Dealz

First of all, remember John Claridge, from August? If you do, you might also remember that we plugged a tiny little publication of his, called Another Time, Another Place. It wasn't really a book, more like a pamphlet with some representative images in it—veritable ephemera—but on the other hand, it only cost £4 ($6.50). It sold out in an hour.

Well, there's a new one, called Along the Thames (that's pronounced "tems," for those of you who didn't know that), on press as we speak. This one's £5. (I can't buy one, because my PayPal account is down for maintenance. Frowny face.)

Here's where you go to get it. Orders will be shipped next Wednesday. These won't last long—there are only 100 numbered copies.

UPDATE: After I posted this, I took an hour out to write a political post announcing my run for the Presidency*—and when I looked up, Along the Thames was sold out. As for the post, don't worry, I won't publish it, but, as Craig Ferguson says, "made myself laugh, and that's half the battle."

•     •     •

Also, I don't usually pass along Amazon "Gold Box" deals unless they have something directly to do with photography, but today I can't resist—they're offering the Blu-Ray of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai for half off. This movie has always been on my personal ten best list (for what that's worth), since I saw it in college, while other movies drift in and out of the top ten. It's the story of a tiny Medieval Japanese village that's being threatened by a band of brigands. The villagers pool their resources and hire seven samurai—wandering independent warriors—to protect them. It's got everything you want a classic movie to have: a crackling narrative, wonderful photography, great acting, just enough of a love story, and fight and battle scenes aplenty—and along the way, humor, pathos, tension, character studies, and more great scenes than you can count. It's the greatest masterpiece of one of the world's greatest directors from the age of photography, before computer effects took over movies.

Very highly recommended, for the twenty-eight people within the sound of my voice who have never seen it.

Mike

*From the SOTS Party, which is short for the Cranky People Who Are Sick of This Sh*t Party.

Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
A book of interest today:

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Paul Crouse, Kyoto, Japan: "My late Japanese father-in-law loved that movie so much that he named my wife after the only female character in the movie who had a name. In one scene in the mist of a battle, the young samurai in love with the young woman runs out out of his secure position to find her, shouting her name: 'Shino! Shino! Shino!' Ah... to be in love with a woman named Shino...."

Comments

[Stephen Gilbert]

And of course The Seven Samurai was the basis for The Magnificent Seven.

[nb]

Ah, thanks for that. Put in my order for the Claridge book (Paypal is working fine now).

As for the Kurosawa, a classic in the best sense of the term. Criterion has made its usual top-drawer effort to bring us the very best remastering and extras available (I already have a copy). Highly re-watchable.

[Mattias]

Agreed, The Seven Samurai is a great movie and a great Kurosawa movie. However, personally I like Yojimbo even more, which is a re-interpretation of Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest, and was later re-made in A handful of dollars with Clint Eastwood. Kurosawa was quite inspired by American storytelling. An equally good but quite different Kurosawa movie was Ikiru, a must see film about one sad man. Beautiful photography as well. But the best Japanese film I have ever seen, in all aspects but especially in terms of the quality of the photography is Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu. That is a movie for the ages.

[ted]

Velvet CEll book have the same feel..low price saddle stitched..Mostly focused on night photography in urban landscape,one of my favourite subjects back in the analog days.

[Steve Jones]

Not only the superb "Seven Samurai" but also the wonderfully ambitious "Samurai Trilogy," which also stars Mifune Tishiro. Just about a month ago I was looking to buy both of these movies, but I wasn't happy with the price. Now I am, and now both purchased. Thanks much!

[Dennis Ng]

Good movie. BTW, what are your ten best?

[Joe in L.A.]

Stephen, it was also the basis for Pixar's "A Bug's Life."

Kind of like "The Shop Around the Corner" begat "In the Good Old Summertime" begat "You've Got Mail."

Just be sure to view them in the correct chronological order lest you think the original ripped off a later version, like when I was young and finally listened to Buddy Holly music and wondered why he was covering so many Linda Ronstadt songs. :o

[Mike Plews]

Oh goodie a Japanese movie OT treat on TOP! I love it when stuff like this happens.
Ditto to all the movie recommendations posted so far. May I add High and Low to the Kurosawa list? It's one of the great cop movies of all time.
If you want to drift off into Japanese art films check out Double Suicide by Masaharo Shinoda. Same for Ugetsu Monogatari.
This is why they made Netflix.

[Sarge]

I like both Kurosawa films (Seven & Yojimbo) which I saw on the big screen in high school. I didn't know then who Kurosawa was nor that he was the director.

Much later I rented his Dreams in LaserDisc (not released in local theaters). I would later buy it when the rental store was giving them away at a bargain as they transitioned to DVD. LaserDisc rentals cost more then than today's DVD's of older releases. (My small LaserDisc collection had been orphaned since my Pioneer player conked out.)

I think that Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima diptych falls within this genre. Would you recommend him?

[Derek Lyons]

"The Seven Samurai" was the basis for a *lot* of films. Some forgotten, some forgettable, some not-so-bad ones, some classics... Deciding where "Battle Beyond the Stars" sits is always a source of lively debate.

If you're into anime, it's worth it to search out "Samurai 7" - which re-imagines "The Seven Samurai" in a post apocalyptic/steampunk setting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_7

[Alberto]

I was fortunate have the best possible introduction to "The 7 Samurai" I could have wished.

I first saw this movie when I was 13 or 14 on TV in my home in Chile (years before I moved here to the USA). I started watching this strange and fascinating movie about old Japan without knowing who directed it, who were those amazing actors or anything.

I was entranced, and did not stop watching. This was a major discovery and influenced my young mind in profound ways. I did not know what I had just seen, but it did not matter. Years later I discovered others thought that this was a masterpiece of cinema. But I already knew that.

Check other Kurosawa films, they are all worth it, no matter where or when they are set. "Stray Dog" for example is set in 1949 Japan, after the destruction of the war and before the Japanese economic boom started, it is one of the best police movies I have seen. Incidentally the "bad guy" in this movie is the same that played the young and inexperienced Samurai in 7 samurai. I will stop here but there is so much more ...

Alberto