Seven Samurai

Today is Day 3 of the filmsquish Kurosawa Blogathon. This is our 4th film.

Seven Samurai (1954) trailer:


I see that the film is available online with commercials here:

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This is a movie we have wanted to see for some time because it is the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven. That one makes a hit every time we show it, and we have been curious about the samurai film it is based on. This blogathon provides just the extra motivation to go ahead and watch it. We have the Criterion edition of Seven Samurai. We wish cheaper editions of these movies were available because we're just not that interested in all the special features, but it seems like once Criterion puts out their version other versions disappear.

There is some background historical information here. CNN.com has an article on "How 'Seven Samurai' was saved". Roger Ebert has a review here. Salon.com has an article here that focuses on the audio commentary on the Criterion release. The Criterion Contraption reviews it here.

It was a joy and a surprise to see Takashi Shimura again. We hadn't realized he was in this as well as Ikiru, Sanshiro Sugata and Rashomon. To be honest, I hadn't realized he was in all of these until I recognized him in Seven Samurai. Turns out he was also in Godzilla, Mothra and Ghidorah.

8/9/2008:
1001 Flicks has a review.