Region 4 Winners and Losers

     Her Mother's Profession has been released in Region 2 in the United Kingdom by Masters of Cinema under its traditional Japanese title, Uwasa no onna. This comes in a two-disc release with Chikamatsu monogatari. The extras include video discussions on both films by Tony Rayns which both run for 12-13 minutes, original trailers and a 56-page booklet containing an essay by Mark le Fanu on Chikamatsu monogatari, English translations of Ihara Saikaku's 1686 'What the Seasons Bought the Almanac Maker' and the opening section of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's 'The Almanac of Love'. An extract from Keiko L. McDonald's long out-of-print book, Mizoguchi, looks at Uwasa no onna and states that the work is a long way from Mizoguchi at his best.

     In my opinion, the video discussions by Tony Rayns and the booklet, together with the inclusion of Chikamatsu monogatari makes the Region 2 Masters of Cinema release the best available on DVD, although the Region 4 Madman Directors Suite release, with its comprehensive and informative audio commentary by Dr. Hartley is quite an excellent release onto DVD also.