Brutal
Tales Of Chivalry (1965 aka Showa Kankyo-Den/Toei/Twilight
Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C Film: B+
PLEASE
NOTE: This
Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is
limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last
at the links below.
After
returning home from WWII to his hometown, Seiji (Ken Takakura) is
ready to help rebuild it, but the first thing he finds out is his old
boss had been murdered, he's the new boss and his girl has married
another man. However, another Yakuza gang have begun moving in on
their turf and starting a gang war and Seiji's gang now looks to him
for leadership to help restore the town and their former glory in
Kiyoshi Saeki's Brutal
Tales Of Chivalry
(1965 aka Showa
Kankyo-Den).
Other
towns were also destroyed, people were hungry and there were few
supplies, so that is how everything was controlled through the Yakuza
gangs from men, shipments and to supplies. Seiji returns home to the
Kuzu-gumi Yakuza, an honorable group that is trying to help the
people, but the Shinsei-Kai Yakuza has begun looting, stealing or
destroying Kuzu-gumi supplies. While Seiji stresses non violence,
there is only so much he and his men can take and the Shinsei-Kai
will learn why
the boss made Seiji the next boss.
This
was an old movie Yakuza movie, one of the first to explain that
gangster organization properly, now transferred onto Blu-ray. It is
old school, when Yakuza had a code of honor and to serve and protect
it's people and town. It is an early movie that showed what the
Yakuza were meant to be and what happens when that too collapses.
Takakura was a big star who only passed away a few years ago, but had
an amazing career that also included Golgo
13
(1973), Sydney Pollack's The
Yakuza
(1974), Ridley Scott's Black
Rain
(1989) and Kon Ichikawa's 47
Ronin
(1994). This too is one of his key films.
The
1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the age of
the materials used, but color is not bad throughout for this film
shot on 35mm in ToeiScope, though this can be an inconsistent
presentation. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix shows its age more,
but we guess that cannot be helped, though it still has a few good
moments. Extras
include Brutal
Tales of Filmmaking: Toei Producer Toru Yoshida
on the disc and a booklet with illustrations, tech info and essay by
film scholar Julie Kirgo.
To
order this limited
edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusives while supplies
last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
Ricky Chiang
