Sanshiro Sugata II

My copy of the new Eastern Eye release arrived today. Although I have not watched it fully yet, I can say that it is a big improvement on the BoYing (MeiAh) release I have.

I have posted some screen captures here. Although it is hard to see any significant difference in the picture quality from these stills, the Eastern Eye has significantly less dust and dirt than the BoYing. Both have a lot of scratches though. I haven’t always captured the exact same frame in these stills. The Eastern Eye has slightly darker contrast.

The other big improvement in the Eastern Eye release is the sub-titles. Like all MeiAh / BoYing releases, the translations on their version are pretty mangled English.

Anyway if you have a multi-region player I recommend you get the Eastern Eye. Even if you don’t, it is easy enough to make a region free copy from your Region 4 version.

Any extras on this Eastern Eye release?

Not really. Just an image gallery with some stills from the film and a bunch of trailers from other Eastern Eye releases.

I have been watching it tonight and it certainly is a big improvement on the BoYing. But still parts of it are not in very good shape. We can only be grateful that it has survived at all I suppose and that it has been re-issued with intelligible sub-titles.

Another bit of trivia to note is that the American sailor in the opening scene is speaking English. The English in Kurosawa films that I now re-call is:

1. Sanshiro Sugata II – American sailor in opening scene abuses rickshaw driver and Sanshiro in English

2. Ikiru – prostitutes singing the Rosemary Clooney #1 hit of 1951 – “Come on-a My House”

3. I Live In Fear – Public announcements in English over PA at airport

4. Rhapsody in August – Richard Gere when he arrives at airport asks a question in English

Much appreciated MT. From those stills it looks like there is a significant amount of combing in the Eastern Eye release, yes? Well it still looks above and beyond the MeiAh shit… just when you think about subtitles.

Thank you very much. I agree having it with subtitles that may be understood is huge. I ordered it on Friday.

If you haven’t already got it, you should also order their Sanshiro Sugata I. Besides it being a far superior film, it is also in significantly better preservation than the later film.

I have Sanshiro as well. I had to convert it to region 1 but that was no big deal. I like the outtakes we got with that one.

Thanks for the info, MasterThief. I might actually get those releases.