Review: Eleven Samurai

Amazon Price: $19.99		Starring: Junko Miyazono, Koji Nanbara, Isao Natsuyagi, Ko Nishimura Directed: Eichi Kudo Release Date: 1967 Run Time:  100 Minutes Format: DVD Audio: Japanese / Subtitles: English Distributor: Animeigo

The lord of the Oshi fief is killed by his trespassing neighbor, the cruel and cowardly Nariatsu, son of the former Shogun.

But when the Oshi clan is blamed for the incident and sentenced to be abolished, eleven of their best warriors decide to trade their lives for justice! – Animeigo

Audio

Audio Format(s): Japanese, Dolby Digital 2ch
Subtitles: English

The audio is not surround sound as its made in 1967. It’s in Dolby Digital 2ch and the film sounds good for what it is. No hiss, no distortions or distortions on loud noises , its pretty clean. Compared to HD 7.1 surround sound I have to give the sound a mediocre rating. Not saying its bad just comparing the best to this film is all.

Rating:

Video

Disc Format: DVD-9
Encoding: MPEG-2
Video Aspect: 2.35:1 Widescreen
Resolution: 720 x 480

The Video Quality for a DVD in Black in white is pretty good but it doesn’t compare to Blu-Ray. Although a Little better than the last Film in the trilogy with less Twinkling Star effects on dark scenes and no line going across the screen this is a good copy. On close-ups the film looks great with deep blacks and smooth details. On a few scenes where its fast paced you get a small mount of pixelation. All in all for it being in black and white and on DVD its pretty good.

Rating:

DVD Disc release Date: November 6, 2012

• Program Notes
•  Image Gallery
•  Theatrical Trailers

Eleven Samurai Elevates battle scenes in an artistic way. This has got to be one of my favorite  ending battle scenes in Japanese Cinema. The shots were well done with great use of weather. The scenes combined good action  with heavy rain, lots of mud,blood and when the rain stops you get a dense fog giving you that effect of blurring the background and showcasing the foreground. I thought it was a great view. The battle it self wasn’t as hectic as the last 2 films in the trilogy and the action was as realistic as the other 2. The battles were more sword swinging with no style as they just wanted to kill one another.

The film leading up to the great battle scene at the end was great as well. This film shows both sides playing the chess board, meaning instead of the assassins plotting and making movies the other side was doing the same. The other 2 films in the trilogy didn’t do this. The film Has bits of action through out and the best part compared to the 2 films in the trilogy you get to see more of the bad guy, the son of a retired shogun. You get to hate the enemy more in this film as it show cases more of the lords actions and cruelty, also it gives the bad guy or lord more screen time.

I loved the film and I feel this a Little better than 13 Assassins but not by much and I give it the same ratting of 4.5 out of 5

I say Buy the film and watch one of the greatest ending battles scenes in a more artistic way. I had to watch the end twice.