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DVD Title |
Incident at Blood Pass |
International Title |
Incident
at Blood Pass |
DVD Length |
Original Length |
117 Minutes |
117 Minutes |
Company |
Year of Manufacture |
AnimEigo |
2005 |
Language |
Subtitles |
Japanese |
English |
Region |
Number of Discs |
1 |
1 |
Aspect Ratio |
Sound |
2.35:1 (Anamorphic) |
2.0 Mono |
Extras |
|
Captures |
|
Review |
AnimEigo has lost their quality control. At
one time, I looked forward to each new disc from
the company. Granted, the extras they stock their
releases with was always lacking, but their dedication
to the video presentation was really something
to behold. Those days are dead, though, and Incident
at Blood Pass is a taste of what they have
become. This disc is a real haphazard release,
featuring a very sloppy video presentation that
would have felt more at home on a bootleg. Thankfully,
the audio presentation here fares much better,
but can't really save this disc as it's also coupled
with AnimEigo's sparse selection of extras.
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Video: |
 |
Oh how far the once mighty have fallen. AnimEigo,
a company that once could be regarded with praise
in comparison to other companies in this area,
has been reduced to the lowest denominator of
those who still release Toho's films. To say that
the video presentation on this disc is lacking
is an understatement. This is a company that I
know can do better. One that used to pride themselves
on their restoration techniques, but have now
reduced themselves to releasing films onto DVD
with a minimal amount of effort placed into them.
To break it down, it's really hard to give this
disc much credit at all in this area. The colors
here, for example, are incredibly washed out,
with reds having a hue closer to brown. Furthermore,
the entire film is discolored as well, sporting
a rather unpleasant yellow tint. The brightness
level has also been adjusted too low either, either
to try and mask some of the disc's lesser points
or a problem with the source material. A lot of
the night scenes here are incredibly hard to make
out on account of this, and a lot of details are
lost on the viewer during these scenes. Digital
inconsistencies are present too, although not
to the extent of the other problems. The film
does look a little blurred, but this appears to
have more to do with the print used than edge
enhancement. Shimmering, a rainbow band of colors
on fine details, does appear once or twice here.
It's most easily spotted on some scenes that feature
forests in the distant background, but, thankfully,
doesn't pop up enough to become distracting.
As for the condition of the print, it's safe
to say that no real attempt at restoration was
made for this release. Scratches do appear here
on occasion, but are rare. As for noise levels, there is a layer of grain present
through out. However, both of these aspects are
partially covered up as the low brightness level
does a fair job of masking this. Sadly, the frame isn't
stable on this DVD, and tends to shake
up and down during any scene that features text
being displayed.
The sole compliment that could be made of the
disc in this area is that, at least, the film
is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1,
and is also Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
|
Audio: |
 |
The acceptable aspect of the disc, as the
2.0 mono track present is a faithful recreation
of the source material. There generally aren't
any inconsistencies to be found here, as the entire
tracks runs without any pops or crackles, while
the dialogue is very clear. Masaru
Sato's brilliant score for the film does sound
a little flat, but one can't really expect much
from a mono presentation. As always, more options,
like an added stereo track, would have been nice,
but what is included here is adequate enough.
As with other AnimEigo titles, the audio track
is accompanied by, removable, English subtitles
which are color coded to show when more than one
character is talking. There is also a second set
of subtitles that can be turned on to provide
definitions for certain words related to Japanese
culture, such as "Yojimbo: Bodyguard."
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Extras: |
 |
Nothing out of the ordinary here, if one is
familiar with this company's releases. The selection
of trailers on this disc, while the quality of
the trailers themselves is often lacking, is at
least numerous. Trailers from Samurai
Assassin, Lone
Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell, Zatoichi
the Outlaw, Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman, Lady
Snowblood and this film are the ones
present. It should be noted that the film's own
trailer, while featuring numerous inconsistencies
such as discoloring and obvious print damage,
is actually presented better here than the movie
on this disc, which is a little dishearting to
say the least.
The other extras are text based and, while numerous,
aren't all that interesting to behold. If one
enjoys brushing up on the history of the time
period, the program notes included might make
an interesting read though, and there is an astounding
48 screens worth here. It's all fairly generic
though, so those looking for information more
directly related to this picture, or its director,
will be disappointed. The other supplemental material
includes 8 filmographies, which are only a list
of the actors/actresses film credits, and 12 character
biographies.
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Overview: |
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Bottom line, upon first inserting this disc
I was reminded more of the legion of sub par region
0 Toho discs on the market than anything AnimEigo
had done before. Sadly, AnimEigo isn't compensating
the consumer here. Where as region 0s retail for
around $5, AnimEigo is still charging $25-30 per
DVD. A shame, as Incident at Blood Pass
really does deserve better. If one has an interest
in the movie, then this is still a reasonable
way to view the film, although it would be highly
advisable to hunt it down at a heavily marked
down price.
This disc is also featured in the box set: Toshiro
Mifune: The Ultimate Collection.
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- Anthony Romero |
Buy
this DVD |
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