Two famous films from the celebrated Kenji Mizoguchi (he won prizes at venice 3 years in a row). One historical film hailed as a master peice, Sansho the Bailliff; and one contemporary (to the 1950s) about geisha, Gion Music Festival. I watched Sansho first and it was, as expected, beautiful. It is tragedy of a family torn apart by history and war in the 11th century and united by sacrifice. The mother and her 2 children are seperated by treachery and the morally corupt feudal regime. The film starts with the children sold into slavery, the mother into prostitution, and their servant drowned. This masterpeice, however, is flawed by some over the top and melodramatic acting. And I actually prefered the second film in the set Gion Music Festival. Gion tells the story of an experienced geisha and her young novice, pressured to make compromises and sleep with men they do not like, as well as by the changing times. The geisha are being turned into prostitutes, and are not happy about it. They resist and struggle. Throughout this we are given little insights into the concerns of 1950s Japan: the effect of the American occupation, evolving cultural morals and much more. Visually the film is less lavish than Sansho, but it still looks great. I found this film to be, often, moving and, always, interesting. Its story engaging, and visual style strangely endearing. Ultimately, this boxset contians 2 really good, and diverse, films as well as a small book of stories (the inspiration for Sansho) and essays by film critics. On the discs there the films are put into the context of Mizoguchi's career by Tony Rayns, the famous critic and festival planner. This DVD package is a really good one with everything you could want from it - especially too high quality images of high quality films.