Masaki Kobayashi - Kaidan AKA Kwaidan (1964)

Japanese Title: Kaidan International English title: Kwaidan Director: Masaki Kobayashi Year: 1964 Language: Japanese Subtitles: English (softsubs) Source: DVD Plot Synopsis from AMG Kwaidan is an impressively mounted anthology horror film based on four stories by Lafcadio Hearn, a Greek-born writer who began his career in the United States at the age of 19 and moved permanently to Japan in 1890 at the age of 40, where he eventually became a subject of the empire and took on the name Koizumi Yakuno. Hearn became a conduit of Japanese culture to western audiences, publishing journalism and then fiction incorporating traditional Japanese themes and characters. "Black Hair," the first tale, concerns a samurai who cannot support his wife; he leaves her for a life of wealth and ease with a princess. Returning years later, he spends the night with his wife in their now-dilapidated house, only to awake to a horrifying discovery which drives him insane. In "The Woman of the Snow" (deleted from U.S. theatrical prints after the film's Los Angeles opening; it is on the DVD version), two woodcutters seek refuge during a snowstorm in what appears to be an abandoned hut. A snow witch appears and kills one of them but lets his partner free. Years later, the survivor meets and married a lovely young woman, only to learn her true identity. The most visually impressive tale is "Hoichi the Earless," in which a blind musician is asked by the ghost of a samurai to play for his late infant lord at a tomb. The monks who house the musician cover him with tattoos to prevent any harm coming to him, but they forget his ears. He returns from the engagement with his ears cut off; however, his misadventure propels him to fame. "In a Cup of Tea" concerns a samurai who is haunted by the vision of a man he sees reflected in his tea. Even after he drinks from the cup, he still sees the man while on guard duty. Tom Wiener Review by from AMG Elegantly shot in widescreen by Yoshio Miyajima and impressively scored by Toru Takemitsu (Japan's greatest film composer), Kwaidan is a visual or aural feast. It's also the last great film by director Masaki Kobayashi, best known for his epic World War II trilogy The Human Condition. For contemporary western film audiences used to slice-and-dice horror films cut to rock & roll rhythms, it will seem impossibly slow and tame, but that's because it makes no concession at all to western sensibilities. On its original release in 1965, the film was greeted with indifference by U.S. audiences, whose idea of Japanese horror was honed by the pulpy exploits of Godzilla and Mothra. Lafcadio Hearn's source stories delve into the psyches of men who venture into unknown territory; they often begin fearlessly but wind up mad or maimed by their experiences, often at the hands of evil women. In an odd way, Kwaidan resembles a series of film noir tales. Ultimately, though, it is a series of very spooky ghost stories, clearly mounted with great skill on lovingly constructed studio sets (designed by Shigemasa Toda), whose artificiality actually ratchets up the sense of dislocation. Tom Wiener File Name .............: Masaki Kobayashi - Kaidan AKA Kwaidan (1964) - cd1.avi File Size (in bytes) ..: 735,066,112 bytes Runtime (# of frames) .: 1:14:43 (4190320 frames) Video Codec ...........: DivX 3 Low-Motion Frame Size ............: 640x272[=2.353] FPS ...................: 23.976 Video Bitrate .........: 1207 kb/s Bits per Pixel ........: 0.289 bpp B-VOP, N-VOP, QPel, GMC ......: []...[]...[]...[] Audio Codec ...........: 0x0055 MPEG-1 Layer 3 Sample Rate ...........: 48000 Hz Audio bitrate .........: 96 kb/s [1 channel(s)] VBR audio Interleave ............: 42 ms No. of audio streams ..: 1 ********************************* FREAKYFLICKS ********************************** Freakyflicks is a free and open community dedicated to preserving and sharing cinematic art in the digital era. Our goal is to disseminate such works of art to the widest audience possible through the channels provided by P2P technology. The Freakyflicks collection is limited to those films that have played an exceptional role in the history of cinema and its progression in becoming a great art. Films that are usually described as classic, cult, arthouse and avant-garde. If you have films that fit this description feel free to share them and participate in our community. All you need do is include this tag in your upload and join us at the forum to announce your release. http://www.freakyflicks.tk http://freakyflicks.proboards54.com/ 'If we all seed just 1:1, give at least what we take, this torrent will NEVER DIE' asiantorrents

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juster37 (2007-09-12)

BigUP:S!

anallon (2008-03-16)

Thanks for this upload, very much appreciated!!

raidsiren (2008-05-26)

Superb upload, sir. PB needs more like this!

yang_damian (2008-06-28)

Keep in mind this is not the uncut version; the uncut version has about 40 minutes extra

zushigreg (2009-09-19)

This version is good. The video is fine, though a bit dark. And the audio is OK too, though it sounds a bit overdriven *almost* to the point of being distorted, but not quite. The English subtitles are fine.
There is about 7 seconds overlap between video1 and video2. The audio was cut there, but it is just the narrator speaking -- no big problem. (and you could edit this if you really wanted to, nothing is missing).
The runtime is 1:14:42 for video1 and 1:26:49 for video2 -- totaling 2:51:24 or 171:24 when the 7 second overlap is taken out. I don't know if that makes this a cut version or not . . .
The other version on thepiratebay at http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/4567657/ is the same filesize but in one file. It is less well seeded, and the subtitles end at 2:40, so I doubt it is any longer than this one.
Criterion's website is here: http://www.criterion.com/ Please consider supporting them in their work.

peeves010 (2009-11-10)

seeds plz

Incamal (2009-12-30)

To zushigreg:
The runtime for video1 (1:14:42) and video2 (1:26:49) DON'T total 2:51:24 or 171:24!!!
They total 2:41:24 or 162 min!
So this is the Argentinian version!

sunnyape (2012-08-18)

Good quality for the file size. Considering the age of the movie, the larger rips are hard to justify.
A=8, V=8, M=9.

GaySzabos (2013-10-21)

Thank you kegir!
Fine movie, good version, awesome seeders keeping this alive!!!