SANSHIRO SUGATA
Sanshiro Sugata Sugata Sanshiro / Judo Saga

Kurosawa's first film, at age 33, was this stylish period piece set in late 19th century Meiji times. The main character, a hero in the making, studies the new fighting style of Judo, learns to accept its superiority over the more established martial art of Ju-jitsu, and finally achieves spiritual peace. An exciting film featuring some superb combat scenes; a treasured hint at what was yet to come from Kurosawa.

Written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. Photo By Akira Mimura. Music; SeichiSuzuki. Cast; Susumu Fujita, Denjiro Okochi, Takashi Shimura, RyunosukeTsukigata.

Japan 1943. Original Japanese dialog,English subtitles.
ISBN 1-55881-000-5
$29.95

RECORD OF A LIVING BEING
I Live in Fear / Ikimono Non Kiroku

An elderly and wealthy industrialist becomes obsessed with his fear of an eminent atomic holocaust. In a futile attempt to save his family, he pressures them to leave Japan and move to in Brazilian rainforest where he believes they will be safe from nuclear war. His family, complacent and cynical, and not willing to lose their share of the father's wealth, apply to the court to have him committed to an insane asylum.

"...one of Mifune's most astoundingly skillful performances..." -Audie Bock, 'Japanese Film Directors'

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Script by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni. Photo by Asakazu Nakai. Music by Fumio Hayasaka. With Toshiro Mifune, Eiko Miyoshi, Takashi Shimura, Haruko Togo, Masao Shimizu

JAPAN, 1955, 105 minutes. Subtitled. Slight letterbox.
ISBN 1-55881-514-7
$39.95

RASHOMON

A Samurai and his wife traveling through the forest are attacked and robbed; the man is murdered and the woman raped. At the trial, the incident is described in conflicting versions by the bandit, the wife, a priest and a woodcutter, demonstrating the subjective nature of truth. Rashomon was an international sensation; it not only won numerous festivals and an Oscar but gave western audiences their first look at the exotic Japanese cinema.

Academy Award winner.
Best Film Venice 1951

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Script; Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto. Photo; Kazuo Miyagawa. Music; Takashi Matsuyama. Cast;Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki.

Japan, 1951 83 min. Subtitled
ISBN 1-55881-005-6
$19.95

SEVEN SAMURAI
Shichinin No Samurai

An impoverished farming community, targeted by bandits, hires a group of ragtag samurai to defend them in exchange for nothing but food and board. The samurai characters include the leader, a seasoned warrior who may be fighting the last battle of his life, a master swordsman, and a tramp, masterfully played Mifune who tags along for comical relief but ends up proving his worth in battle. A superb, action packed, existentialist meditation with breathtaking photography; telephoto battle scenes in rain and mud, multicamera techniques and more!

Remade by Hollywood as “The Magnificent Seven”. Stick with the original.

“Kurosawa has constructed a superb narrative, bursting with incident that is by turns exciting, absorbing, moving and funny. Carefully and lovingly reconstructing medieval Japan, he reveals the entire spectrum of human strength and weakness with absolute clarity of vision. The Seven Samurai remains one of the greatest achievements in cinema history.” Holt’s Foreign Film Guide.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Script; Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Akira Kurosawa. Photo; Asakazu Nakai. Music; Fumio Hayasaka. Cast; Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba, Isao Kimura, Seiji Miyaguchi, Toshiro Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Daisuke Kato, Keiko Tsushima, Ko Kimura, Kuniniri Kodo.

Japan, 1954 complete 200 minute subtitled version on two videotapes.
ISBN 1-55881-001-3
$29.95

YOJIMBO

Akira Kurosawa's masterful tale of a wandering samurai, Mifune, who stumbles into a town where two local gangs vie for control. He offers his services to the highest bidder but, in a series of deals, double-crosses and deceptions, he pits the two gangs against each other while he rescues an innocent family. More westernized than most other Japanese films, the story became Spaghetti master Sergio Leone’s "A Fistful of Dollars" in 1964 and more than thirty years later was reincarnated as George Roy Hill’s “Last Man Standing” (1996) with Bruce Willis. The third time is definitely not the charm; the original filming stands as a great example of the jidai-geki (samurai action film) genre and one of the cinema’s greatest action thrillers.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Script; Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa. Photo; Kazuo Miyagawa. Music Masaru Sato. Cast; Toshiro Mifune, Eijiro Tone, Kamatari Fujiwara,TakashiShimura,Seizaburo Kawazu, Isuzu Yamada, Hiroshi Tachikawa.

Japan, 1961. 116 min, Subtitled.
ISBN: 1-55881-003-X
$29.95

SANJURO
Tsubaki Sanjuro

Mifune returns as the wandering samurai from Yojmbo. This time he leads a group of young idealistic fighters out to rescue their kidnapped leader from an enemy war lord.

“This Eastern-Western is the nearest Kurosawa came to spoofing the samurai genre. Apart from the humor, there is plenty of sparkling sword-play and an exciting final duel ending with a fountain of gushing blood.” —Holt’s Foreign Film Guide.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Script; Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzu Kikushima, Hideo Oguni. Photo; Fukuzo Koirumi, Kozo Saito Music; Masaru Sato. Cast; Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Masao Shimizu, Yunosuke Ito, Takako Irie.

Japan, 1962, 96 min. Subtitled.
ISBN: 1-55881-004-8
$29.95

ALSO AVAILABLE

~ MIZOGUCHI
~ OZU
SUSUMU HANI
THE WANDERING SAMURAI

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