Seven Samurai - 3 Disc Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine # 2) | 
 enlarge | Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $34.94
You Save: $15.01 (30%)
New (39) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $34.94
Rating:  459 reviews
Sales Rank: 2906
Format: Black & White, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc, Subtitled
Languages: Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 3
Running Time: 207
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.6 x 1.2
MPN: IMEDCC1649D
UPC: 715515019927
EAN: 0715515019927
ASIN: B000G8NXYG
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 1954
Release Date: September 5, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW AND FACTORY SEALED
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Product Description
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 09/05/2006
Amazon.com essential video
Hailed as the greatest film in the history of Japanese cinema, Seven Samurai is director Akira Kurosawa's undisputed masterpiece. Arguably the greatest of all jidai-gecki (or historical swordplay films), Kurosawa's classic 1954 action drama has never been surpassed in terms of sheer power of emotion, kinetic energy, and dynamic character development. The story is set during the civil unrest of 16th-century Japan, as the cowering residents of a small farming village are seeking protection against seasonal attacks by a band of marauding bandits. Offering mere handfuls of rice as payment, they hire seven unemployed "ronin" (masterless samurai), including a boastful swordsman (Toshiro Mifune) who is actually a peasant farmer's son, desperately seeking glory, acceptance, and revenge against those who destroyed his family. Led by the calmly strategic Kambei (Takashi Shimura, star of Kurosawa's previous classic, Ikiru), the samurai form mutual bonds of honor and respect, but remain distant from the villagers, knowing that their assignment may prove to be fatal. Kurosawa masterfully composed his shots to emphasize these group dynamics, and Seven Samurai is a textbook study of the director's signature techniques, including extensive use of telephoto lenses to compress action, delineate character relationships, and intensify motion. While the climactic battle against raiding thieves remains one of the most breathtaking sequences ever filmed, Seven Samurai is most triumphant as a peerless example of character development, requiring all of its 2-hour, 37-minute running time to illuminate every essential detail of villagers and samurai alike, including an abundance of humor as Kambei's defense plan unfolds. In terms of its overall impact, Seven Samurai spawned dozens of copycat films (notably the American Western remake The Magnificent Seven) and cannot be adequately summarized by even the most comprehensive synopsis; it must be seen to be fully appreciated, and the Criterion Collection's 2006 DVD reissue is an essential addition to any definitive home-video library. --Jeff Shannon On the DVDs
According to the accompanying booklet, "the picture has been slightly window-boxed (in correct original 1.33:1 aspect ratio) to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors." The two-disc format was necessary "to maintain optimal image quality throughout the compression process," with dual-layered DVD-9's encoded "at the highest possible bit rate for the quantity of material included." The picture and sound quality are simply amazing compared to Criterion's one-disc release from 1998. The all-new, fully restored high-definition digital transfer takes full advantage of HD's clarity and crispness, resulting in picture detail far surpassing the previous DVD. This also applies to the soundtrack, presented in optional Dolby surround in addition to the remastered original mono track. The new transfer "was mastered in 2k resolution from a duplicate negative created with wetgate processing from the original fine-grain master positive" (the film's original negative is no longer available), and "several different digital hardware and software solutions were utilized for flicker, instability, dirt, scratch, and grain management." The complete 207-minute film is accompanied by two full-length commentary tracks, including a new track combining the critical insights of film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Price (author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa), Tony Rayns, and the dean of Japanese film experts, Donald Richie (author of The Films of Akira Kurosawa). Each scholar is given approximately 40 minutes of film-time, and their commentaries represent a unique opportunity to appreciate Seven Samurai from distinct yet complementary critical perspectives. The commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck (from Criterion's original 1988 laserdisc release) remains useful as a thorough analysis of Seven Samurai, primarily in terms of visual composition. The 50-minute "making of" documentary, from Japan's 2002 Toho Masterworks TV series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create emphasizes Kurosawa's collaboration with co-screenwriters Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, including production footage, crewmember interviews, and a reverent visit to the rural inn where Seven Samurai was written over a six-week period of intense seclusion. The two-hour "My Life in Cinema" interview with Kurosawa was recorded in 1993, with fellow filmmaker Nagisa Oshima serving as a gentle admirer, colleague, and well-informed historian of Kurosawa's career. "Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences" is a richly informative documentary that places Kurosawa's classic in both historical and cinematic context, examining its place in the jidai-gecki (swordplay) genre, its accurate depiction of samurai codes and traditions, and its stature as the prototype for many films that followed. The lavishly illustrated 58-page booklet includes eight brief essays on various aspects of Seven Samurai, each written by noted film scholars or film directors (including Arthur Penn and Sidney Lumet). Also included is a reminiscence by the great actor Toshiro Mifune, excerpted from a conversation recorded in 1993. Taken as a whole, the remastered three-disc Seven Samurai ranks as one of the finest DVD sets ever released. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com
Stills from Seven Samurai - 3 Disc Remastered Edition (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 454 more reviews...
 Top 10 movie of all time December 20, 2008
One of the greatest movies of all time just got better. (Better picture quality.) I'm teaching an Introduction to Film class next semester and each week we'll be discussing a different topic in film studies--photography, editing, sound, acting, drama. I'll be using this film to illustrate every single topic, b/c it literally is like a textbook on "how to make a film." I agree with the previous reviewer who said that this movie made me into a lifelong fan of film-making. The question of how Kurosawa created a timeless epic out of a gang of misfit samurai takes at least a lifetime to figure out. Needless to say, most of the remakes and knockoffs of this movie pale in comparison. You can't improve on a classic. I recommend this film to anyone and everyone. If you haven't seen "Seven Samurai", you don't know squat about films.
 3 stars out of 4 December 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Bottom Line:
Though at 200+ minutes the movie is far too long, The Seven Samurai is well made and culminates in a skillfully directed battle scene; patient viewers may find much to treasure, but dillietantes should probably look elsewhere.
 3 hours of black and white subtitled movie? Wow, this will keep me awake! December 15, 2008
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
The main reason this movie got three stars was because of how incredibly long it was. In addition, it was in black and white with white subtitles. I did like how when the people were stabbed with an arrow, they died. Not like in today's films, where someone has a bleeding neck and they still are windmill kicking you in the face. The plot was extremely realistic in theory. I liked that. There were a few lines in the movie that I thought were really wise and special to hear. But still 3 hours, black and white with white subtitles - I fell asleep. It took me 3 watches just to make it to the Intermission. SNORE.
This Movie Will Change Your Life and The World November 24, 2008
This is the story of seven samurai who stood up for the forsaken and abandoned souls of society. They risked their lives for these peasants against a band of bandits. They didn't fight for money, glory, or legacy. They fought because it was the right thing to do...
This is the masterpiece that all epics are measured by.
 A Towering Classic Desecrated by Translator Linda Hoagland November 10, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
For discriminating film fans, I strongly recommend seeking out older, more nimble translations of Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai," to compare against this latest version by Criterion Collection.
Unfortunately, Linda Hoagland's English translation in this version does a grave disservice to viewers and to the filmmakers who created this cinematic masterwork. Throughout the film, Hoagland's translation manages to be at near complete odds with the tone, nuance, subtle yet bracing eloquence, even humor, of Kurosawa's epic drama. (Incredibly, she even makes English sound horrible. She has no sense of cadence, absolutely NO EAR FOR ANY LANGUAGE.)
She also demonstrates a woeful inability to grasp and therefore convey the essence of the film's characters. Simply horrible. As a result, the translated words and expressions of the film's characters seem to be from an altogether different time and culture than the one depicted by Kurosawa and his collaborators, with the characters feeling disembodied and alienated from themselves, each other, and the film itself. This is truly regrettable, because it leaves first-time viewers, especially, with misimpressions of the film on so many levels.
Absent any lingual finesse, Hoagland's translation assumes such gross and indelicate liberties with the dialog, period setting, culture, and characterizations that it grates miserably against the very beauty and power and heart and spirit of this magnificent film -- quite an ignominious feat. It also evidences the power of language in cinema, but in the worst way. One winces to think that Kurosawa-san, et al, are turning in their graves at Hoagland's single-handed insult.
By extension, Hoagland's translation also undermines the greater emotional impact and experience of the film in its larger import as allegory. In doing so, she undercuts the filmmakers' attempt to convey a particular, imaginative vision of the Japanese people's experience of their history, culture, and struggle for individual and national identity amid the rapid onset of changes and complexities in the 20th century, relative to the country's feudal and rural past.
For this, Hoagland and Criterion Collection should be held accountable for this expediently crass, "contemporary" translation. How was such unmitigated butchery of this truly phenomenal film allowed to happen? To bonafide cineastes, this is unbelievable... maddening... and yet more evidence of the continually spiraling dive in U.S. standards of quality and fidelity to cinema as cultural document and art form. In this light, Ms. Hoagland's translation in this Criterion Collection version merits nothing but disdain.
Despite the technical quality of this print, any purchase of this DVD only encourages more of the same abysmal standards. The degree to which Hoagland's translation ruins the film, at least for some of us, far outweighs ANY negligible shortcoming in the print of previous versions. Indeed, compared to the absolutely horrid effect of her translation, any print differences are secondary and nearly indistinguishable in terms of the film's emotional and artistic impact -- which is absolutely inextricable from the language.
It's the MEANING of the film's narrative that most matters. And, for those of us who know of what we are speaking and who respect the poetry of language and culture, the effect of Hoagland's interference with that experience is analogous to razor blades across the eye (no insult to Bunuel intended), or acid thrown on bare skin. Hers is a most dubious achievement: "outdoing" the masterful hand of Kurosawa, et al, with one swipe of a translation. (I believe Ms. Hoagland is also responsible for the English translation of a "Cowboy Pictures" distribution/DVD of this film, from several years ago, wherein she also evidenced her execrable ineptitude at some of the most critical, moving moments of the film, but not nearly as egregiously as here.)
Hopefully, however, the rich and insightful work of authentically capable, intellectually astute, and keenly sensitive scholars, translators, and critics (from around the globe) will, in time, come to prevail over the rampant distortions and faux "authority" of those persons undeserving of the task.
At present, there is, for example, the brilliant auteur director Kitano Takeshi -- who is too independent (he owns his own film production company), smart, savvy (and still alive) to allow his work to become the botched object of abject English translation. Or, so, one would hope.
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