Search - The Shogun Collection on DVD

Very Pleased! No Need to Worry

amsterdamaged | 11/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After reading the negative review by "The Truth Hurts", I was initially reluctant to make this purchase. Having said that, I went ahead and took a chance, and I'm glad I did. This is an excellent collection of films at a very low price. There are a few things you should be aware of before making the purchase, though.



The films are not all of the same genre. Of the four films, two of them (Shogun's Ninja and Shogun's Shadow) fall under the matial arts category, and are reminiscent of "Lone Wolf and Cub" and "Shadow Hunters". The other two, "Shogun's Samurai" and "Sword of Vengence" are historical dramas more in the vein of "The Seven Samurai" and "Chusingura". In fact, "Sword of Vengence" is a variation of the same story as "Chusingura", another retelling of the 47 ronin. The latter two fims are more plot driven and feature far less action. This is just fine by me, as I enjoy both types of samurai film.



Another thing you should know is that Sonny Chiba is not actually the star of any of these films. He plays a supporting role in all of them. So die hard Sonny Chiba fans may be disappointed.



All and all, this is an excellent purchase for fans of Japanese cinema, especially considering the price. Most Japanese films cost a premium (check out the price being asked for any Kurosawa or Lone Wolf and Cub film), so to get four excellent films for the price of one is a steal.



I don't know anything about the distribution company that sells this, and frankly I don't care. I can tell you that the sound and picture quality of all of these films is excellent. There are absolutely no issues there at all. There is an issue with the misleading marketing of these as "Sonny Chiba films" which I've already discussed, and for that this collection should be deducted one, maybe even two stars, but I'm going to go ahead and award it five to offset the unjustified one-star review.



Highly recommended!"

Beware, it's from Brentwood/BCI

The Truth Hurts | USA | 09/18/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"the movies get 5-stars but the company 1-star.

no matter how they try to justify their poor quality releases, the buying public are finally catching on that anything released by Brentwood, BCI Eclipse, Deimos (etc.) is going to be a poor effort. they lie about the version(s) on the DVD(s) -- substitute "TV" version(s) instead of the "Theatrical" version(s), call something "Widescreen" when it's a hack-job cutting off foreign subtitles on an English dub print, or just horrible DVD transfers and/or encoding errors. (yet always blames it on "the source material" which is just a weak cop-out)

so, what are they doing over there at BCI to better their image? well, how about taking movies already released, movies with excellent quality, encoded perfectly, and re-packaging them as THEIRS!? well, that's what you are getting with this box set. these movies were already released by ADNESS. a company who i am guessing is now out-of-business, whose owner decided to become part of the (new?) management at BCI.

this 'budget' re-pack includes the following titles:



- Shogun's Samurai (Yagyû ichizoku no inbô/The Yagyu Conspiracy) (1978)

- Shogun's Shadow (Shôgun Iemitsu no ranshin - Gekitotsu/Geki Totsu: The Insanity of Emperor Iemitsu Gekitosu) (1989)

- Swords of Vengeance (Ako-jo danzetsu/The Fall of Ako Castle) (1978)

- Shogun's Ninja (Ninja bugeicho momochi Sandayu) (1982)



for those of you who didn't buy the Adness versions, this is a good buy for you. just know you are supporting a company who doesn't care about these movies, or you the customer."

Two GREAT Movies... and two other movies

Erik Rupp | Southern California | 05/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Shogun Collection is a bit schizophrenic.



Two of the movies are great historical epic Samurai films from one of Japan's all-time great directors, Kinji Fukasaku. These movies are Shogun's Samurai, and Swords of Vengeance. Expertly directed, very well written, and brought to life by some fantastic actors, both of these movies belong in every Samurai movie fan's collection.



The other two movies are cheesy (by design) 80's action flicks where Samurais and Ninjas can perform superhuman acts (leap tall buildings in a single bound type stuff). They're passable as entertainment as long as you turn your brain off (although Shogun's Shadow does have it's moments - there is the basis of a good script, it just gets overpowered by too much cheese).



The only thing that all four of the movies have in common are supporting roles for Sonny Chiba - who is particularly good in Shogun's Samurai!



The transfers for ALL FOUR of these movies are brilliant! Beautiful anamorphic widescreen, original Japanese language soundtrack with English subtitles - these are some great DVD's! BCI Eclipse has been licensing many different movies and TV series recently, and paying attention to quality. Their licensing deal here with Adness continues that trend. They've come a long way from the "Public Domain" specialists that they used to be (although they still do that as well).



In the end, this set is worth buying for the two Kinji Fukasaku films alone - you can watch the others or, as some have done, sell them on ebay."