Kwaidan (1964) (The Criterion Collection / Masters of Cinema) [2 DVD9s]

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, Kwaidan features four nightmarish tales in which terror thrives and demons lurk. Adapted from traditional Japanese ghost stories, this lavish, widescreen production drew extensively on Kobayashi’s own training as a student of painting and fine arts. Criterion is proud to present Kwaidan in a new ravishing color transfer.

Disc Features:
* Stunning new widescreen transfer, enhanced for 16×9 televisions
* Original theatrical trailer
* New and improved English subtitle translation
* Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

DVD:
DVD RELEASE: 2000
STUDIO: Criterion
CATALOG: 90
SYSTEM: NTSC
SCREEN: 2.35:1
COLOUR: Colour
AUDIO: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono
SUBTITLES: English (soft)
RUNTIME (MOVIE): 161 mins

EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Decrypter
DVD: 1 Full Dual-Layer DVD
FILE EXTENSION: .ISO (Image)
FILE SIZE: 7.66GBs
SCANS FILE SIZE (400 DPI): 6MBs
TOTAL FILE SIZE: 7.66GBs

For the first time in the West, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the complete 183-minute original Japanese cut of Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan — one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural fantasy films ever made.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, Kwaidan features four nightmarish tales adapted from Lafcadio Hearn’s classic Japanese ghost stories. For this lavish, ‘scope production, Kobayashi drew extensively on his own training as a student of painting and the fine arts. Indeed, the breadth of the film’s poetic expression is unmatched in all of Japanese cinema: breathtakingly photographed on handpainted sets, the film is at once a miniature writ large, and an abstract wash of luminescent colours that seem to hail from another world. On the soundtrack, an electronic score by avant-garde composer Toru Takemitsu plays hauntingly with the natural sounds — crickets, rain, the cracking of wood, the loud silence of snow. This interaction of the film’s plastic and aural textures with the simple, aching humanity of Hearn’s tales serves to accentuate the power of the storytelling: four episodes about mortals caught up in forces beyond their comprehension — when the supernatural world intervenes in their lives. Perhaps the definitive adaptation of Hearn’s work, Kwaidan also presents the author’s most emblematic tale — “Hoichi, the Earless”, in which a blind young monk journeys every night to an abandoned graveyard, compelled by the ghosts of a famous battle to retell their story, over and over again…

Starring Tatsuya Nakadai (Yojimbo, The Face of Another, Harakiri), this complete print of Kwaidan — incorporating 21 minutes of footage never before released to Western audiences — also includes the uncut version of “The Snow Maiden”, in which a woodcutter marries a woman whose true calling is to wander enveloped in swirling snowflakes, bringing death to mortals. The episode marks the apotheosis of the film’s eerie atmosphere — anticipating, and arguably surpassing, Japanese cinema’s recent excursions in the realm of “J-horror”. Over forty years on, Kobayashi’s film remains an unparalleled achievement.

Disc Features:
* New progressive transfer of the complete 183-minute Japanese version
* A selection of original trailers
* Promotional material gallery
* New and improved optional English subtitles
* Special 72-page illustrated book with reprints of Lafcadio Hearn’s original ghost stories; a survey of the life and career of Masaki Kobayashi by Linda Hoaglund; and a wide-ranging interview with the filmmaker — the last he ever gave

DVD:
DVD RELEASE: 2006
STUDIO: Eureka! Masters of Cinema
CATALOG: #29
SYSTEM: Pal
SCREEN: 2.35:1
COLOUR: Colour
AUDIO: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono
SUBTITLES: English (soft)
RUNTIME (MOVIE): 183 mins

EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Decrypter
DVD: 1 Full Dual-Layer DVD
FILE EXTENSION: .ISO (Image)
FILE SIZE: 6.91GBs
SCANS FILE SIZE (400 DPI): 40MBs
TOTAL FILE SIZE: 6.95GBs

Criterion Scans

http://www.fileserve.com/file/M7rbdMd

http://www.filesonic.com/file/23362027/KwaiCC.rar

MOC Scans

http://www.fileserve.com/file/7heKhbV

http://www.filesonic.com/file/23360947/Kwai.MOC.Scs.rar

Criterion Disc

http://netfolder.in/7cuLcMe/KwaiCC

http://www.fileserve.com/list/HJBVJ4D

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/350513

MOC Disc

http://netfolder.in/PH1PpA1/Kwai.MOC

http://www.fileserve.com/list/5pVCMrS

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/350515

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