Region 4 Winners and Losers

    As you may have gathered from preceding comments, I have the US Region 1 release from Criterion, who have released a number of Kurosawa films on DVD and have a high reputation for the quality of their releases.

    The Region 1 is almost identical to the Region 4 in terms of content. However, the transfer quality differs. Criterion have used a print which has not been restored, with some flecks, hairs and dust visible. It is certainly not as clean as the Region 4. However, I find the visual quality of the Criterion in terms of detail, sharpness and contrast to be far superior. The telecine wobble present in the Region 4 is also here, which makes me think that somehow they have come from the same original source.

    The audio differs slightly as well. The default audio track is 1.0 mono, but as an alternative Criterion have included a three-channel track using the Perspect-A-Sound technology.

    The UK Region 2 comes from the British Film Institute. It has a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack and the George Lucas interview, but no trailer. I have not seen any reviews of this disc, however my copy of the BFI's Ikiru has non-removable subtitles, and apparently this is standard on their non-English language releases.

    There is a Region 3 (but coded for all regions) release from Hong Kong based distributor Mei Ah, which has Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 tracks, misspelled subtitles and no 16x9 enhancement. A text biography of the director is included as an extra. According to the one available review, the video quality is quite good, which would make it unusual for a Mei Ah release in my experience.

    The Region 2 from France has non-removable French subtitles and a mono soundtrack only. Obviously there are no English subtitles, and there is an extract from a 1986 BBC interview with the director, which is probably in Japanese, as an extra.

    The Region 2 from Japan has a making of documentary, but is not 16x9 enhanced and there are no English subtitles.

    The Criterion Region 1 release, while not perfect, remains the best bet for this film.