John W. wrote:
> Dan Rempel wrote:
>
>>John W. wrote:
>>
>>>TXZZ wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Of Dragon ball or rashomon
>>>
>>>
>>>All old Japanese films. Check that: all Japanese films. Saw Tampopo
>>>again a while back and it, too, wasn't retouched at all.
>>
>>Have you seen the Criterion stuff? The old Kurosawa 時代物 look
>
> pretty good.
>
> I have seen several (and own a couple) and honestly they look like
> crap. The films are either too dark or too light and in Seven Samurai
> they didn't correct for streaks on the original film. They also don't
> do anything to make the subtitles more legible; often they get lost in
> the dark background.
>
> I still love the movies, and maybe that's the best they can do; I
> understand the challenges they face. But I think all Criterion did was
> take the film and put them on DVD with no attempt to improve the
> quality.

I think you must have some early ones; the ones I have (e.g. Yojimbo)
are quite clean, good contrast, and I don't remember any serious
streaking/film damage. In fact, to check, I just dug out "The Hidden
Fortress," and there were a couple of streaks in the first few minutes,
then pretty much as above. The subtitles are white on black below the
actual film, and quite legible. I guess YMMV.

Dan