Does anybody have an idea where this movie, Zatoichi 14, is?. All the other Zatoichi titles, 1-25, are available somewhere, somehow, except this one. Does anybody have an answer as to its non-availablity, either to rent or to buy?
It may never have been released beyond Japan, but I can't understand why not, since every other one was.
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
sonny
The rights to 14th Zatoichi film are owned today by Shintaro Katsu's estate. And for some reason the people now in charge of his estate have not relinquished rights for any English language distributor to release it on video.
I personally was afraid that this might have been a “lost” Zatoichi film, that perhaps they were no good prints of the film left. Luckily that is not the case. The movie has in the past been released on video(DVD?) in Japan. But it has never been released in American or England simply because it hasn’t. There is nothing in the foreseeable future that predicts if the movie might be released.
Look here for pretty much the same thing I just told you
http://www.momii.com/zatoichi/faqs.html#ep14
Thank you for that information; it explains its absence in the English-speaking marketplace. I too am aware that Zatoichi 14 is for sale in Japanese Language DVD format but could not understand why it was not available in English like all 25 other Zatoichi films are. Thanks for the lead to that website.
Sonny
Does his estate own the rights to all the Zatoichi films that Shintaro Katsu did, or just #14?
sharehttp://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa104.html
According to that, there is another reason #14 hasn't seen an English release. BTW, #14 is a good entry with a couple great action sequences (some of the best in the series), but as a whole it is pretty formulaic. I'd rank it as in the middle of the series, quality wise.
Thanks to both posters for the theories as to #14's absence.
I have been watching the series in order as aired on IFC (US TV), and once the schedule reaches #14, I see it will jump around wildly to older episodes, almost as if to distract the viewer, before returning to #15 and continuing.
Mirimax is holding the rights to the U.S. distribution of this film, but they won't release it because they remade it as "Blind Fury" in 1990. It's just like how none of the Japanese "Ringu" sequals got an American release until AFTER the Hollywood production of "The Ring 2" because they wanted THEIR film to be the definitive version recognized by American audiences...except it's been 17 years now, and Mirimax still won't release Zatouichi #14, or relinquish the rights to it. Ano yarou...
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go look for a (non-bootleg) foreign DVD distribution. (Eat that, Mirimax.)
~ Region Locking is evil! Hack your DVD player today! ~
===NO MIRAMAX===
Sorry, but Miramax has NEVER held the rights to #14.
Chambara Entertainment of Honolulu held the VHS rights for years, but hadn't the money to release it. When they lost the rights, they begged for DVD release rights. Meanwhile the bootlegger prepared and released #14.
To the knowledge of any true fan, no one else has bootlegged #14. It is possible that they have "bootlegged the bootleg"....
The Katsu Productions Company and his heirs denied the rights to anyone. The film on DVD ONLY has been on release in Japan only for about four years or so.
The Miramax story is absolutely silly... but it is based on facts:
Quentin Tarantino approached Chambara in the late eighties for negotiating remake rights to The One-armed Swordsman. Why he did it no one knows, since Chambara never had rights to it; AnimEigo had the video release rights.
Tarantino was told first yes, then no, through Chambara. No one knows why. Tarantino walked away and then for some reason TriStar made "Blind Fury", a remake of I believe it is #17 in the Ichi series.
This is the official story from the Chambara Company.
Now I suggest everyone read this: www.momii.com/zatoichi/zato14-1.html and all will be revealed!!
I have the SamuraiDVD.com bootleg and I can confirm that it is VERY good quality in terms of both picture and subtitles. In fact it far eclipses the crappy R2 releases artsmagic put out here in the UK. So bad are artsmagic`s releases that they managed to label Zatoichi At Large as Zatoichi`s pilgrimage-every transfer they have released has been absolute crap compared to the US equivalent to boot-I`m so lucky I didn`t spend money on any of them. So a word of warning: any artsmagic releases on DVD can be gained from another source with better quality(usually R1)
BTW Zatoichi`s Pilgrimage is a superb entry in the series and deserves a release right now.....
I don't know which version you have but the one I have has an identical menu system to the Home Vision Entertainment versions although the menu is in japanese it looks exactly the same.
I'm guessing that they were able to get the release rights for this film in another region but not region 1 which is my region.
And your right it is a great film and it completes my collection.
I'm very happy to have this -- when the HVE vhs were being released, I actually corresponded with the dude in charge of Zato and found out where I could get #14...
I can't remember where I got it -- it was so many years ago -- but it's a very good print with (afaict) good subtitles...
I don't understand why the Katsu estate would NOT want to release this, mediocre, or not! The Zatoichi craze has really exploded in the last ten years in the US -- I remember when finding another ichi fan was as rare as an honest banker...
[deleted]
[deleted]