Post Description

The Thirteen Assassins(1963) PAL DVD9 Kudo Custom Eng subs 
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Plot or synopsis The story of Thirteen Assassins begins with a vassal of the Akashi clan 
committing seppuku in front of a daimyo's house. As it turns out, it's in protest to his lord 
raping and killing a girl and her samurai husband. This scandal is quickly covered up as the 
Akashi lord happens to be the Shogun's younger brother. What makes matters worse is that 
this reckless scoundrel will be soon appointed to a higher political position which could 
prove to be detrimental for the entire Shogunate. In response to that, a plot is hatched: 
13 assassins will undertake the suicide mission to murder him on his way back from Edo.

The movie can be roughly split in two parts. The first hour is purely character- driven, in a 
anti-establishment style that resembles Masaki Kobayashi and his masterful work in 
Seppuku and Samurai Rebellion. The last half hour is totally action-oriented as we see 
the Akashi clan entourage being trapped in a village and fighting to protect their lord, at 
which point one could be forgiven for thinking Seven Samurai and Akira Kurosawa.

This is really a very very good, if not a bit obscure, 60's jidai-geki shot in black and white, 
which is the only medium that can truly do justice to the genre. Solid DP work with the 
classic Nipponese geometrical style in compositions, the remastered print is gorgeous to 
look at and Eiichi Kudo, who was an unknown quality for me so far, proves to be a very 
skillfull film-maker. The story carries familiar jidai-geki themes of the era; the oppression 
of the strong, old friends that have to face off, a vassal that sees how villainous his lord is 
yet he doesn't hesitate to sacrifice his life for him. It's not quite as elaborate and tragic as 
Kobayashi's work and is pretty much abandoned after the first half hour where the 
emphasis shifts to the planning of the assassination, but it still provides a solid dramatic 
backdrop. The final battle could have been better though, not bad by any means but it won't 
make any best- final-fights lists either.

Overall a very solid and commendable effort, beautiful to look at with a nice story and some 
action to go with it. Fans of the genre will definitely lap it up. (imdb) 



 IMDb Link........: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057212/

 Genre............: Jidai-geki
 Distributor......: Wild Side
 Year.............: 1963
 Country..........: Japan
 Director.........: KUDO Eiichi

 Source...........: DVD9-Credits to Polifem@ADC
 DVD Format.......: PAL
 DVD Size.........: DVD5
 Programs Used....: PgcDemux, Muxman, VobBlanker, DvdSubEdit/DVD Remake Pro/ADC Rebuilder-PC2

 Screen Format....: 2.35:1
 Audio Language...: Japanese
 Audio Format.....: DD 2.0
 Subtitles........: English(custom), French

 Menu.............: [x] Untouched, intact.(Menu has been stilled)
                    [ ] Stripped.

 Video............: [ ] Untouched, intact.
                    [x] Re-encoded.

 DVD Extras.......: [ ] Untouched, intact.
                    [ ] Re-encoded.
                    [x] Stripped.
                    [ ] None on source.
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Credits to Polifem for the DVD9 source!!
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The Custom English subs can not be chosen by the DVD menu so use your remote instead :-)
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Enjoy the original 13 Assassins movie (in black&white) !!
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Loggie