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Red Beard (Akahige) is the beautiful story of Noboru Yasumoto, a young and haughty doctor who has trained to be the personal physician of the shogun. His father, whose friend happens to be the current physician, has asked him to call upon Kyojio Niide (Akahige) the director of a clinic for the poor. Upon his arrival he discovers that he is to replace one of the doctors there and assist Red Beard. This, obviously, infuriates the proud young physician and he begins with much indignation. As Noboru works with Red Beard he learns compassion and admiration for his new supervisor as well as the patients he serves.

Of course there is a great deal more going on here than a mere plot description might suggest, and this is a masterpiece just waiting for you to discover. The overall look of the film brings to life 19th century Japan with magnificent set and costume design. The performances of Toshiro Mifune (his last with Kurosawa) and Yuzo Kayama (Yasumoto) are inspired and enchanting. As for Kurosawa's signature camerawork and understated scoring, these are both incredibly effective. While there aren't any samurai's or a comical performance from Mifune, Red Beard is a remarkable slice of life spectacularly captured by master Kurosawa. A must see.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Criterion usually doesn't leave anything to chance when it comes to restoring films for DVD release, and Red Beard honors that tradition. And in a policy that seems so plainly obvious but painfully rare, Criterion is about the only distributor out there who also explains where their new prints and transfers come from in plain English for all to understand. "The new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Sony Vialta Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive."

This 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is in line with the best of black and white film transfers being made. The restoration is spectacular with only the occasional nick or scratch noticeable, as many scenes are more reminisce of an early 90's flick than one from the mid-60's. Contrast is magnificent, with blacks nice and deep and whites very stable and never too hot. Detail and shadow delineation are also amazing for a film of this age. The costumes play such a large role in depicting the setting and are captured beautifully here. Alas, there may have been too much "restoration" going on, as edge enhancement seems to be a problem here with almost every hard edge has a distracting ring to it. But other than that, this transfer is outstanding.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Like the video, Criterion also gives us some insight into the soundtrack. "The new sound mix was created from the original 4-track magnetic master and mastered at 24- bit. Audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle." The original Japanese language track was recorded at 448 kbps and mixed into Dolby Digital 4.0s. Dialogue is very well anchored and reproduced from the center channel and sounds natural. The minimal but effective music score is replicated wonderfully. The sound effects (wooden footsteps, wind, sliding doors) are also reproduced to a tee and may be the only few elements that are rarely placed in the rear channels. There are a few scenes where an ever so slight hiss is present, but overall this is a fantastic track.

English subtitles are included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

There are only a couple of extras on this disc, but the highlight is certainly the screen-specific audio commentary by Kurosawa film scholar Stephen Prince. Holy informational, Batman! Recorded in 2001, this commentary is like an immense two hour and forty-five minute seminar on Kurosawa. Though it does sound like he is reading from notes one couldn't ask for a more complete look at this film. Slightly dry but packed with intelligent insight.

Also included is the theatrical trailer in stereo and non-anamorphic. It is a very cool trailer, but the subtitles are hard- encoded in the black bars, so they won't show up unless you're watching on a 4:3 set or in full screen mode on a 16:9 set.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts