Early Kurosawa Collection - 4-DVD Box Set ( Sugata Sanshirô / Zoku Sugata Sanshirô / Waga seishun ni kuinashi / Ichiban utsukushiku / Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi / Subarashiki nichiyôbi ) ( Sanshiro Sugata / Sanshiro Sugata Part Two / No Regrets for Our Youth / The Most Beautiful / They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail / One Wonderful Sunday )

Early Kurosawa Collection - 4-DVD Box Set (DVD) (*)

$41.99

Original Title: Sugata Sanshirô / Zoku Sugata Sanshirô / Waga seishun ni kuinashi / Ichiban utsukushiku / Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi / Subarashiki nichiyôbi
Alternate Title: Sanshiro Sugata / Sanshiro Sugata Part Two / No Regrets for Our Youth / The Most Beautiful / They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail / One Wonderful Sunday
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Japanese ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
505 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Box Set
Deleted Scenes
Interactive Menu
Multi-DVD Set
Scene Access
Black & White
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1943 - 1947 and produced in:
Japan ( India, Eastern Asia )

Directed By:
Akira Kurosawa

Written By:
Akira Kurosawa
Tsuneo Tomita
Eijirô Hisaita
Anonymous
Keinosuke Uekusa

Actors:
Denjirô Ôkôchi ..... Shogoro Yano
Susumu Fujita ..... Sanshiro Sugata
Yukiko Todoroki ..... Sayo Murai
Ryûnosuke Tsukigata ..... Gennosuke Higaki
Takashi Shimura ..... Hansuke Murai, Sayo's father
Ranko Hanai ..... Osumi Kodana
Sugisaku Aoyama ..... Tsunetami Iimura
Ichirô Sugai ..... Police Chief Mishima
Yoshio Kosugi ..... Master Saburo Kodama
Kokuten Kôdô ..... Buddhist Priest
Michisaburo Segawa ..... Wada
Akitake Kôno ..... Yoshima Dan
Sôji Kiyokawa ..... Yujiro Toda
Kunio Mita ..... Kohei Tsuzaki
Akira Nakamura ..... Toranosuki Niiseki
Akitake Kôno ..... Genzaburo Higaki
Yukiko Todoroki ..... Sayo
Masayuki Mori ..... Yoshima Dan
Seiji Miyaguchi ..... Kohei Tsuzaki
Ko Ishida ..... Daisuburo Hidarimonji
Kazu Hikari ..... Kihei Sekine
Kokuten Kôdô ..... Buddhist Priest Saiduchi
Ichirô Sugai ..... Yoshizo Fubiki
Osman Yusuf ..... American Sailor
Roy James ..... William Lister
E.H. Eric
Setsuko Hara ..... Yukie Yagihara
Susumu Fujita ..... Ruykichi Noge
Denjirô Ôkôchi ..... Professor Yagihara
Haruko Sugimura ..... Madame Noge
Eiko Miyoshi ..... Madame Yagihara
Kokuten Kôdô ..... Mr. Noge
Akitake Kôno ..... Itokawa
Takashi Shimura ..... Police Commissioner 'Poison Strawberry' Dokuichigo
Taizô Fukami ..... Minister of Education
Masao Shimizu ..... Professor Hakozaki
Haruo Tanaka ..... Student
Kazu Hikari ..... Detective
Hisako Hara ..... Itokawa's Mother
Shin Takemura ..... Prosecutor
Tateo Kawasaki ..... Servant
Takashi Shimura ..... Chief Goro Ishida
Sôji Kiyokawa ..... Soichi Yoshikawa, Chief of General Affairs Section
Ichirô Sugai ..... Ken Shinda, Chief of Labor Section
Takako Irie ..... Noriko Mizushima, dorm mother
Yôko Yaguchi ..... Tsuru Watanabe, president of women workers
Sayuri Tanima ..... Yuriko Tanimura, vice president of the women workers
Sachiko Ozaki ..... Sachiko Yamazaki
Shizuko Nishigaki ..... Fusae Nishioka
Asako Suzuki ..... Asako Suzumura
Haruko Toyama ..... Masako Koyama
Aiko Masu ..... Tokiko Hiroda
Kazuko Hitomi ..... Kazuko Futomi
Shizuko Yamada ..... Hisae Yamaguchi
Itoko Kono ..... Sue Okabe
Toshiko Hattori ..... Toshiko Hattori
Denjirô Ôkôchi ..... Benkei
Susumu Fujita ..... Togashi
Kenichi Enomoto ..... Porter
Masayuki Mori ..... Kamei
Takashi Shimura ..... Kataoka
Akitake Kôno ..... Ise
Yoshio Kosugi ..... Suruga
Hanshiro Iwai ..... Yoshitsune
Dekao Yoko ..... Hidachibo
Yasuo Hisamatsu ..... Kajiwara's Messenger
Sôji Kiyokawa ..... Togashi's Messenger
Isao Numasaki ..... Yuzo
Chieko Nakakita ..... Masako
Atsushi Watanabe ..... Yamamoto
Zeko Nakamura ..... Dessert Shop Owner
Ichiro Namiki ..... Street Photographer
Toppa Utsumi ..... Street Photographer
Ichirô Sugai ..... Yamiya, the black-marketeer
Masao Shimizu ..... Dance Hall Manager
Tokuji Kobayashi ..... Overweight apartment receptionist
Shiro Mizutani ..... Waif
Aguri Hidaka ..... Dancer
Midori Ariyama ..... Sono, Yamiya's mistress
Katao Numazaki ..... Bakery Owner
Toshi Mori ..... Apartment Superintendent

Synopsis:

This collection features six early films from master Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa; the 1943 Sanshiro Sugata, Kurosawa's debut film, follows a judo student's difficult but compelling spiritual journey. Its sequel, Sanshiro Sugata: Part Two (1945), continues the tale of Sanshiro and his quest to become a martial arts master. 1944's Ichiban Utsukushiku (The Most Beautiful) is a propagandistic wartime drama about female volunteers employed at an optics factory. 1945's Tora No O Wo Fumu Otokotachi (They Who Step On The Tiger's Tail) is a kabuki-inspired tale about a lord who disguises himself as a monk to get past a seemingly impenetrable roadblock. 1946's Waga Seishun Ni Kuinashi (No Regrets For Our Youth) is a touching tale about a young girl from a privileged background who is exposed to Japan's peasant farmers. And finally, 1947's Subarashiki Nichiyobi (One Wonderful Sunday) follows the activities of a couple who are struggling with the poor postwar economic climate of the country.

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
Sanshiro, a strong stubborn youth, comes to the city to apprentice at a jujitsu school. His first night, he sees Yano in action, a master of judo, a more spiritual art, and he begs to be Yano's student. As the youth learns technique, he must also learn 'satori,' the calm acceptance of Nature's law. If he can balance strength and control, then judo may become the training regimen for the city's police, Sanshiro can gain respect from an old teacher in a jujitsu school, and he can win the hand of Sayo, that teacher's daughter, who is also sought by jujitsu's finest master, the implacable Higaki, who vows to kill Sanshiro in a midnight fight on a windswept mountainside.

Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945)
This 1945 Japanese film by renowned director Akira Kurosawa, is a sequel to its better known predecessor, Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Both concern the relationship between Shogoro Yano (Denjiro Okochi), the founder of the martial arts discipline of Judo, and Sanshiro Sugata (Susumu Fujita), one of his principal students. Like many such relationships, this one is shown to be a blend of the spiritual and the intimately personal. As the film was made during World War II, it not surprisingly contains vignettes in which Europeans are made to appear extraordinarily piggish and vulgar. This film was re-released in a slightly shorter, re-edited and subtitled version in 1981 and was first seen in the U.S. at the Film Forum in New York City in 1989. It is of interest both as a tightly-crafted martial arts master-and-student film, and as an early example of Kurosawa's mature style.

No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
In 1933, in Kyoto, the academic freedom is under attack and the spoiled daughter of Professor Yagihara, Yukie Yagihara, is courted by the idealistic student Ruykichi Noge and by the tolerant Itokawa. When the academic freedom is crushed by the fascists, Professor Yagihara and the members of the Faculty of Law resigns from their positions and Noge is arrested. Five years later, Noge visits Professor Yagihara and his family under the custody of the now Prosecutor Itokawa and tells that he is going to China. Yukie decides to move alone to Tokyo and years later, she meets Itokawa in Tokyo and he tells that Noge is living in Tokyo. Yukie visits Noge and they become lovers. In 1941, Noge is arrested accused of ringleader of a spy network and Yukie is also sent to prison. When she is released, she decides to move to the peasant village where Noge's parents live and are blamed of being spies by the villagers. She changes her lifestyle and works hard with Madame Noge planting rice and earning the respect of her mother and father-in-law. With the end of the war, freedom is restored in the defeated Japan and the flowers blossom again.

The Most Beautiful (1944)
The stories of several young women who work in a 'precision optical instruments' factory during the second World War. Despite illness, injury, and tremendous personal hardship, the women persevere in their tasks, devoted to their work and their country's cause.

They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail (1945)
In 1185, the Seike family fights against the Minamoto family. After a bloody naval battle in the Pacific Ocean, Yoshitsune Minamoto defeats the enemy and the survivals commit suicide. When the triumphant Yoshitsune arrives in Kyoto, his brother, the Shogun Ioromoto, is lured and orders his men to arrest Yoshitsune. However, Yoshitsune escapes with six loyal samurais led by Benkei and they head to the country of his only friend Idehira Fukiwara. Nearby the border, after crossing the forest disguised as monks, their smiley conveyor Suruga discloses that they are Yoshitsune and the six samurais and advises that the fearful Kagiwara and his soldiers are waiting for them in the border to arrest them. Yoshitsune disguises as a carrier and Benkei has to convince Kagiwara that they are six monks traveling to collect donation to build a large temple in Kyoto.

One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Akira Kurosawa directs this romantic comedy about a pair of lovers struggling to have a pleasant Sunday outing. A young laborer named Yuzo (Isao Numazaki) and his fiancée, Masako (Chieko Nakakita), meet at the train station on their day off. With the weather beautiful and only a scant 35 yen in their pockets, the two first visit a model house, where Masako imagines being a housewife. Then Yuzo plays baseball with some boys, resulting in the ball landing on a cookie shop display. After buying the two crushed cookies, they pop in on a floorshow without paying admission, and then go to the zoo. Later, a scalper beats up Yuzo for trying to haggle for the price. Afterwards, they go back to his cramped room where they almost succumb to amorous feelings. Instead, they go and get coffee, where Yuzo is forced to leave his raincoat to pay for the bill. Walking past some ruins, they image running their own coffee shop. Their wonderful Sunday comes to an end with Masako hopping back on the train just after making plans for the following week.

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
This first effort by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa was originally released as Sanshiro Sugata . The film, made under reasonably smooth conditions despite the war, is based on a best-selling novel about the creation of Judo. Most of the film explores the relationship between the creator of this form of self-defense and his faithful protege. In addition to establishing the reputation of Kurosawa, the film made a popular star of Susumu Fujita. Sanshiro Sugata was remade by Shigeo Tanaka in 1955 and again by Seiichuro Uchikawa ten years later.

Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945)
In this government-suggested sequel, Sugata again grows as a judo master, and demonstrates his (and by extension, all Japanese) superiority to the foreign warrior.

No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
Based on the Takikawa incident of 1933, in which a prominent professor was forced out of his position by the government for his leftist views, Akira Kurosawa directs this socially minded tale about a pure-hearted lass coming to terms with the corrupt nature of the world. Though professor Yagihara (played by silent film star Denjiro Okochi) is relieved of his teaching responsibilities, his young vivacious daughter, Yukie (Setsuko Hara), remains blithely unaware of the fractious state of Japanese society of the time. Yet she quickly understands when one of her father's students, Ryukichi Noge (Susumu Fujita) -- who Yukie has quietly fallen in love with -- is jailed for his writings. He is eventually freed and they move in together. Later, he is accused of being a spy and shot. Yukie decides to not only carry his ashes back to his rural hometown, but she resolves to live near his remains and work among the village's farmers.

The Most Beautiful (1944)
The film depicts the struggle for the workers at a lens factory to meet production targets during World War II. They continually drive themselves, both singly and as a group, to exceed the targets set for them by the factory directors.

They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail (1945)
Akira Kurosawa's Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail was put together at the last minute when Kurosawa's plan to direct a costume picture called Doko Kono Yari fell through (the producer couldn't get any horses!) Utilizing the costumes, sets and actors already commissioned, Kurosawa spent one long evening writing a screenplay based on the old Kabuki piece (Kanjincho). The central character, a dimwitted porter who almost causes the film's plot to go awry, was played by Enoken, a stage actor and longtime personal favorite of Kurosawa's. Completed in 1945, the film was not generally released until 1952.

One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Yuzo and his fiancée Masako spend their Sunday afternoon together, trying to have a good time on just thirty-five yen. They manage to have many small adventures, especially because Masako's optimism and belief in dreams is able to lift Yuzo from his realistic despair.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 07 June, 2011.

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