"Actor: Etsushi Takahashi"

• Hanzo The Razor (3 DVD Special Edition Box Set) (UNCUT) | DVD | (06/04/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Love samurai films? Wish they were... dirtier? Welcome to Hanzo the Razor'sderanged world of crazy swordplay and sexploitation set to a 1970s funk soundtrack. Uncut for the first time ever in the UK this cult 1970s Japanese pinku trilogy was seemingly influenced by Dirty Harry and Shaft but there's no doubt who has the 'longer arm of the law'! Shintaro Katsu (best known as the blind swordsman in the original Zatoichi) stars as Hanzo - a rebellious yet obsessively moral samurai police officer who slashes his way through the backbone of crime uncovers corruption at higher levels and tortures relentlessly using his own unique techniques. Shocking audiences even today the hardest man in Edo regularly unleashes his special weapon in the form of his oversized penis which he uses to 'interrogate' female suspects into pleasured compliance. Despite the knuckle-biting graphic violence there is an underlying social commentary testifying to the noble honour of the samurai and emphasising Hanzo's status as the people's champion. In Sword of Justice Hanzo overturns his own gutless superiors; in The Snare he breaks into a temple used by local magistrates for the sadistic torture of young girls. In Who's Got the Gold? the shogunate treasury is being looted by its own officials. From the creator of the Lone Wolf and Cub series (used as the basis for Shogun Assassin and a direct influence on Tarantino's Kill Bill) the Hanzo the Razor trilogy is presented here for the first time in the UK complete and uncut.

• Return From The River Kwai | DVD | (04/06/2001) from £5.89   |  Saving you £-2.90 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  True story of British and Australian POW's held by the Japanese in Thailand. Near the end of the war the fittest of the POW's were moved by rail and ship to Japan and during the sea journey the convoy comes under attack from an American submarine at the same time as the Allied POW's were making a daring attempt to take over the ship.

• Red Lion | DVD | (18/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With the winds of change sweeping through Japan overthrowing three centuries of Shogunate rule Gonzo (Toshiro Mifune) a peasant enlists in the Imperial Restoration Force which promises to reform the oppression of the past. Gonzo persuades his commander to lend him his Red Lion Mane a symbol of authority and rides into his old home town where he receives a hero's welcome. This tale both touching and hilarious traces the difficulties of a simple boastful humane man caught in the web of political intrigue. Casting a cold eye on politicians of all hues at its climax it achieves true tragic intensity.

• Zatoichi's Pilgrimage | DVD | (02/02/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (100.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A girl is assaulted on the highway and Zatoichi is embarassed to find himself acting as midwife to a dying woman. Entrusted with the baby he embarks on a mission to the village of Dashu to deliver the baby to the father Satoro. When there he is waylaid and cheated by Seji a young stooge of the local gang whose ageing father is Dashu's law enforcement officer. To add to his miseries he is dogged by a boy who delights in stoning him and running away. Dashu's loan shark gamblers

• Zatoichi | DVD | (20/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo The gentle breeze the murmur of a babbling brook the scent of plums. These memories call Zatoichi the blind swordsman back to a once-loved village. But memories are deceptive and he arrives to find things much changed. The former boss Hyoroku has been reduced to a carver of statues of Jizo the Buddha of Healing and his daughter Umeno has become a hostess and as she describes herself one of the bad ones. Control of the village is split between a former travelling merchant Eboshiya and his son Masagoro. Eboshiya befriends Zatoichi and seeks his aid against Masagoro's minder the drunken samurai Yojimbo the crooked crook. When a masseur is killed amidst rumours that a large amount of gold has been secreted in the village the two factions begin to size each other up. It is at this point that Masagoro's younger son suddenly decides his father needs more protection and calls on the services of the contract killer Kuzuryu... Zatoichi's Pilgrimage A girl is assaulted on the highway and Zatoichi is embarassed to find himself acting as midwife to a dying woman. Entrusted with the baby he embarks on a mission to the village of Dashu to deliver the baby to the father Satoro. When there he is waylaid and cheated by Seji a young stooge of the local gang whose ageing father is Dashu's law enforcement officer. To add to his miseries he is dogged by a boy who delights in stoning him and running away. Dashu's loan shark gamblers are on the point of seizing Satoro's sister Oyae to become a sex slave in forfeit for an unpaid debt and with the arrival of Satoro the town begins to heat up. In the process of resolving Oyae's financial difficulties Zatoichi reveals himself as master of a wide range of martial skills as well as finding time to teach certain hoodlums the intricacies of nude dancing... Zatoichi At The Blood Fest The endless travels of the blind swordsman have unexpectedly led him back to the town of Kasama. Zatoichi's arrival has coincided with a welcome home feast for Shinbei his childhood friend. Shinbei has returned home a successful businessman and pays the town's taxes which it cannot afford apparently due to the poor rice harvest. But Shinbei's motives are far from pure. With the peasants now in his debt he is free to plunder their quarry and to sell their stone across country. In order to save his hometown Zatoichi must confront his former friend and end the conspiracy of rice and stone. Zatoichi Meets The One Armed Swordsman A one-armed swordsman saves the life of a young boy sentenced to death for stopping an official procession. The local peasants however suffer in the aftermath as all are massacred and Zatoichi is caught up in the maelstrom...

• Kill Bill Style - The Second Collection | DVD | (31/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Includes Babycart In The Land Of Demons Zatoichi's Pilgrimage and Lady Snowblood - Love Song Of Vengeance. Babycart In The Land Of Demons Hired to ensure that the succession of the clan passes to the legitimate heir the son of Lord Kuroda Lone Wolf becomes enmeshed in a web of intrigue that leads in turn to the Yagyu. Before he can break free he must turn against the very men who hired him the loyal retainers of the Kuroda clan... Zatoichi's Pilgrimage A girl is assaulted on the highway and Zatoichi is embarassed to find himself acting as midwife to a dying woman. Entrusted with the baby he embarks on a mission to the village of Dashu to deliver the baby to the father Satoro. When there he is waylaid and cheated by Seji a young stooge of the local gang whose ageing father is Dashu's law enforcement officer. To add to his miseries he is dogged by a boy who delights in stoning him and running away. Dashu's loan shark gamblers are on the point of seizing Satoro's sister Oyae to become a sex slave in forfeit for an unpaid debt and with the arrival of Satoro the town begins to heat up. In the process of resolving Oyae's financial difficulties Zatoichi reveals himself as master of a wide range of martial skills as well as finding time to teach certain hoodlums the intricacies of nude dancing. Lady Snowblood 2 - Love Song Of Vengeance Lady Snowblood (Shurayukihime) is caught by the authorities and sentenced to death for her crimes of bloodthirsty vengeance on the behalf of her long deceased mother. However on her way to certain death at the end of a hangman's rope she is rescued by officers of the secret police who offer her freedom if she agrees a deadly and perilous mission to assassinate a band of revolutionaries...