The Lower Depths (1936/1957) - (The Criterion Collection - #239) [2 DVD9] [2004]

Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa, two of cinema’s greatest directors, transform Maxim Gorky’s classic proletariat play The Lower Depths in their own ways for their own times. Renoir, working amidst the rise of Hitler and the Popular Front in France, had need to take license with the dark nature of Gorky’s source material, softening its bleak outlook. Kurosawa, firmly situated in the postwar world, found little reason for hope. He remained faithful to the original with its focus on the conflict between illusion and reality—a theme he would return to over and over again. Working with their most celebrated actors (Gabin with Renoir; Mifune with Kurosawa), each film offers a unique look at cinematic adaptation—where social conditions and filmmaking styles converge to create unique masterpieces.


MOVIE:
DIRECTOR: Jean Renoir
COUNTRY: France
YEAR: 1936



Cast & Credits

Cast
Pépel (the thief) Jean Gabin
Vassilissa Kostylyov (the landlady) Suzy Prim
Natasha (her sister) Junie Astor
Kostylyov (her husband) Vladimir Sokoloff
The baron (the gambler) Louis Jouvet
The actor Robert Le Vigan
Nastia (the prostitute) Jany Holt
Satine Paul Temps
Jabot Robert Ozanne
Kletsch (Anna’s husband) Henri Saint-Isle
Anna Nathalie Alexeff
The inspector André Gabriello
Felix (the servant) Léon Lavine
Alouchka (the musician) Maurice Baquet
The count Camille Bert
Luka (the pilgrim) René Génin

Credits
Director Jean Renoir
Writer, original play Maxim Gorky
Writers, scenario Jacques Companeez, Jean Renoir, Charles Spaak and Eugene Zamiatine
Producer Alexandre Kamenka
Cinematography Fédote Bourgasoff
Editing Marguerite Renoir
Music Jean Wiener
Sound Robert Ivonnet







DVD:
DVD RELEASE: June 22, 2004
STUDIO: Criterion
CATALOG: 239
SYSTEM: NTSC
SCREEN: 1.33:1
Black & White
AUDIO: French Dolby Digital Mono
SUBTITLES: English
RUNTIME (MOVIE): 89 minutes


EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Decrypter
DVD: 1 Full Dual-Layer DVD
FILE EXTENSION: Image (.ISO) + MDS file
FILE SIZE: 5.76 GB







MOVIE:
DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa
COUNTRY: Japan
YEAR: 1957





Cast & Credits

Cast
Sutekichi (the thief) Toshiro Mifune
Osugi (the landlady) Isuzu Yamada
Okayo (her sister) Kyoko Kagawa
Rokubei (her husband) Ganjiro Nakamura
Yoshisaburo (the gambler) Koji Mitsui
The actor Kamatari Fujiwara
Osen (the prostitute) Akemi Negishi
The ex-samurai Minoru Chiaki
Otaki Nijiko Kiyokawa
Tomekichi (the tinker) Eijiro Tono
Asa (his wife) Eiko Miyoshi
Police agent Kichijiro Ueda
Tatsu Haruo Tanaka
Kahei (the pilgrim) Bokuzen Hidari

Credits
Director Akira Kurosawa
Producers Akira Kurosawa and Shojiro Motoki
Screenplay (based on the Maxim Gorky play Na dne) Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
Cinematography Kazuo Yamasaki
Art direction Yoshiro Muraki
Music Masaru Sato
Sound Fumio Yanoguchi
Sound effects Ichiro Minawa
Lighting Shigeru Mori






DVD:
DVD RELEASE: June 22, 2004
STUDIO: Criterion
CATALOG: 239
SYSTEM: NTSC
SCREEN: 1.33:1
Black & White
AUDIO: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono
SUBTITLES: English
RUNTIME (MOVIE): 125 minutes


EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Decrypter
DVD: 1 Full Dual-Layer DVD
FILE EXTENSION: Image (.ISO) + MDS file
FILE SIZE: 7.44 GB





INFO:

AMAZON
DVD Beaver
CRITERION


SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:

* New high-definition digital transfers of both films, with restored image and sound
* Audio commentary on Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths featuring Japanese-film expert Donald Richie (A Hundred Years of Japanese Film)
* A 33-minute documentary on Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths from the series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, including interviews with Kurosawa, actress Kyoko Kagawa, art director Yoshiro Muraki, and others
* Introduction to Jean Renoir’s The Lower Depths by the director
* Cast biographies for Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa
* Original theatrical trailer for Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths
* New essay by Keiko McDonald (From Book to Screen: Modern Japanese Literature in Films) and Thomas Rimer (A Reader’s Guide to Japanese Literature) for the Kurosawa film; new essay by film scholar Alexander Sesonske, author of Jean Renoir: The French Films 1924-1939, for the Renoir
* New and improved subtitle translations
* Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer editions