Region 4 Winners and Losers

    The film was previously released as The 47 Ronin in Region 1 in the United States by Image Entertainment without extras. The transfer was excessively soft and had much more film artefacts than the Region 4 Madman Directors Suite release. This release in now Out of Print.

    In 2007 MK2 released The Loyal 47 Ronin in Region 2 in France. This is available as a single 2-disc release or in a 4-disc box-set with The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums and Osaka Elegy. The 2-disc standalone release includes a 6-minute introduction by Charles Tesson, a 50-minute discussion with Christophe Gans, a 14-minute featurette on the history of the 47 ronin in Mizoguchi and a 21-minute feature highlighting key scenes with commentary by Charles Tesson. The 4-disc box-set includes similar introductions and commentaries by Charles Tesson with the addition of 29-minute discussion with Jean Narboni on Osaka Elegy.

    As stated, the Region 4 Madman Directors Suite label release of The Loyal 47 Ronin has the same restored transfer as the Region MK2 French release with the addition of the exemplary audio commentary unique to Region 4 by Dr. Adrian Martin. The Region 4 release is the standout release for English-speaking fans of Mizoguchi's cinema, but if you can speak French, the Region 2 Mizoguchi Coffret 4-disc box-set release, including The Loyal 47 Ronin, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums and Osaka Elegy is similarly outstanding.