Rebel Samurai: Sixties Swordplay Classics
Details by Film
Samurai Rebellion
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Sword of the Beast
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Samurai Spy
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Kill!
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Samurai Rebellion
Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord’s mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, father and son take in the woman, and, to the family’s surprise, the young couple fall in love. But the lord soon reverses his decision and demands the mistress’s return. Against all expectations, Isaburo and his son refuse, risking the destruction of their entire family. Director Masaki Kobayashi’s Samurai Rebellion is the gripping story of a peaceful man who finally decides to take a stand against injustice.
Sword of the Beast
Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha’s Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as part of a reform plot. His former comrades then turn on him, and this betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal. There he joins up with a motley group who are illegally mining the shogun’s gold, and, with the aid of another swordsman, gets a chance not just at survival but to recover his name and honor.
Samurai Spy
Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.
Kill!
In this pitch-black action comedy by Kihachi Okamoto, a pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin. Based on the same source novel as Akira Kurosawa’s Sanjuro, Kill! playfully tweaks samurai film convention, borrowing elements from established chanbara classics and seasoning them with a little Italian western.
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Excerpt from a 1993 interview with director Masaki Kobayashi
- Insert featuring a new essay by Japanese-film and culture critic Patrick Macias
- Exclusive new video 16-minute interview with director Masahiro Shinoda
- Original theatrical trailer and teaser
- Original theatrical trailer
- Gallery of key characters in the film
- Insert featuring a new essay by film and culture critic Howard Hampton
- Insert featuring a new essay by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie
- Insert featuring an essay by film scholar Alain Silver
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Release Notes on Restoration
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the optical soundtrack print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1 -channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the optical fine-grain print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1 -channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the optical soundtrack print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1 -channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the optical soundtrack print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1 -channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.