"Actor: Isao Kimura"

• Stray Dog (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (27/01/2025) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.When rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) has his pistol stolen from his pocket while on a bus, his frantic attempts to track down the thief lead him to an illegal weapons market in the Tokyo underworld. But the gun has already passed from the pickpocket to a young gangster, and Murakami's gun is identified as the weapon in the shooting of a woman. Murakami, overwhelmed with remorse, turns for help to his older and more experienced senior, Sato (a superb performance by Takashi Shimura). The race is on to find the shooter before he can strike again Extras¢ Presented in High Definition¢ Newly recorded interview with Japanese film expert Jasper Sharp¢ Newly recorded audio commentary by Kenta McGrath¢ Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create Stray Dog (2002, 32 mins)¢ **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw, archive essay by Philip Kemp and original review

• Seven Samurai (Blu-ray Edition) | Blu Ray | (25/08/2014) from £18.75   |  Saving you £1.24 (6.61%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the greatest films ever made – Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai has influenced the work of directors from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg and spawned remakes such as John Sturges’ acclaimed The Magnificent Seven. With their village raided every year by vicious bandits a group of peasants hire seven warriors to protect them. Initially met with suspicion the warriors eventually gain the trust of the peasants and they join forces to face the bandits. This special edition includes alternative presentations of the film a new and exclusive interview with Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns and the film’s original Japanese trailer. Endlessly copied but never surpassed Seven Samurai is a truly timeless classic. Contents: Digitally re-mastered in High Definition Play with or without original intermission Original Japanese theatrical trailer The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013 49 mins): Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns discusses Kurosawa’a career and influence Fully illustrated booklet with essays and credits

• Seven Samurai | DVD | (22/11/1999) from £17.29   |  Saving you £2.70 (15.62%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Unanimously hailed as one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of the motion picture, Seven Samurai has inspired countless films modelled after its basic premise. But Akira Kurosawa's classic 1954 action drama has never been surpassed in terms of sheer power of emotion, kinetic energy, and dynamic character development. The story is set in the 1600s, when the residents of a small Japanese village are seeking protection against repeated attacks by a band of marauding thieves. Offering mere handfuls of rice as payment, they hire seven unemployed "ronin" (masterless samurai), including a boastful swordsman (Toshiro Mifune) who is actually a farmer's son desperately seeking glory and acceptance. The samurai get acquainted with but remain distant from the villagers, knowing that their assignment may prove to be fatal. The climactic battle with the raiding thieves remains one of the most breathtaking sequences ever filmed. It's poetry in hyperactive motion and one of Kurosawa's crowning cinematic achievements. This is not a film that can be well served by any synopsis; it must be seen to be appreciated and belongs on the short list of any definitive home-video library. --Jeff Shannon

• Akira Kurosawa - The Samurai Collection | DVD | (07/06/2010) from £34.43   |  Saving you £5.56 (16.15%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Akira Kurosawa: The Samurai Collection (5 Discs)

• Lone Wolf And Cub | DVD | (01/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  A brilliant box set of the complete adventures of Lone Wolf and Cub! Sword of Vengeance (Dir. Kenji Misumi 1972): Framed for treason the executioner of the Shogun is stripped of office and declared an outlaw. Together with his infant son he sets out as a mercenary on a blood soaked journey of revenge against the secret society that murdered his wife and robbed him of his good name. With his life in ruins and literally believing that he is in hell he and his baby son have become Lone Wolf and Cub. Babycart At The River Styx (Dir. Kenji Misumi 1972): Ogami Itto is dead - 'Lone Wolf' lives on continuing his blood spattered journey through the land he calls Hell. As he remorselessly seeks the secretive shadowy Yagu clan they continue in their efforts to destroy him first sending their female warriors the vicious Akashi ninja. Beyond them barring his way the self proclaimed Gods of death sadistic warriors with a lust for blood. Lone Wolf must defeat them to justify the 500 pieces of gold that have bought his sword once more. Babycart to Hades (Dir. Kenji Misumi 1972): In a rare moment of compassion Lone Wolf rescues a girl who has killed a pimp in self defence. By his code he is forced to endure being tortured to within an inch of his life. Lone Wolf takes to the road again where his expertise is very much in demand so much so that a would-be employer has already placed a contract on him and the slayer with the babycart proceeds down the bloodstained path to Hades... Babycart In Peril (Dir. Kenji Misumi 1973): Lone Wolf (Ogami Itto) is separated from his Cub Daigoro in the course of a mission to find and kill the tattooed mistress of martial arts Oyuki. Daigoro is found at the mercy of a rival of his father Ogami Itto. Despite continuous harassment from Yagyu assassins Lone Wolf discovers Oyuki. Although he admires her he is contracted to destroy her and all this time the evil Lord Retsudo is coming closer to Lone Wolf bringing an army with him... Babycart In The Land Of Demons (Dir. Buichi Saito 1972): Hired to ensure that the succession of the clan passes to the legitimate heir the son of Lord Kuroda Lone Wolf becomes enmeshed in a web of intrigue that leads in turn to the Yagyu. Before he can break free he must turn against the very men who hired him the loyal retainers of the Kuroda clan... Babycart - White Heaven in Hell (Dir. Yoshiyuki Kuroda 1974): The climactic chapter in the Lone Wolf series! Ogami Itto the Lone Wolf and his Cub Diagoro face a new peril when the Yagyu clan leader Retsudo employs his blood thirsty daughter to destroy them once and for all. If she fails in her task Retsudo will unleash the supernatural might of the Yagyu army against which even the Lone Wolf cannot stand...

• Lone Wolf and Cub | Blu Ray | (27/03/2017) from £47.59   |  Saving you £2.40 (5.04%)   |  RRP £49.99

  The Cult Classic, Six-Film Series Based on the Internationally Best-Selling Japanese Manga Comics. Includes: SWORD OF VENGEANCE, BABY CART AT THE RIVER STYX, BABY CART TO HADES, BABY CART IN PERIL, BABY CART IN THE LAND OF DEMONS, WHITE HEAVEN IN HELL. Based on the best-selling manga series, the six intensely kinetic Lone Wolf and Cub films elevated chanbara to bloody, new heights. The shogun's executioner, Itto Ogami (TOMISABURO WAKAYAMA), takes to wandering the countryside as an assassinalong with his infant son Daigoro (AKIHIRO TOMIKAWA) and an infinitely weaponized perambulatorhelping those he encounters while seeking vengeance for his murdered wife. Delivering stylish thrills and a body count that defies belief, Lone Wolf and Cub is beloved for its brilliantly choreographed and unbelievably violent action sequences as well as for its tender depiction of the bonds between parent and child. SPECIAL EDITION BOX SET FEATURES: New 2K digital restorations of all six films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks High-definition presentation of Shogun Assassin, the 1980 English-dubbed re-edit of the first two Lone Wolf and Cub films New interview with Kazuo Koike, writer of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga series and screenwriter on five of the films Lame d'un père, l'âme d'un sabre, a 2005 documentary about the making of the series New interview in which Sensei Yoshimitsu Katsuse discusses and demonstrates the real Suio-ryu sword techniques that inspired those in the manga and films New interview with biographer Kazuma Nozawa about filmmaker Kenji Misumi, director of four of the six Lone Wolf and Cub films Silent documentary from 1937 about the making of samurai swords, with an optional new ambient score by Ryan Francis Trailers New English subtitle translations PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay and film synopses by Japanese pop culture writer Patrick Macias

• High And Low | DVD | (28/03/2005) from £14.49   |  Saving you £5.50 (37.96%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Kurosawa drew on the thriller 'King's Ransom' by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter) for this contemporary study of the inequalities and hierarchical rigidity of modern Japan. In the first half of the film set in a single room an industrialist agonises on whether to pay the huge ransom demanded by kidnappers who have mistakenly snatched his chauffeur's son instead of his own. The second half of the film shot in a frenzied restless style on sleazy urban locations concentrates on the polic

• Assassination | DVD | (23/01/2006) from £27.37   |  Saving you £-7.38 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Assassination (or Ansatsu) marked Masahiro Shinoda's first attempt at a period film and is widely considered to be his finest achievement. Previously gaining fame and status alongside Nagisa Oshima and Kiju Yoshida challenging established Japanese cinema with tales of reckless youth The Dry Lake (1960) and the seminal yakuza drama Pale Flower (1964) Shinoda graduated from Shochiku where like Shohei Imamura his grounding wa

• Babycart - White Heaven In Hell | DVD | (30/04/2001) from £7.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (150.19%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The climactic chapter in the Lone Wolf series. Ogami Itto (Wakayama Tomisaburo) the Lone Wolf and his Cub Diagoro face a new peril when the Yagyu clan leader Retsudo employs his blood thirsty daughter to destroy them once and for all. If she fails in her task Retsudo will unleash the supernatural might of the Yagyu army against which even the Lone Wolf cannot stand...