Warning: \"Seven Samurai\" DVD

[ishikawa2]

I just received a copy of a "Seven Samurai" DVD bought off the web. Very disappointing ... be warned!

It is an "all regions" DVD distributed by a Hong Kong (pirate?) concern named "ah Mei"
or "Mei Ah Laser Disc Company". (Lots of eBay action on these.) The actual video and audio is OK, but the "Engrish" subtitles are horrible. It is apparently translated from Japanese to English by a native Chinese speaker without sufficient skills in either language. The subtitles are so badly translated that it is really jarring at times and it becomes very difficult to follow. It's apparently so targeted to the Chinese market that any reference to warrior skills (bushido) is printed as "ku-fung" or rarely "kung-fu". The perfectly respectable Japanese names have been replaced with Chinese-sounding "Chi", "Shing", "Ping" and so on.
The actual word "samurai" is always shown as "knight", which to me is sheer nonsense.

These things are garbage! I'm going to try to return this coaster and then try to buy a real "Criterion" DVD copy.

...grumble... grumble... grumble...
a real hack job on a DARN good movie!!

[This message has been edited by ishikawa2 (edited 08-02-2001).]

[vangersonm]

thats why i sold it to you.......

[vangersonm]

i'll buy it back for 10 cents plus shipping and handling

[Zen Blade]

Vanger,

PLEASE only make relevant posts here in the history forum.

If you want to be humorous, that is fine, BUT be humorous within a post of merit.

Posting one liners like those above doesn't really do anything. If you are looking to up your post number, please check out the off-topic forum. There are places for that.


Ishikawa,
The DVD you bought... it wasn't the "official" USA one, correct?

-Zen Blade

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Zen Blade Asai
Red Devil
Last of the RSG
Clan Tenki Council-Unity, Retired
SHS Core Member

[ishikawa2]

Zen_blade --
I assume by "official USA" you mean crypto-crippled for play on DVD players sold in "Region 1" only. No.
As I said, it is an "all Regions" DVD. Since I have fond hopes of doing extensive overseas cruising someday, and books, tapes, and DVDs are frequently traded among cruisers, I thought that getting an "all regions" DVD was a good thing. Alas, not in this case. My understanding is that there are certainly legitimate (non-pirated) "all regions" DVDs to be had. That may be even true in this case... I just don't know.

I am merely warning this community about this particular sub-standard product.

As Sgt. Esterhaus might say: "Let's be careful out there"

Hmmmm... is anybody else here old enough to remember that?????

[This message has been edited by ishikawa2 (edited 08-03-2001).]

[DarthGuru]

I have the official USA version and of course like all foreign movies the translation is bad, but I didn't think it was that bad....

[ishikawa2]

Darth -- I assume your copy is the "Criterion" copy?? (Apparently there are even two versions from Criterion, but that's just my impression from a quick on-line investigation.)

The good news is that the merchant responded favorably to my request to return it, so they seem to be OK folks to deal with, but this particular DVD just doesn't measure up, at least for me.

A samurai (knight http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/confused.gif ) named Ching ??? http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/rolleyes.gif

[This message has been edited by ishikawa2 (edited 08-03-2001).]

[DarthGuru]

I believe it is the Criterion version but not sure which of the two your talking about. Either way I still think its good enough to watch and keep http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[NinjaKilla]

I've got the British Film Institute version and it's fine. (Although I don't think much of the film itself.)

I've watched a few French films in my time (no not that type!) and I would stay that in general the standard of subtitling is not high.

Having said that one of my mates used to work by writting subtitles for movies. She actually told me that the by the time the fifth porn movie arrives on your desk on Friday morning, you can't wait for the weekend ... http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/confused.gif http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif

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Dr Dolittle- Say: bollocks.

[This message has been edited by NinjaKilla (edited 08-04-2001).]

[TosaInu]

Konnichiwa,

Yes the Mei Ah productions are a big shame.
I've Throne of Blood and Sanjuro. The subtitles are horrible.

I've also Shjushichinin No Shikaku (forgive me if I spell it wrong please: I copy the covertitle). These subtitles there are really horrible, I can't follow the story at all.
Apart from that you get sentences like: "Put up the knive!" when a katana is meant.

BFI copies are good, though I can't judge about the quality of the translations as I don't speak Japanese.



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Ja mata
Toda MizuTosaInu
Daimyo Takiyama Shi

http://www.takiyama.cjb.com