Chushingura (1962) HD Source?

[MifuneFan]

Does anyone happen to know of any HD source for the film Chushingura (1962). This is my favorite film of all time, and it's a shame it's so under the radar given that it's from a famous director (Hiroshi Inagaki) and stars Toshiro Mifune, and Takeshi Shimura among others.

I had the Image Entertainment DVD, and I didn't mind it when I had a tiny monitor, but now it looks rather abysmal on my larger screen. I noticed there is a Blu-ray available for sale online, very clearly a bootleg, but the screenshots that accompany it looks world's better than the DVD. Anyone know the source of that? Is it just upscaled from a DVD or laserdisc perhaps?

Anyone with the DVD can see, these are so much better looking than that transfer. I'm still praying Criterion could get this one.



For comparison, this is what it looks like on my DVD



And one more:

[B5Erik]

Years later, still no responses. That's disheartening.

I just got the image DVD, and was disappointed to see the subtitles burned in below the picture, so it can't be zoomed to fit the screen. So even if I'm willing to take the hit on picture quality to get a larger image, I can't read the subtitles.

I can't believe that no one else has released this movie on DVD or Blu Ray with better PQ and subtitles not burned in to the image.

Does anyone know of a way to get this movie in 16x9 format with a better setup? I'd prefer Blu Ray, of course, but at this point I just want to watch the movie. 3+ hours of a little widescreen inside of a big widescreen isn't the way I'd like to do it...

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by B5Erik

Years later, still no responses. That's disheartening.

I just got the image DVD, and was disappointed to see the subtitles burned in below the picture, so it can't be zoomed to fit the screen. So even if I'm willing to take the hit on picture quality to get a larger image, I can't read the subtitles.

I can't believe that no one else has released this movie on DVD or Blu Ray with better PQ and subtitles not burned in to the image.

Does anyone know of a way to get this movie in 16x9 format with a better setup? I'd prefer Blu Ray, of course, but at this point I just want to watch the movie. 3+ hours of a little widescreen inside of a big widescreen isn't the way I'd like to do it...

Yeah, I've been hoping that someone could release it It's an excellent film with an absolutely stacked cast from a great director. I sent a request to Criterion so I'm hoping one day they'll consider it.

I did end up buying the Blu-ray I mentioned above. it's a BD-R, and I believe the seller had said it was from some JP HD broadcast or something when I asked him. It looks a lot better than the Image DVD in my opinion. I'll PM you.

[B5Erik]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Yeah, I've been hoping that someone could release it It's an excellent film with an absolutely stacked cast from a great director. I sent a request to Criterion so I'm hoping one day they'll consider it.

I did end up buying the Blu-ray I mentioned above. it's a BD-R, and I believe the seller had said it was from some JP HD broadcast or something when I asked him. It looks a lot better than the Image DVD in my opinion. I'll PM you.

Thanks!

You'd think that this would be right in Criterion's wheelhouse, too.

[benricci]

It’s the master Toho prepared for domestic broadcast television in Japan.

[th3d3p4rt3d]

There is a 20gb web 1080p version online. The picture quality is not great but it is better than the DVD,