| Edition |
Special ed. |
| Description |
2 videodiscs (97 min.) : sd., b&w ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (69 p. : ill.) |
| Series |
The Criterion collection ; 309 |
|
Criterion collection (DVD videodiscs) ; 309.
|
| Note |
Originally released as a motion picture in 1953. |
|
Special features: Disc 1. New restored high-definition digital transfer; audio commentary by critic, filmmaker and festival programmer Tony Rayns; Process and production, a 20-minute video interview with Tokuzo Tanaka, first assistant director of Ugetsu; 10-minute video interview with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, from 1992; theatrical trailers; new and improved English subtitles -- disc 2. Kenji Mizoguchi : the life of a film director (1975), a 150-minute documentary by filmmaker Kaneto Shindo, with new and improved English subtitles. |
|
Accompanying booklet features an essay by film critic Phillip Lopate and three short stories that influenced Mizoguchi in making the film: "The house in the thicket" and "A serpent's lust" by Akinara Ueda from his book "Ugetsu monogatari" and "How he got the Legion of Honor" by Guy de Maupassant. |
| Credits |
Cinematography, Kazuo Miyagawa; art direction, Kisaku Ito; music, Fumio Hayasaka. |
| Cast |
Machiko Kyo, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Masayuki Mori, Sakae Ozawa. |
| Summary |
Set in 16th century Japan, a period of bloody civil war, the film is rooted in the postwar psyche of 1950s Japan. It focuses on an ambitious potter haunted by a beautiful ghost and a farmer who dreams of becoming a samurai. |
| Audience |
MPAA rating: Not rated. |
| System Details |
DVD, region 1, full screen (1.33:1) presentation ; Dolby Digital mono. |
| Language |
Japanese dialogue, optional subtitles in English. |
| Awards |
Venice Film Festival, 1953: Silver lion. |
| Subject |
Potters -- Japan -- Drama.
|
|
Ghost plays
|
|
Man-woman relationships -- Drama.
|
|
Japan -- History -- 1333-1600 -- Drama.
|
| Genre/Form |
Melodrama.
|
|
Motion pictures, Japanese.
|
| Added Author |
Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1898-1956.
|
|
Nagata, Masaichi, 1906-1985.
|
|
Kawaguchi, Matsutarō, 1899-1985.
|
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Yoda, Yoshikata, 1909-1991-
|
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Kyo, Machiko, 1924-
|
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Tanaka, Kinuyo, 1909-1977.
|
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Mito, Mitsuko.
|
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Mori, Masayuki, 1911-1973.
|
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Ozawa, Sakae.
|
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Miyagawa, Kazuo, 1908-1999.
|
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Itō, Kisaku, 1899-1967.
|
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Hayasaka, Fumio, 1914-1955.
|
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Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893.
|
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Shindō, Kaneto, 1912-2012-
|
|
Ueda, Akinari, 1734-1809.
Ugetsu monogatari.
|
|
Janus Films.
|
|
Daiē, Kabushiki Kaisha.
|
|
Criterion Collection (Firm)
|
| Added Title |
Kenji Mizoguchi, the life of a film director.
|
| ISBN |
0780030303 |
|
9780780030305 |
| Standard No. |
037429209325 |
| Music No. |
UGE020 Criterion Collection |
|
