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I had the same thought, not to mention the fact that there are Criterion editions of Sansho and Ugestu, while none the other films have been released, so this makes perfect marketing sense as well.

Luminous captures, Nick. Thank you. Looking forward to the final specs and future pairings.

The twinpacks (in chrono order) will be:

MoC #52 - OYU-SAMA [Miss Oyu] (1951)
MoC #53 - UGETSU MONOGATARI [Tales of the Rain and Moon] (1953)

MoC #54 - GION BAYASHI [Gion Festival Music, aka A Geisha] (1953)
MoC #55 - SANSHO DAYU [Sansho the Bailiff] (1954)

MoC #56 - UWASA NO ONNA [The Woman in the Rumour, aka The Woman of Rumour] (1954)
MoC #57 - CHIKAMATSU MONOGATARI [A Tale from Chikamatsu, aka The Crucified Lovers] (1954)

MoC #58 - YOKIHI [Imperial Concubine Yang, aka Yang Kwei Fei] (1955)
MoC #59 - AKASEN CHITAI [Red Light District, aka Street of Shame] (1956)


SANSHO / GION will be in November, and AKASEN / YOKIHI is looking like a January release.

How will the twin-packs be packaged? Are those the final specs on the first set?

Sounds excellent. Will be getting them. Especially looking forward to CHIKAMATSU MONOGATARI/UWASA NO ONNA package. Some really expensive months coming ahead.

Each twinpack will be priced at £22.99 list, which will translate to £17.99 online at most places. Nine quid a film plus a big fat 96-page book (we're really going to town on the books).

peerpee wrote:Each twinpack will be priced at £22.99 list, which will translate to £17.99 online at most places. Nine quid a film plus a big fat 96-page book (we're really going to town on the books).

I am really looking forward to these. The books will obviously be worth it alone. And, I can't wait to see how especially Yokihi will look in the MoC edition. I purchased the Films sans Frontieres release last year, and while the FsF release was no disaster, there was a lot of room for improvement. The film's color scheme was clearly very beautiful in conception, and I am sure MoC will do wonders with it.

peerpee wrote:Each twinpack will be priced at £22.99 list, which will translate to £17.99 online at most places. Nine quid a film plus a big fat 96-page book (we're really going to town on the books).

Sounds great! Can you tell us who will be contributing to the books?

Scharphedin2, re: YOKIHI colour scheme. From the finished MoC YOKIHI:

Beautiful!

Wow, those are gorgeous! Is MoC planning to release Shin Heike Monogatari at some point as well?

Oh my, the detail and color are vast improvements over any of the previous incarnations that I have seen.

At peerpee's request, each set now has its own topic:

52-53 Oyu-sama and Ugetsu monogatari

54-55 Gion bayashi and Sansho dayu

56-57 Uwasa no onna and Chikamatsu monogatari

58-59 Yokihi and Akasen chitai

Those looks truely beautiful =D>

The color is stunning for a 1954/55 Eastmancolor neg if that was what it was shot on.

Wonderful work, peerpee.

Excellent! I know that we can't have them all, but I would say that the absense of The Life of Oharu is like a lighthouse beacon on a dark forbidding shore. We need to save a few gems for future releases right?

bluesea wrote:Excellent! I know that we can't have them all, but I would say that the absense of The Life of Oharu is like a lighthouse beacon on a dark forbidding shore. We need to save a few gems for future releases right?

Another UK DVD company already has the rights to "O-Haru" and has issued a (rather mediocre) DVD. One will have to pray for Criterion to give this film proper treatment (fairly soon) in the American market.

SAIKAKAU ICHIDAI ONNA is a Shin-Toho property and Artificial Eye released it on DVD here in the UK (not an amazing transfer, unfortunately) along with MUSASHINO FUJIN.

The best bet is that Criterion will get to it soon. I have absolutely no information about whether they plan to do so.

--

EDIT: [snap, Michael! - just saw your post too]

peerpee wrote:EDIT: [snap, Michael! - just saw your post too]

Hey -- your reply is more official than mine, though.

;~}

What I hope is that MOC will eventually get a chance to tackle some of the remarkable early films -- which have never gotten truly adequate releases -- anywhere.

peerpee wrote:Scharphedin2, re: YOKIHI colour scheme. From the finished MoC YOKIHI:

Peerpee, those stills more than confirm any hopes that I had. Just beautiful!

I also want to commend your practice of posting stills from upcoming releases. Not only is it a very kind and special gesture, it is also a really smart (and I hope effective) way of marketing your releases. As mentioned, I bought the three FsF Mizoguchi releases just over a year ago, but there is no question in the world that I will also purchase the MoC releases (of course there was never much question in my mind anyhow, as I am just too much in love with your booklets to miss one of your releases).

I plan to fully support these releases and can't wait to see them. The Criterion Ugetsu really intrigued me but Sansho Dayu really won me over and I've had the wonderful pleasure of being introduced to both Teshigahara and Mizoguchi in the past year. Sansho Dayu's compositions are so subtly beautiful (though once you grow accustomed to the style it doesn't seem as subtle). It's really been nice to learn the difference between some of the forced and beautiful looks of something like a Wes Anderson film (could this heavy visual look be called decadent (though tasty)) to the sophistication of Sansho Dayu which seems somewhat less ephemeral, more real. Sansho Dayu has moved to the top of my list and I'm so excited about these new releases.

Release dates updated on the Eureka Website.

Yokihi April 2008
Akasen Chitai April 2008
Oyu-sama March 2008
Ugetsu Monogatari March 2008
Uwasa no onna February 2008
Chikamatsu Monogatari February 2008

Please refer to the individual threads for these releases:

52-53 Oyu-sama and Ugetsu monogatari

54-55 Gion bayashi and Sansho Dayu

56-57 Uwasa no onna and Chikamatsu monogatari

58-59 Yokihi and Akasen chitai

manicsounds wrote:October 21st, BD upgrade in the limited "Late Mizoguchi" boxset

What a Disgrace wrote:I really hope that the Mizoguchi titles will be available seperately, because I already own the Ugetsu disc. But if the price is good enough, then I'll just settle on having two copies.

Yes, they're releasing four of them separately as two standalone titles (two films per disc, as before).

RossyG wrote:Yes, they're releasing four of them separately as two standalone titles (two films per disc, as before).

Incorrect. They've only announced them as part of a boxset.

They haven't announced individual releases for them.

Being completely immersed in Mizoguchi right now and currently reading Satos' book I'm of course ecstatic to see the other 4 films released on BD. And I'm a big supporter of MoC, however, I hope they do release them separately and not just in the box set (even though I would love to have the box as well), as otherwise those who already bought them will need to double dip and in the end it will alienate some (I'm undecided what I personally would do in this case, but I'd rather buy some of the other MoC movies than rebuying what I already own).
Releasing them separately and selling the box separately as well now that would be world class!