Ugetsu [videorecording] / a Kenji Mizoguchi film ; producer, Masaichi Nagata ; original story by Akinari Ueda ; screenplay, Matsutaro Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda ; director, Kenji Mizoguchi.

Other Titles:

Publisher: [New York] : [S.l.] : Janus Films ; Criterion Collection, 2005.

ISBN: 0780030303 (disc 1)
9780780030305 (disc 1)

Description: 2 videodiscs (247 min.) : sd., b&w (disc 1) and col. (disc 2) ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 book (69 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.)

Series: Criterion collection ; 309

Subject: Marriage Japan Drama.
Ambition Drama.
Foreign films.
Feature films.
Motion pictures, Japanese.

Credits: Director of photography, Kazuo Miyagawa ; editor, Mitsuzo Miyata ; composer, Fumio Hayasaka.

Performers: Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Kinuyo Tanaka, Sakae Ozawa, Mitsuko Mito.

Notes: In Japanese with optional English subtitles.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1953 by Daiei Film Production, Ltd. entitled "Ugetsu monogatari."
Based on the stories of Akinari Ueda.
Documentary (disc 2) called: Kenji Mizoguchi: the life of a film director; directed by Kaneto Shindo (1975).
Special features: Audio commentary by renowned critic, filmmaker, and festival programmer Tony Rayns ; Two Worlds Interwined--a new 14 min. appreciation of Ugetsu by director Masahiro Shinoda ; Process and Production--a new 20 min. video interview with Tokuzo Tanaka, first assistant director on Ugetsu ; Ten min. video interview with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, from 1992 ; and theatrical trailers.

Contents: Disc 1. Ugetsu (97 min.) -- Disc. 2. Kenji Mizoguchi: the life of a film director (150 min.).

Summary: In sixteenth century Japan a village potter and his brother-in-law set out for the city to seek their fortunes in the spoils of war. Their neglected wives suffer the bitter consequences of their husbands' ambition as one is murdered by soldiers and the other is raped and becomes a prostitute.