I was just reading through last month’s posts on the IMDb’s Kurosawa forum, and saw a link to this Criterion Collection discussion forum, which lists the titles expected to be released by Criterion at some point in the near future. This list includes no less than six films by Akira Kurosawa.
Unfortunately, none of these films are in the “certainties” part of the list. Apparently, Criterion has very early on been working on releases of Dodesukaden and Sanshiro Sugata, but those releases have either been cancelled or are not going anywhere. This is disappointing, as neither film is properly available in English.
Three further Kurosawa films have furthermore been mentioned in connection with Criterion, these being Drunken Angel, Record of a Living Being (aka I Live in Fear) and Those Who Thread on the Tiger’s Tail. Especially the last-mentioned would be a wonderful surprise, if it ever came out from Criterion.
Finally, a remastered edition of the already-released High And Low is also mentioned.
And what we of course do know for sure is that new editions of Yojimbo and Sanjuro will be available next January.
WOW, this is exciting, I hope the sells of Yojimbo and Sanjuro will spark there interest, to release the others.
I have a lot of Kurosawa movies released on DVD, and there is nothing that can compare to a Criterion release. The way Criterion has been treated Seven Samuari and from what I have read, Yojimbo and Sanjuro is very impressive and exciting.
Just yesterday I watch Seven Samurai with the 5 film scholars commentary soundtrack, they brought up some points that I failed to notice. It was great feature that I hope they continue on the other releases