DVD
Tokyo Olympiad
Edition
Widescreen version.
Publication Information
[United States] : The Criterion Collection, c2002.
Physical Description
1 videodisc (170 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in. + booklet.
Summary
This documentary is an epic study of athletes struggling to excel against their own bodies and against each other. Kon Ichikawa used 164 cameramen and over 100 cameras to show the humanity of the competitors - the tears of the Japanese women volleyball champions, the bellow of the hammer throwers, the pain of the collapsed marathon runner and the solitude of the loser, finishing his lap, picking up his sweats and leaving the field. The glory, despair, passion, and suffering of Olympic competition are rendered with lyricism and technical mastery, culminating in an inspiring testament to the beauty of the human body and the strength of the human spirit.
Notes
DVD format ; Dolby digital mono.
Videodisc release of the 1965 production.
Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.
Additional title from container.
Not rated.
In Japanese with optional subtitles in English.
Special features include: New high-definition digital transfer ; audio commentary by film historian Peter Cowie ; 1992 video interview with Kon Ichikawa ; liner notes by writer George Plimpton ; complete list of winners in all events ; symposium on Toyko Olympiad, excerpted from the Cinematheque Ontario book, Kon Ichikawa ; optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition.
Presented in a widescreen format which preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio (2.35:1) ; enhanced for widescreen TVs.