film, interviews with the cast, a CGI featurette, a music score featurette and trailers. All very nice, but for some reason we are being palmed off with a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack, whereas the already available Korean region 3 disk has a DTS ES track and can be picked up on-line for under a tenner. So the temptation is to buy the Korean disk (unless you already have it, as I do), and rent the Optimum disk when it comes out to check out the extras. After all, which one are you going to watch the most, the film or the interviews?

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence special edition [25 November 2004]

Previously available with a rather grubby transfer, Nagisa Oshima's most internationally successful film, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, is set for a special edition re-release on UK region 2, courtesy of the erratic but sometimes impressive Optimum. The picture, we are assured, has been digitally restored and remastered, which itself will be enough for those of us who were despairing at the unavailability of a decent copy of this mesmerising film, a tale of British soldiers in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp that examines the absurdities that govern the behaviour of both races and the film that introduced one Takeshi Kitano to western audiences. Extras will include a 'making of' documentary, an interview with producer Jeremy Thomas, a trailer and a text unterview with Oshima.

Seijun Suzuki double from Criterion in January [21 November 2004]

In what is looking to be an expensive month for fans of classic Japanese cinema, January will see Criterion release not just Kurosawa's magnifiocent Kagemusha (see below), but also two of Seijun Suzuki's breakthrough films, Yaju no seishun (Youth of the Beast 1963) and Kenka erejii (Fighting Elergy 1966). Suzuki was famously fired after his highly individualistic (and brilliant) Yakuza dramas Tokyo negaremono (Tokyo Drifter 1966) and Koroshi no rakuin (1967) proved too much to studio executives trying to get him to toe the line. Yaju no seishun has Joe Shishido in a Yojimbo-like tale of a tough guy who pits two Yakuza bosses against one another for his own,initially undisclosed motives, while Kenka erejii has Hideki Takahashi as a high school student who falls for the daughter of the family he boards with and becomes increasingly involved in local gang fights. Being Criterion releases, both films have had new high definition anamorphic transfer, plus essays by critics Howard Hampton (for Yaju no seishun) and Tony Rayns (Kenka erejii) and trailers for both films. More extras are promised but have yet to be detailed. Both disks will be released on 7 January on region 1 only.

Zatoichi Collector's Edition in January [14 November 2004]

Following on from the two-disk special edition available in Japan, news comes that we are to see a 2-disk release of Takeshi Kitano's hugely enjoyable remake of a fondly regarded Japanese film series, Zatoichi. Boasting a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer and both DTS and 5.1 soundtracks, this so-named 'collector's edition' also has the following extra features: 2 interviews with the film's director and star, Takeshi Kitano; interviews with producer Masayuki Mori, sword fight choreographers Tatsumi Nikamoto and Hiroaki Tokoro, costume designer Kazuko Kurosawa, production designer Norihiro Isoda, director of photography Katsumi Yanagijima, tap dancing choreographer Hideboh of The Stripes, composer Keiichi Suzuki and sound designer Senji Horiuchi; a Takeshi Kitano masterclass; a 'making of' documentary; poster and stills galleries; trailer; and selected filmographies. The set will be packaged in a fancy-looking embossed tin case and comes complete with 3 art cards and a twelve page booklet featuring production notes from Kitano. A limited number will also feature a numbered film cell. Release date is set for 24 January and, as is becoming the way with multi-disk special editions, the retail price is set at an overly expensive £29.99.

Kagemusha from Criterion in January [7 November 2004]

With the present region 2 release of Kurosawa's magnificent historical epic lacking on just about all fronts (the picture quality in particular is disappointing), Criterion have filled us with joy with the announcement that they are to release the film themselves in January as a two-disk special edition in their usual mode. This is the first time the full 179 minute cut has been released in the US and features a restored, high-definition anamorphic transfer, a Dolby 2.0 stereo soundtrack and a very decent set of extras: a commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince; a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film and part of the Toho Masterworks series, Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create; new video interviews with executive producers Fr4ancis Coppola and George Lucas; Image: Kurosawa's Continuity, a new video featurette reconstructing Kurosawa's own paintings and sketches; a booklet featuring new essays by scholars Darrell Davis and Peter Grilli, plus biographical sketches by film historian Donald Richie; and, we are promised, more. Release date is set for 18 January.

Made it Ma! Top of the World! Warner Gangster classics [4 November 2004]

With many of the studios going though their back catalogue in search of potentially lucrative DVD releases of well-known titles, it was inevitable that Warner would sooner or later would see the potential for a re-release of a cycle of films for which they were justly famous - the gangster films of the 30s that prompted such a reaction with the then censorous Hays Office. Isay it was inevitable, but it's still damned welcome, as Warner have hit gold with their selection, all of which will be available individually or as part of a Warner Gangsters Collection box set. The titles included are a mouth-watering bunch: Little Ceasar (Mervyn LeRoy 1931), which really made a star of Edward G. Robinson; Public Enemy (William Wellman 1931), featuring one of James Cagney's greatest performances, the iconic grapefruit-in-the-face scene and one of the darkest endings in gangster movie history; The Petrified Forest (Archie Mayo 1936) has Humphrey Bogart playing alongside Bette Davis in a compelling drama that nevertheless betrays its stage roots; Angels With Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz 1938) is a brilliant social drama with Cagney at his peak, but has a moralistic ending that always drives me completely nuts; The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh 1939) has Cagney as a morally upright gangster (well, as morally upright as a gangster can be) and Bogart as his unpleasant counterpart; finally White Heat (Raoul Walsh 1949), which technically was not so much part of this cycle as an attempt to revive it, sees Cagney at his fiery peak as the oedipal Cody Jarrett, casually executing an enemy by shooting him while he is trapped in the trunk of a car ("A little stuffy in there. I'll give you some air."), delivering one of the great final lines in cinema history. What is not known yet is what extra features, if any, these disks will have, but given their collective status there has to be a wealth of material out there for possible inclusion. Release dates for all the disks is set for 25 January 2005 on region 1 only at present.

Memento 3 disk special edition in December [25 October 2004]

Oshii's Innocence update [21 October 2004]

Breaker Morant gets the Masterworks makeover [9 October 2004]

There are DVDs everywhere in my house, on just about every flat surface with a bit of space (floor included), but most of them sit tidily on numerous shelves, in a tidy alphabetical order. But in the corner of my living room there is a drawer I have labeled The Cupboard of Shame, a place where DVDs are stored that are so shockingly bad that I am never going to put them in my player again. This never has anything to do with the film itself, always the quality of the transfer. Those relatively new to DVD or fed on a diet of big Hollywood releases might be forgiven for thinking that the picture and sound on DVD is always superior to VHS, but in The Cupboard of Shame I have plenty of evidence to the contrary. One of the most painfully poor transfers in there is Prism's region 2 release of Bruce Beresford's brilliant beor War drama Breaker Morant, a transfer that is pretty much as bad on the region 1 equivalent. I had pretty much given up on ever seeing a decent print - it's hardly the sort of big international production that is going to guarantee big sales for any company that takes this on. But to the reacue come Masterworks, who did such a fine job of Kurosawa's Ran and Costa-Gavras's Z, who are to re-release the film on region 1 with a spanking new, high-definition transfer struck from a 35mm interpositive, enhanced for widescreen TVs and with a 5.1 sound remix. As if that wasn't good news enough, the disk will also include a commentary by director Bruce Beresford, a 20-minute interview with leading man Edward Woodward (one of whose finest hours this is), an in-depth character breakdown and a photo gallery. Release date is set for 30th November 2004.

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