Seven Samurai [Criterion Collection 3-Disc Edition]

DVD - APPROX. 207 MINS. - 1954 - US Rating: NR

Main feature:

Release Sep 5, 2006
Video Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio Japanese: Dolby Digital 1.0
Subtitles English
Studio Criterion/Voyager
Year 1954
Genre Action, Adventure

Special features:

  • Two Audio Commentaries: One by Film Scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, · Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie; and one by Japanese-film expert Michael Jeck.
  • Theatrical Trailers and Teaser
  • Gallery of Rare Posters and Behind-The-Scenes and Production Stills
  • Documentary: The Making of Seven Samurai, As Part of the To ho Masterworks Series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create (50 Minutes)
  • My Life in Cinema, A Two-Hour Video Conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima from 1993, Produced by the Directors Guild of Japan.
  • Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences, a new documentary looking at the samurai traditions and films that impacted Kurosawa's masterpiece
  • Essay’s by Kenneth Turan, Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Sliver, and Stuart Galbraith IV

Synopsis:

A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a villages request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village.

A village is constantly attacked by well armed bandits. One day after an attack they seek the wisdom of an elder who tells them they cannot afford weapons, but they can find men with weapons, Samurai, who will fight for them, if they find Samurai who are in down on their luck and wondering where their next meal will come from. They find a very experienced Samurai with a good heart who agrees to recruit their party for them. He selects five genuine Samurai and one who is suspect but the seven return to the village to protect it from the forty plus bandits.

Cast and Crew:

Criterion/Voyager presents
Yoshio InabaToshiro MifuneSeiji MiyaguchiTakashi Shimura"Seven Samurai"
directed byAkira Kurosawa
Production Year: 1954

Please note:

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