British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It looks like this same actor keeps appearing in all of these supposed Samoorai movies

Yep, the great Toshiro Mifune starred in all of them.

[CelestialAgent]

A little disappointed that Bhaji has no new extras besides shorts that have already appeared on other releases (My Beautiful Laundrette, British Transport Films) and the booklet.

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Finalized extras for Nosferatu: The Vampyre 4K are now up

Great to see a newer Screen Talk (also on Lo and Behold) and the other commentary

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Yep, the great Toshiro Mifune starred in all of them.

Never heard of him.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Never heard of him.

You should check out his films. I guarantee you’ll become a fan.

[T4ffer]

Originally Posted by IanSchultz23

Doesn’t drop anything

Originally Posted by Listing at Rarewaves

... Documentaries: 'Le sang des bêtes' (1949) ...

But indeed this is already gone from my Blu-Ray's backside. I wonder if it was never included or that was dropped from a later release?

[RossyG]

Yes, Le sang des bêtes is on the Criterion and Umbrella 4Ks but not the BFI Blu-ray.

[gekats]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Yes, Le sang des bêtes is on the Criterion and Umbrella 4Ks but not the BFI Blu-ray.

It’s a truly haunting film and a good reason to stick with the alternatives. I’ve always wondered why that one was left out from the BFI release in the first place. The animal killings, while difficult to watch, are real but routine: filmed in working abattoirs, documentary-style, with no staging or cruelty beyond what was standard practice at the time. Any thoughts on why it was excluded?

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It looks like this same actor keeps appearing in all of these supposed Samoorai movies

That's Sam Urai, great Japanese actor.

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by kokone

is the Akira Kurosawa Samurai Collection just a repackaging of the older collection, or are their new extras etc?

Old set had these:

Documentary: The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013) (49 mins)
Commentary on Throne of Blood by Michael Jeck (Japanese film expert)
Commentary on Yojimbo by Philip Kemp
Interview with filmmaker George Lucas
Interview with filmmaker Alex Cox
Introduction to Sanjuro by Alex Cox
Image Gallery
Original theatrical trailers

New set has all of that and adds

Commentary on Seven Samurai by Adrian Martin (critic)
Commentary on Selected scenes of 'Seven Samurai by Philip Kemp (critic/writer)
Commentary on The Hidden Fortress by Tony Rayns (Japanese film expert)
Commentary on Sanjuro by Kenta McGrath (film-maker)

Documentaries:
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: Seven Samurai (49 mins)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: Yojimbo (45 mins)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: Sanjuro (35 mins)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: Throne of Blood (23 mins)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: The Hidden Fortress (41 mins)
My Life in Cinema (1993) (116 mins) Kurosawa in conversation with Oshima recorded for the Directors Guild of Japan
Sword for Hire (2024) (25 mins)
Out of the Dust Storm and Into the Koi Pond (2025) (18 mins)

Introduction to 'Throne of Blood' by Sir Ian McKellen
Introduction to 'Throne of Blood' by Mamoun Hassan
Two scenes from 'Macbeth' (1945)
BFI Screen Epiphanies: Steven Berkoff (2015)

[havalina]

Originally Posted by Mattmck99

Amazon have them up:

Akira Kurosawa Samurai Collection

Currently up at £28.58 on amazon, seems worth a preorder as suspect that is not correct.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by havalina

Currently up at £28.58 on amazon, seems worth a preorder as suspect that is not correct.

Yeah, very likely a mistake. HMV has it up for £44.99

https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/blu-ra...YkajU0JGwwJGgw

[justwannaboogie]

It would have been annoying if they'd announced that set in 4K after all the individual releases!

[T4ffer]

Originally Posted by justwannaboogie

It would have been annoying if they'd announced that set in 4K after all the individual releases!

Would have been fine by me, I'd have probably bought it. I currently don't have any Kurosawa discs, I gave away my 2K Ran as I thought I'd wait for some bigger Kurosawa Box Set to get all the titles together.

[havalina]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Yeah, very likely a mistake. HMV has it up for £44.99

https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/blu-ra...YkajU0JGwwJGgw

Yup. That's not too bad a base price either tbf. Think would cost ~60-70 to buy the individual remastered BRs currently. The old set still gets listed for ~40 weirdly (although i have seen that down to 20ish sometimes)

I'm still on dvds as never got round to previous blus so will be good upgrade. On that note, is there any hope of further BFI upgrades for ones still MIA on blu in UK like The Bad Sleep Well, Drunken Angel, I Live in Fear, Red Beard?

[GG88]

Originally Posted by havalina

I'm still on dvds as never got round to previous blus so will be good upgrade. On that note, is there any hope of further BFI upgrades for ones still MIA on blu in UK like The Bad Sleep Well, Drunken Angel, I Live in Fear, Red Beard?

There is no hope until Toho releases new masters for them on blu-ray/UHD in Japan. Even if masters exist they won’t allow international companies to release them first. All the recent BFI upgrades had Japanese UHD releases first. Throne of Blood was sort of an exception as the BFI was announced before the Toho and came out 2 days earlier.

Kagemusha is the only new Toho master not to make it over here yet and that is with Disney so a Criterion upgrade is probably the only hope.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by gekats

Any thoughts on why it was excluded?

I can only guess it was worries about taste. It’d be lovely if all of Franju’s shorts were released in decent HD editions, either as extras on his features or as a standalone compilation. I have the Gaumont DVD that has six of his shorts in ok but unrestored standard definition and they’re all excellent.

The HD version of La Première nuit on the Eyes Blu-ray looked amazing. I’d love to see all the Franju shorts in that condition.

[gekats]

Originally Posted by RossyG

I can only guess it was worries about taste. It’d be lovely if all of Franju’s shorts were released in decent HD editions, either as extras on his features or as a standalone compilation. I have the Gaumont DVD that has six of his shorts in ok but unrestored standard definition and they’re all excellent.

The HD version of La Première nuit on the Eyes Blu-ray looked amazing. I’d love to see all the Franju shorts in that condition.

I think I've only seen Le sang des betes, La premiere nuit, and the Melies one from the Flicker Alley set. I’ll try to track down the French DVD-thanks!

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by gekats

I think I've only seen Le sang des betes, La premiere nuit, and the Melies one from the Flicker Alley set. I’ll try to track down the French DVD-thanks!

It’s this, but be aware that there are no English subs.

https://www.fnac.com/a16484274/En-pa...res-DVD-Zone-2

The same DVD was used as a third extras disc on the Chat Qui Fume 4K special edition of Eyes.

[gekats]

Originally Posted by RossyG

It’s this, but be aware that there are no English subs.

https://www.fnac.com/a16484274/En-pa...res-DVD-Zone-2

The same DVD was used as a third extras disc on the Chat Qui Fume 4K special edition of Eyes.

[wabrit]

I wish someone would release Franju's La Faute de l'abbé Mouret - I saw it on regional ITV many years ago and would love to upgrade my greymarket DVD.

This is part of a larger beef with the cycle of 4K format upgrades which tend to focus on the usual suspects; I'd rather see more forgotten films get decent HD releases.