Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai [videorecording] / 7 Samurai Janus Films ; Toho Co., Ltd. ; produced by Sojiro Motoki ; screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni ; directed by Akira Kurosawa. - [Irvington, N.Y.] : Criterion Collection, 2006. 2006 - 3 videodiscs (207 min.) : sd., b&w ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (55 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.) - The Criterion Collection; .

Originally released as a motion picture in 1954. Title and credits from English subtitles, transliterated from the Japanese. Series numbering from container spine. Special features: Disc 1: Two audio commentaries--one by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie, and one by Japanese-film expert Michael Jeck; theatrical trailers and teaser; gallery of rare posters and behind-the-scenes and production stills ; Disc 2: A 50-minute documentary on the making of 'Seven samurai', created as part of the "Toho masterworks" series "Akira Kurosawa : it is wonderful to create" ; Disc 3: "My life in cinema", a two-hour video conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima from 1993, produced by the Directors Guild of Japan; "'Seven samurai': origins and influences", a new documentary looking at the samurai traditions and films that impacted Kurosawa's masterpiece. Booklet features essays by Kenneth Turan, Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, and Stuart Galbraith IV; tributes from Arthur Penn and Signey Lumet; and a reminiscence by Toshiro Mifune.

Disc 1: The film, pt. 1 -- Disc 2: The film, pt. 2 -- Disc 3: The supplements.

Cinematography, Asakazu Nakai ; art director, Takashi Matsuyama; music, Fumio Hayasaka Cinematography, Asakazu Nakai ; art director, Takashi Matsuyama; music, Fumio Hayasaka

Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Daisuke Kato, Isao Kimura, Minoru Chiaki, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Kosugi, Bokuzen Hidari, Yoshio Inaba, Yoshio Tsuchiya.

Tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire seven out-of-work warriors to protect them from invading bandits.

Not rated


DVD, region 1, full screen (1.33:1) presentation; Dolby Digital mono., Dolby Digital surround, NTSC, restored high-definition digital transfer.


In Japanese, with optional English subtitles


Samurai --16th century --Drama


Japan --History --Period of civil wars, 1480-1603 --Drama




Feature films
Samurai films

791.4372 / SEV