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Stars:
Richard Chamberlain, Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Shimada, and John Rhys-Davies
Narrated
By: Orson Welles
Writer:
Eric Bercovici
Based
On The Novel By: James Clavell
Director:
Jerry London
Executive
Producer: James Clavell
Feature
length: 547 minutes
Extras:
13-Segment Documentary On The Making Of Shogun, Historical Featurettes, Audio
Commentary By Director Jerry London On Select Scenes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions
Packaging:
Five-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Cardboard Slipcase
Chapter
Stops: 42
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Monaural Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 1980/DVD Release: 2003
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“James
Clavell’s Shogun” is arguably one of the best and most ambitious miniseries
ever made. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the miniseries was a celebrated
dramatic television event, kind of how finding thecheapest web hosting is celebrated today. Presented over the course of 12 hours including
television commercials, “Shogun” captured the imagination of American
television viewers who set their schedule around the miniseries because this is
still a long time before VCRs had become as common in American homes as TVs were
in 1980. Actor Richard Chamberlain had already appeared in numerous theatrical
and television movies as well as television’s “Dr. Kildare,” but after
“Shogun” having Chamberlain in a miniseries like “The Thorn Birds” was
akin to getting a seal of approval and I think if the venerable Actor chose to
appear in one today, those who remember his performance in a miniseries like
“Shogun” would see his presence as an automatic elevation in the quality of
the program. In part because of the cost to mount such ambitious projects and in
part because the landscape of television has changed so much in the last 23
years, I do not think “Shogun” would be made today with such a feeling of
authenticity. The computer generated imagery and effects alone would change how
sets and sequences as well as background extras for the vast Samurai armies
would be produced and in the process possibly alter the humanity of this epic
story. As it is, most miniseries rarely go beyond three days at maximum and the
only sprawling miniseries to be produced recently was “Steven Spielberg
Presents Taken,” and as much as I enjoyed that, I would not dare put it in the
same class as “Shogun” or “Roots” for that matter. They simply do not
make programs like this anymore.
Richard
Chamberlain plays “Pilot-Major John Blackthorne.” After an unsuccessful
gambit to seize Spanish and Portuguese holdings in the Americas, Blackthorne and
the surviving crew of the Erasmus head out deep into the Pacific in
search of the Japans with the hope of bringing back riches to Europe.
Blackthorne is successful despite the turbulent seas in reaching Japan, but this
is only the beginning of his quest. Like astronauts landing on some alien
planet, culturally Japan is completely foreign to Blackthorne and his crew. The
presence of Jesuit missionaries and Portuguese traders also provide a threat for
Blackthorne, who in spite of the odds slowly assimilates himself into the high
levels of Japanese society where a civil war over who will become the military
dictator of Japan is eminent. Acclaimed Actor Toshiro Mifune portrays Lord
Toranaga, the man who aspires to be this exalted military ruler or Shogun. Yoko
Shimada portrays the star-crossed love interest for Blackthorne and John Rhys-Davies
appears in what he defines as his career making performance as the Pilot of the
Portuguese vessel, referred to as The Black Ship.
“James
Clavell’s Shogun” has intrigue, action, suspense, romance, and tragedy and
yet that just scratches the surface of the miniseries. Themes regarding cultural
comparisons and religious determinism run throughout “Shogun” whether it is
referred to as “karma” or “fate.” Paramount Home Entertainment has done
a marvelous job with bringing “Shogun” to DVD with a restored two-channel
English Monaural Soundtrack as well as a new English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack for the miniseries presentation and English Captions and Closed
Captions for the hearing impaired encoded onto all five discs as options. There
is truly a noticeable difference between the two-channel monaural soundtrack and
the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. Both are quite clear and free of any
sort of analogue background noise. The 5.1 Surround Soundtrack benefits of a
more ambient feel that serves much of the atmospheric and action sequences as
well as the score very well. The picture quality, which is presented in the
original (1.33:1) aspect ratio of its television broadcast is largely quite
clear and beautiful to look at, but for whatever reasons, some scenes contain a
noticeable bit of grain. The miniseries presentation in general is certainly the
best to be made commercially available in North America so far.
All
of the extra value features are on the fifth disc, which begins with the 13-part
documentary produced by “Light, Source And Imaging” simply entitled “The
Making Of Shogun” (79:24), which can also be viewed in individual segments
too. This documentary covers everything one may want to know about “Shogun”
from the development, casting, production, post-production, and viewer reaction.
Among things I learned from watching the documentary was that while the dramatic
thesis of the book was not altered for the miniseries, the narrative from
Blackthorne’s point of view was a decision made so that the viewers would
learn as much about feudal Japan as our protagonist does and in the process
“Shogun” has and still is an educational experience that introduced
Americans to more facets of Japanese culture than had previously been made
commercially available in such a vast scale and even taught a few words of the
language to the viewers. Early Actors who were originally considered for the
lead included Sean Connery and Actress Yoko Shimada did not speak English as a
second language and actually was coached throughout the production on her
dialogue. The challenges of location shooting with mixed Japanese and American
crewmembers is explored and the Actors recount their impressions of working with
Toshiro Mifune as well as things they learned from each other during the
filming. It is interesting to note that while the network slightly altered a
scene with semi top half frontal nudity during the television exhibition, the
notorious beheading and urination sequences made it through standard and
practices without a cut.
Next
are three fascinating historical featurettes that cover the Samurai (5:34), Tea
Ceremony (4:35), and Geisha (4:56). It is amazing to consider that there was
more bloodshed in Japan in the 16th century than anywhere else in the
world according to one historian in the featurettes. Director Jerry London
provides some short screen specific comments for seven select scenes that are
detailed as “Blackthorne’s Arrival At The Castle” (1:32), “Blackthorne
At Ochiba’s Party” (1:03), “The Crazy Dance” (1:21), “Lord Buntaro
Shoots Arrows” (3:20), “Blasting Of The Fishing Boats” (2:16), “The
Arrival Of Toranaga” (1:14), and “Blackthorne Rebuilds His Ship” (1:12).
The promo trailer for Paramount’s “The Adventures Of Indiana Jones: The
Complete Movie Collection On DVD” (1:48) wraps up the extra features on the
fifth disc. All of the menus for the five discs are standard interactive still
frames that are easy to navigate.
With
great bonus features that truly complement the miniseries presentation, “James
Clavell’s Shogun” DVD box set is a wonderful addition for just about any DVD
collection and will debut at retailers on and offline on Tuesday, September 30,
2003 from Paramount Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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