Postwar Kurosawa (Criteron Collection)

First, in Kurosawa's first major work "No Regrets for Our Youth" (1946), a frivolous, self-centered girl grows in body and spirit amid the run and tumult of postwar Japan. Denjiro Okochi, Eiko Miyoshi star. Next, in "One Wonderful Sunday" (1947), a veteran and his fiancée attempt to have a romantic afternoon in downtown Tokyo. With Chieko Nakakita, Isao Numasaki. AKA: "Wonderful Sunday." Then, in "Scandal" (1950), painter Toshiro Mifune sues a magazine for romantically linking him to a singer, then hires a lawyer of questionable motives to represent him. Co-stars Yoshiko Yamaguchi. In "The Idiot" (1951), Kurosawa transposes Dostoyevsky's classic from Russia to Japan as he tells the story of an epileptic soldier and a businessman vying for the heart of a beautiful woman. Stars Mifune, Masayuki Mori. Lastly, in "I Live in Fear" (1955), an industrialist becomes so fearful of nuclear war that he attempts to start a new life for his family in a "safe" country. With Mifune, Eiko Miyoshi. AKA: "Record of a Living Being." 9 3/4 hrs. total. Standard; Soundtrack: Japanese Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English. In Japanese with English subtitles.