NOTE: Spectrum is only the distributor. The "label" is the Korean Film Archive, and this is their 4th release. The other three are "Hurrah for Freedom" (the earliest surviving Korean film an the first after the liberation), "Yangsan Province" (a early supernatural drama from legendary Kim Ki-Young) and "Hand of Fate" (the first Korean film with an on-screen kiss). All DVD's have the same extensive bonus and are all English sub'ed. I think its worth mentioning because its rare that archives around the world do so many to make their stock well known. (Thanks Dennis)

****

Like their Chunhyang and Sopyonje releases Spectrum continue to distribute some Korean classics onto the DVD medium. This is quite a buried classic and I had quite a difficult time even finding it on IMdb. Regardless, a lot of effort has been put into this package. The image appears un-manipulated and was in quite good condition but there were some very visible damage points - but thankfully these were very infrequent. There were also some speckles and scratches but overall the image has some amazingly clean and pristine moments - it is inconsistent. Audio, although not perfect, was also of the acceptable category with a few gaps. The subtitles are decent with a couple of grammatical faux-pas.

Unique about this DVD are the extensive extras that are really quite a healthy bonus as there is very limited information about the film on the web at the writing of this review. The booklet is exceptionally nice. I recommend the DVD, although I have only had one viewing where it deserves at least another - certainly after digesting all the extraneous supplements.

Gary W. Tooze