Eclipse Series 7: Postwar Kurosawa (No Regrets for Our Youth / One Wonderful Sunday / Scandal / The Idiot / I Live in Fear) (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

The main reason one would own this is to actually see the Criterion version of these five films without purchasing the $300+ Criterion Complete works of Kurosawa:  AK 100: 25 Films of Akira Kurosawa (The Criterion Collection) The best film in this collection is 'No Regrets for Our Youth', but this alone is no reason to spend $60+ on a set of five films. The other films, though quality, are not quite up to the high bar that Kurosawa sets with No Regrets. His films from a few years later: Rashomon, Ikiru, and Seven Samurai are among his best and arguably among the best films in history. This set is essential for true fans, but No Regrets can be rented via Netflix if you merely want to see it and not own it.This set is great, but I recommend spending the $300 or so and purchasing the entire collection, in the long run this is cheaper for die hard Kurosawa fans. The other four films are very good and help give one a nice look at Kurosawa's coming of age... still I love this set!Update: After tiring of trying to periodically luck out with this at my local library (it gets re-requested instantly and gets long hold lists), I was given this set as a gift. Watching through the films a second time, and being much more diverse in my classic world cinema outlook, I even more heartily recommend these films. I am a huge Kurosawa fan. The Eclipse collection for pre-war Kurosawa is rather interesting academically for those fans of his film career, but are not amazing films in their own right. It was really No Regrets for Our Youth where Kurosawa was able to come into his own and Stray Dog of course put him on the international scene.No Regrets for Our Youth stars an impressive Setsuko Hara in a terrific female empowering role. She was soon to become Ozu's favorite leading lady after Late Spring.One Wonderful Sunday is rather touching, yet sad. I did love the use of Schubert's unfinished symphony in the final scene. A poor, young couple try to enjoy one day together in a Japan struggling to rebuild just after the war.Scandal was one of my favorites on this collection. I really enjoyed Takashi Shimura as the crooked lawyer. A film about two celebrities caught in an innocent photograph that is spun by the tabloids as a secret affair. They hire a lawyer to fight the tabloids, but he has his own problems and is tempted by corruption.The Idiot is a fair adaptation of the Dostoevsky novel. As much as a two hour adaptation of a giant novel can be considered fair. I kind of count this as a bonus addition to the set. It is a hard film to find outside of this set.I live in fear is based on a recurring fear in the 50s of nuclear holocaust. This is a film that has a similar message as Godzilla, just made in dramatically different ways. Japan was horrified by atomic testing off nearby islands, one incident resulted in Japanese fisherman getting radiation poisoning. This set off a public outcry against the West, and Japanese directors were quick to feed the frenzy. A terrific film, oddly by one of the Japanese directors considered to be the most "Western" of all.The restorations are good, but not quite as good as a regular (non-Eclipse series) release. They are filtered and cleaned up, just not to the level of quality as, say, Ikiru, Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, Late Spring, and other early Japanese films of the 40s and 50s that were released through the regular Criterion label. An amazing collection. Worth the set for No Regrets for Our Youth, Scandal, and I Live in Fear. Five films for a fair price. Bravo Criterion.

Postwar Kurosawa is as good as it gets. This incredible collection contains some of his strongest films, I believe. No Regrets and Scandal are good ones to begin with. This is personal filmmaking at its best. I like most of his films, but am more into human relations than the samurai warrior stuff. Emotions are what moves me, and these films are great examples of that. If you are a Kurosawa fan, then this is a must. These are some of the most stunning films put to screen. They could have added Ikiru(if it falls in the same time frame), but it's a heck of a collection, and beautifully restored... I would highly recommend this to any foreign film buff.  Eclipse Series 7 - Post-War Kurosawa Box - Eclipse from Criterion (No Regrets for Our Youth, One Wonderful Sunday, Scandal, The Idiot, I Live in Fear) (1980) (The Criterion Collection)

Moving, impressive, dynamic, intense; the reasons why many people consider AK as the greatest of all filmmakers is duly presented here in these impressive films.The picture quality is outstanding and if one doesn't mind taking the time to patiently watch them they will discover that none of these films is a waste of time. "No Regrets For Our Youth," "One Wonderful Sunday" and "I Live In Fear" are tremendous with moments that are incredibly moving. Even "Scandal" and "The Idiot" contain moments of masterful cinema.Visibly in evidence here is Kurosawa's bold techniques, his taste for superb composition and the marvelous preformances from the best acting talent in the world. All in all a set well worth having for those who already familiar with the master's work and those who wish to know more about it.

Kurosawa. What a great collection of his lesser known films.

"Postwar Kurosawa deserves a lot of praise for making early films by the great Japanes director available at reasonable prices. I thought the quality of the DVD's was good but then I've thought that about a lot of DVDs of older films that other reviewers have complained about. The set consists of 5 films.In my opinion, the two best movies in the set are "No Regrets for our Youth" and "One Wonderful Sunday". These are near the quality, overall, of later works of the Master. "No Regrets..." tells of the idealism of young Japanese at the time the War was becoming reality. One person emerges from all the idealism and bravado as someone who walked the walk and talked the talk. In viewing this person's metamorphisis from observer to participant we see the early ability of the young director in using film to enhance a statement. In "One Wonderful Sunday" we get to observe young people trying to discover themselves in the midst of the destruction and corruption of Post-War Japan. Both of these films have a strong impact.Two movies; "Scandal" and "I Live in Fear" come across as a bit excessive for the statement that is intended. This may be due to the times in which the films were made ("I Live in Fear" tells of a successful businessman who wants to escape the threat of atomic war). Kurosawa is usually more subtle in his statements which led me to be a bit less impressed with the extremeness of these two films.The final film, "The Idiot" is an adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel. It is a bit long but it is still impressive as the story of how innocence eventually gets corrupted by the passions of the world around us. It come across more as a theater production captures on film.Until this set came out, I was looking at trying to find rare VHS copies of the same movies. This set was well worth the price. Overall, I liked it better than my set of early Hitchcock movies.

Everything you would expect from one of the world's great directors. Stories about real humans, not comic book characters. I remember a time when you could see films like these in local movie houses. Maybe even on the TV. Now you have to sign up for a film class to view Kurosawa. Or you can buy the this box set.

Kurosawa after the war became a major director, and it's fascinating to follow his development in these five films. No Regrets For Our Youth and Scandal are the two strongest works here, while The Idiot has fine performances but is too long. I Live in Fear and One Wonderful Sunday may be skipped as having subjects that aren't very interesting. The package is mainly for fans of Setsuko Hara and Takashi Shimura, of whom I'm certainly one.