Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972), Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972), Baby Cart to Hades (1972), Baby Cart in Peril (1972), Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973), White Heaven in Hell (1974), Shogun Assassin (1980) 5 x DVD9 and 3 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, download for free

Nov08

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972), Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972), Baby Cart to Hades (1972), Baby Cart in Peril (1972), Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973), White Heaven in Hell (1974), Shogun Assassin (1980) 5 x DVD9 and 3 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on November 8th, 2018 at 19:16

Posted In: .Other movies, Action, Adventure, Asian, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, History, Thriller

The Lone Wolf and Cub series was based on the manga created in 1970 by Kazuo Koike (who would later go on to create Crying Freeman) and Goseki Kojima. Running to 28 volumes and over 7,000 pages the original manga (published in the USA by Dark Horse comics) is one of the greatest works in the medium of comics anywhere in the world. A television series was developed in Japan in the 1970s and 6 movies, also written by the original creators.

As the official executioner to the Shogun, Ogami Itto has earned a lot of enemies though his enforcement of the strict laws of the Shogunate, ending the lives of many noblemen. In a plot to usurp his position, Ogami’s family and household are murdered and he is accused of treason. Ogami with his baby son, Diagoro takes to the road as an assassin for hire, Lone Wolf and Cub, accepting any assignment for 500 gold pieces. A ruthless killer with no fear of death, his vow is to avenge the dishonour brought upon his family by a secret and deadly organisation, the Yagyu.

"Lone Wolf and Cub" box set contains the original six films, as well as Shogun Assassin, the English-dubbed reconstruction of the first two films. The original six films are sourced from brand new 2K digital restorations. Shogun Assassin is presented as a bonus feature.

3xBD50 + 5xDVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 507 min | 131 Gb + 32.3 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, History, Thriller

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Ogami Itto, the official Shogunate executioner, has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)
Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must assassinate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972)
Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972)
Ogami is hired to kill a tattooed female assassin. Gunbei Yagyu, an enemy samurai, happens upon Ogami's son, and sees his chance for revenge.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973)
Five warriors challenge Ogami to duels. Each has 1/5th of Ogami's assassin fee and 1/5 of the information he needs to complete his assassination. His mission is to kill a mad Daimyo before he destroys his clan!

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (1974)
The final confrontation between Ogami and Retsudo. With most of his family already dead at Ogami's hands, Retsudo launches one last plot to destroy him, and when that fails, unleashes the fury of every remaining member of the Yagyu Clan.

Extras:

• Shogun Assassin (1980) - In a time of evil and tyranny, a stone-faced ronin wanders the countryside with his young son (and a weapon-filled baby cart), hunted by the merciless minions of an evil Shogun. Once a noble samurai, he is now the most feared assassin in Japan, known only as Lone Wolf.

• L'ame d'un Pere, L'ame d'un Sabre - this documentary film takes a closer look at the production history and success of the Lone Wolf and Cub film series, as well their visual style and atmosphere, the evolution of the relationship between the principal characters, and the role of sound/music. Included in it are clips from interviews with producer Masanori Sanada, manga novelist and screenwriter Kazuo Koike, dierctor Buichi Saito (Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril), novelist/Kenji Misumi biographer Kazuma Nozawa, and cinematographer Fujio Morita (Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons), amongst others. The documentary film was produced by French label Wild Side Films in 2005. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (53 min, 1080i).

• Kazuo Koike - in this exclusive new video interview, manga novelist and screenwriter Kazuo Koike discusses his relationship with manga artist Goseki Kojima and explains how together they came up with the original idea for Lone Wolf and Cub, and discusses the historical setting of the manga/film, the similarities between Siegfried and the father samurai, the manga's popularity, his admiration for Wakayama's fighting scenes, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2015. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (12 min, 1080p).

• Kenji Misumi - in this new featurette, Kenji Misumi biographer Kazuma Nozawa discusses the director's rather unusual career (including the time he spent in a prison in Siberia as a POW), his filmmaking style (and specifically the importance of bird's-eye view scenes in his work), and his involvement with four of the six films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series (with some very interesting comments about their graphic nature). The featurette was produced exclusively for Criterion in 2016. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (13 min, 1080p).

• On Suio-ryu - in this new video interview, Sensei Yoshimitsu Katsue, fifteenth headmaster of the Suio-ryu martial arts system, discusses the culture of swordsmanship and Japanese martial arts traditions, Suio-ryu techniques, the choreography of the sword fights in the Lone Wolf and Cub films, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2016. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (14 min, 1080p).

• Sword of the Samurai - this two-part archival documentary was produced by the Kokusaibunka Shinokai (The Society for International Cultural Relations) in Tokyo in 1939. It chronicles the making of a traditional samurai sword by the River Nagara in the Sekimachi, which is known as one of the towns producing the finest swords of Japan. The film can be viewed with an optional ambient score by Ryan Francis of the Metropolis Ensemble, which was commissioned specifically for Criterion's release of the Lone Wolf and Cub films. With original English intertitles. (31 min, 1080p).

• Trailers - original Japanese trailers with optional English subtitles.

Download Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972), Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972), Baby Cart to Hades (1972), Baby Cart in Peril (1972), Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973), White Heaven in Hell (1974), Shogun Assassin (1980) 5 x DVD9 and 3 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection:

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