Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years. Vol. 2 | Blu-ray & DVD (Arrow Video)
RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2018
While we’re still waiting for Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years Vol. 1 box set (due February 13th in the US), Arrow Video has gone ahead and announced Vol. 2! This next set will include Eight Hours of Terror, The Sleeping Beast Within, Smashing the 0-Line, Tokyo Knights, and The Man with a Shotgun.
From Arrow’s announcement: Available for home-viewing for the very first time ever outside of Japan, this collection of bleak crime thrillers, brash mob dramas and exuberant action movies, made across the first five years of Seijun Suzuki’s career within Nikkatsu’s Borderless Action (mukokuseki akushon) line, presents a heady mix that laid the ground for what was to come.
The Sleeping Beast Within (1960) is a gripping crime thriller that sees a newspaper reporter’s search for his girlfriend’s missing father lead him into the heart of the criminal underworld of Yokohama’s Chinatown. Its companion piece, Smashing the 0-Line (1960), follows two reporters’ descent into a scabrous demimonde of drug and human trafficking. In Eight Hours of Terror (1957), a bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers. In Tokyo Knights (1961), a college student takes over the family business in the field of organised crime, while The Man with A Shotgun (1961) marks Suzuki’s first entry into the territory of the “borderless” Japanese Western.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
- Limited Edition Dual Format Collection [1500 copies]
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Newly translated optional English Subtitles
- Audio commentary by critic and author Jasper Sharp on Smashing the 0-Line
- Tony Rayns on the Crime and Action Movies – the critic and historian discusses the background to the films, their place within Suzuki’s career and the talent involved with them
- Trailers
- Stills Gallery
- Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- 60-page illustrated collector’s book featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp
The box set releases on April 16th in the UK and April 17th in the USA.
Pre-order Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years. Vol. 2 from Amazon.com today!
I skipped Volume 1, but seeing the contents of Volume 2, this looks like a purchase for me. Which of course, will bother me that I have a set sitting on the shelf called Volume 2 with no Volume 1 next to it, meaning I’ll end up buying the first one as well. 🙂
Worth noting that they’re also releasing the Seijun Suzuki flick ‘Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!’ as a UK streaming exclusive to Arrow Video on Amazon Channels.
Vol. 2 appeals to me more as well. I think I’ll be reviewing a screener copy of Vol. 1 soonish so I’ll offer my thoughts on that one while we wait for Vol. 2!