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I wonder if it might just be something as simple as the Peter Cowie commentary being a little out of date, what with all of the references to the then most recent 2000 Sydney Olympics peppered throughout. It was still available for a couple of years after the 2004 Athens games but maybe being past two Olympics (let alone three after next summer) was just too much!

However that does mean that the commentary provides extra value by acting as a handy reminder of certain events at the Sydney Olympics as well as the Tokyo ones!

It is still a Janus property and is currently playing on the Comcast on-demand TCM channel with a Janus logo at the beginning. Maybe they are planning a re-release in a year to coincide with the London games...

I doubt that an outdated commentary has to do with it. The commentaries on Secret Honor, for example, were recorded in 1992 and refer to George Bush like he's still in office. And that's just one example. Some commentaries date back to the early eighties! (eg Seventh Seal)

I think it has to do with a different director's cut available on Japanese DVD.

I'm not sure how weird of a request this is, but this film (which I watched today) and Visions of eight are pretty much the only Ichikawa's I've come to any strong feelings for and was wondering if there were any other of documentaries by him (available in english friendly editions hopefully) or if any of his fiction films are more in the style of these two rather that of Fires on the Plain or Kokoro to name two of the fiction films I've seen.

Alone Across the Pacific felt more like a documentary, to me at least- it has a sort of removed quality to it

Only somewhat related: why did Tokyo Olympiad go out of print (long ago) in the first place, anyhow?

albucat wrote:Only somewhat related: why did Tokyo Olympiad go out of print (long ago) in the first place, anyhow?

Toho lost the rights, due to a bewildering dispute with the International Olympic Committee, or something. It was either the Japanese Olympic branch, or a dispute between the IOC and the Japanese branch. Can't recall the exact details but it was terrible bullshit.

I tried to licence it for the UK and even wrote to Jacques Rogge to try and get him to bang heads together.

Hopefully Toho will regain it, and Criterion will re-licence for Blu.

peerpee wrote:

albucat wrote:Only somewhat related: why did Tokyo Olympiad go out of print (long ago) in the first place, anyhow?

Toho lost the rights, due to a bewildering dispute with the International Olympic Committee, or something. It was either the Japanese Olympic branch, or a dispute between the IOC and the Japanese branch. Can't recall the exact details but it was terrible bullshit.

In terms of control-freakery run amok, the IOC would make the mutant offspring of Beatrice Welles and Ray Carney look like stoned Care Bears.

Toho still has the Japanese DVD in print (with both the theatrical and director's cuts), so maybe only for the international rights?

Yes, I think that was the problem, all territories outside of Japan.

Pure speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if the original arrangement gave Toho free reign within Japan and the IOC a stranglehold everywhere else. (And they probably only relented for Japan grudgingly.)

I know this is more about sports than the actual film, but Tokyo has been selected as the hosting nation for the 2020 Summer Olympics. I hope that they do another film similar to Tokyo Olympiad and most important, that they re-release this film on DVD, Blu-ray or streaming.

I was thinking the same thing upon hearing of the announcement. Imagine watching the Turkish equivalent of this film!

Criterion would have to renews rights to release for the Ichikawa, but I would imagine it's worth time and expense to give this the dual-format re-release it deserves. Used prices on Amazon right now are absurd.

Has anyone seen the original US cut of this film - the 93 minute one? I'm curious to hear how it compares to the 170 minute cut.

This is kind of old news by now, but a 125-minute version of this film has been up on the official Olympics Youtube channel since 2013. I only just found out.

Feego wrote:This is kind of old news by now, but a 125-minute version of this film has been up on the official Olympics Youtube channel since 2013. I only just found out.

Its interesting to see that this English language version (looking in a heck of a lot rougher shape than the 170 minute version on the Criterion DVD!) has a credit thanking Donald Richie for the preparation of the "International Version" in the end credits.

At least they haven't also uploaded Walk, Don't Run, the awful remake of the More the Merrier set and filmed during the 1964 Olympics

Get ready for 2020, the next Tokyo Olympiad.

Is there any film project associated with the on-going Rio games?
The green water was pretty photogenic.
I think every Olympics generates at least some sort of film sold on dvd.
Is that right?

You know ... if the IOC (or the JOC) would get their heads out of their asses and allow Tokyo Olympiad to be released internationally, there should be less of an incentive to accept bribes =D

Seriously, this is the best visual expression of the human body in motion as well as one of the best cultural artifacts of the modern Olympic Games ... that's certainly not embarrassing (1984-S) and definitely not controversial (1936-S with Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia). Why deny a global audience this gem?

Kon Ichikawa's vision totally outshines the grubby nationalist reality of contemporary Olympic coverage.

Did anyone watch the boxing segments and see them as similar to Raging Bull? The speed of the camera and they way it followed the boxers, and the fact that the whole segment was shot in black and white made me think of the boxing scenes in that Scorsese movie. Maybe there's only a few ways to shoot a boxing match.

Lemmy Caution wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2016 2:12 pm Get ready for 2020, the next Tokyo Olympiad.

Is there any film project associated with the on-going Rio games?
The green water was pretty photogenic.
I think every Olympics generates at least some sort of film sold on dvd.
Is that right?

The official film for Rio was titled "Days of Truce," directed by Breno Silveira and premiered at the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival November 3 of that year. It doesn't seem to be available in physical form but the link to the Olympic channel stream is above.

As well, the official film for Pyeongchang 2018 was "Crossing Beyond," directed by Yi Seung-jun and premiered October 5, 2018 at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival. It has apparently streamed on Mubi but is not currently available.

The "100 Years of Olympic Films" box set did not include any special features other than a book that includes notes on the films. Even Peter Cowie's audio commentary from the earlier DVD release is missing.

Thankfully, this re-issue will include this plus a few more.