The Samurai Trilogy - The Criterion Collection

Brilliant classic thriller action drama Blu ray trilogy collection Great buy brilliant thank you Amazon

Excellent. Definitely for the collection.

I bought this 3-film (2-disc) set a couple of years ago and recently watched it for a second time, with my mum and sister, both of whom were transfixed. Gorgeous-looking, with a clean, crisp picture and lovely colour tones. Some scenes were a bit on the dark side, but I suspect that was intentional and preferable to shooting night scenes in obvious daylight with a filter. Maybe Inagaki did use a filter, but anyway the result was realistic. Softer and more romantic than Kurosawa, Inagaki's tale of Musashi Miyamoto manages to balance the swordplay and militaristic machinations with a story of unrequited love to no ill effect. Almost perfectly shot, every frame is a masterpiece of composition. Very highly recommended!

This mid 1950s trilogy of films about the legendary 16th / 17th century swordsman Musashi Miyamoto comes courtesy of the Criterion Collection in blu ray. Video connoisseurs will know Criterion as the premier US label for arthouse and classic films, prized for excellent transfers and presentation. Unfortunately their US films are very expensive and have US zone A coding: factors that combine to deter most potential UK customers. However, they have begun releasing a small number of titles here in the UK. As their titles go this is everything you would expect in terms of a fantastic picture given the age of these films: there is some incredible depth. Given some very negative comments about the old DVD version, this must represent a massive improvement. Video supplements are mediocre by Criterion standards, but the three short discussions by an expert are very good in examining the real man and just how far these films deviate from that reality. I don’t know about the accompanying booklet as I rented these from LoveFilm: they shipped both discs as one title so I saw all films for less than £1!! Beat that!! The films are very elegant and unlike modern ones do not focus on bloodletting or ridiculously long duels: indeed these films spend longer on the characters preparing mentally for their attack than the attacks themselves. The main protagonist remains very enigmatic throughout adding to films’ successes. Women (who are fictitious creations) come out of these badly: they are reduced to helpless, wailing, subservient characters I found annoying. Obviously this is both a product of the time when the films were made and of the times they depicted but I can imagine many women being alienated by these stereotypes. Unlike the contemporary ‘Seven Samurai’, these films are all in colour and look fantastic with the Japanese landscape beautifully filmed: the climactic scene of the final film looks stunning. The films are much less spectacular than Kurosawa’s historical epics but are much more intimate. If you want wall to wall spectacular fighting then stay clear: if you want something much more reflective and atmospheric then this is the place to be.

Not taking into account the awesomeness of this classic trilogy, I fount the picture detail and colors of this remastered version to be amazing. Could not believe a 50 year old movie could look so good, even on a modern 55" TV.

Amazing Samurai trilogy on blu ray. I had the videos.. then the dvds.. now the blu ray.. These have the Japanese language with English subtitles. This is also in the original square tv format so not wide-screen but that's how it was filmed.

Came as described, would gladly buy again!

Restoration of the 3 films from 1954 to 56 is stunningly sharp and colourful. Great story.