Great news for fans of classic Japanese cinema, Eureka are releasing Kwaidan in May.

Featuring in their Masters of Cinema range with a running time of 183 minutes, retaining the same high standards as the previous releases and containing some good extras:

A selection of original trailers

Promotional material gallery

New and improved optional English subtitles

Special 72-page illustrated book with reprints of Lafcadio Hearn's original ghost stories; a survey of the life and career of Masaki Kobayashi by Linda Hoaglund; and a wide-ranging interview with the filmmaker the last he ever gave.

Eureka have become the high quality company for classic dvd releases in the UK, their transfer of Onibaba (among others) has been rated as the best, I have great expectations for Kwaidan especially in this extended form.

Also due for release at the same time is a fully restored transfer of Satyajit Ray's Abhijan, again supplied with good extras:

Video interview with Professor Dilip Basu, director of the Ray FASC (20 mins)

Promotional material gallery

New and improved optional English subtitles

36-page full colour booklet with reprints of Ray's original production sketches; writing by Marie Seton, Waheeda Rehman, and Joseph Lindner.

I haven't seen Abhijan but it's great to see more of his films released, apparently this was his most popular film in Bengal and I for one am really looking forward to seeing it.

Cheers Trev.

Cheers Trev