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The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987) poster

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)

ゆきゆきて、神軍

Documentary • 2h 2m

Director: Kazuo Hara

Cast: Kenzo Okuzaki, Masao Koshimizu, Riichi Aikawa, Masaichi Hamaguchi, Toshio Hara, Shichiro Kojima, Taro Maruyama, Toshiya Nomura, Shizumi Okuzaki, Eizaburo Oshima, Rinko Sakimoto, Yukio Seo, Iseko Shimamoto, Minoru Takami, Kichitaro Yamada

Best video & English-friendly release

Updated 1 year ago


About the film

Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, sets out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives to find the truth behind atrocities committed while the Japanese garrison was surrounded, in particular the unexplained killing of two Japanese privates in his unit.

TSPDT
2026: #743
2025: #748
2024: #737
2023: #726
2022: #726

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Director: Luis Buñuel

Best Video & English-Friendly:

US VCI Blu-ray or UK Second Run Blu-ray

Video Notes:

US VCI Blu-ray or UK Second Run Blu-ray share the same 4K restoration transfer and look essentially the same see caps

Best Audio:

2001 R2 Films Sans Frontières DVD

Director: František Vláčil

Best Video & English-Friendly:

UK Second Run Blu-ray

Video Notes:

HD transfer from Original Camera Negative

Additional Info:

Not sure if the 2025 restoration is the same one, see MoMA

Director: Miloš Forman

Best English-Friendly:

UK Second Run Blu-ray

More Documentary on Blu-ray

Director: János Zsombolyai

4K · Disappointing
Best Video & English-Friendly:

Sony Music 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

AI upscale but color and HDR grading is improved as it's way more subdued see caps

Director: Vivian Kubrick

Best Video & English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Mono: 1999 WB DVD
5.1: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Werner Herzog

Best Video & English-Friendly:

2015 UK Lionsgate Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release

Directors: Frank Capra & Anatole Litvak

Best Video & English-Friendly:

US Periscope Blu-ray OOP

Director: Steve James

Best Video & English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray and UK Dogwoof Blu-ray probably similar

Director: Leos Carax

Best Video & English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Director: Hal Ashby

4K · Solid
Best Video, Audio & English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.

Audio Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.

Director: Preston Sturges

Best Video & English-Friendly:

Criterion The Palm Beach Story Blu-ray extras

Video Notes:

While it's included on both Criterion The Palm Beach Story extras and Arrow's Sullivan's Travels' extras, Criterion uses a different source and is vastly superior, see caps

Director: Mitra Farahani

Best Video & English-Friendly:

Radiance Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio Blu-ray

Director: Ebrahim Golestan

Best Video & English-Friendly:

Radiance Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio Blu-ray

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· last reviewed 1 year ago

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