Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Another Abashiri Prison Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 19, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Prison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-III.

There seems to be a general consensus based both upon some supplements included with this release as well as any number of other online data sources that The Defiant Ones* served as an inspiration for at least the first Abashiri Prison film. But as some of those same supplements make clear, that perceived cinematic "connection" really only pertains to the last third or so of the first film in a rather celebrated franchise, and in this case without some of the potent subtext of the well remembered Stanley Kramer film featuring Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier. As tangential as The Defiant Ones may therefore be, evidently the idea of two escaped prisoners shackled to each other and on the run provided some kind of interest for audiences, since this 1965 adaptation of a novel by Hajime Itō led to a glut of sequels (the first two of which are included in this set), while an earlier 1959 adaptation of the novel (which I'm assuming did not feature two escaped prisoners shackled to each other) seems to have been more or less buried by the vagaries of time and tide. The supplements on this set get into the unexpected success of Abashiri Prison, a success which perhaps surprisingly was more abundant with some of the sequels than with the first outing, and not only without that oft mentioned "sophomore slump", but an audience reaction that was evidently more favorably inclined toward both the second and (perhaps especially) third films.

*Note: The link points to a UK Blu-ray release.

One of the kind of ironic things about the second and third Abashiri Prison films is that there's relatively little prison content, though at least in the case of this evidently very rushed "second helping", maybe that's a little understandable, given that according to the essay by Mark Schilling included in this release's insert booklet, Teruo Ishii somehow managed to wrtie the script for the sophomore effort in just seven days and then shot the actual film in just two weeks, perhaps a not so subtle indication of just how successful the first film had unexpectedly become and how frantic Toei's executives were to get a sequel into theaters as quickly as possible.

That means that the "okay, he's out of stir, now what?" question may not be all that artfully answered, even if this film is, as Schilling mentions in his essay, the only one in the outsized Abashiri Prison franchise that actually attempts to continue the story from the previous "installment". That "continuation" here might be charitably called shoehorning, since the actual plot concerns a jewel cache that Tachibana (Ken Takakura) unfortunately gets entangled with (unfortunate considering his ex con status). The tone here is much more "midcentury modern", with a seeming tip of the hat to "other" franchises like James Bond or even The Pink Panther , the latter of which may be especially salient given the emphasis on jewels and this entry's more comical approach.

Another Abashiri Prison Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Abashiri Prison II is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment's Masters of Cinema imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. There's no technical information provided on this release that I could find in the insert booklet, other than standard verbiage alerting the still uneducated about why there are "black bars" and another warning about 4K UHD setups in particular which may have "motion smoothing" defaults. The back cover offers only a generic "1080p HD presentation of all three films from restorations of the original film elements supplied by Toei". While the change to color from black and white for this second film may arguably offer a more robust viewing experience for some, the palette here can be slightly wonky looking at times, as may be evident from some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. There can be just a hint of a slightly sickly yellow- green undertone, sometimes combined with a hint of dowdy brown, that can give this a somewhat faded appearance, but that said, there can still be incredibly bright pops of primaries in particular (look at that groovy red hat on Kunie Tanaka in screenshot 9 for one example). I'm actually going to discuss this in more detail in some reviews from the upcoming The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1, but there are some noticeable anamorphic oddities here that are not just relegated to things like squeezing at the edges of the frame. There are moments here where the x / y axes of the frame's rectangle look like they've been almost tweaked to be a parallelogram, so that the entire image can slant or tilt weirdly (see screenshot 10 for just one example). Grain can be quite heavy at times, but resolves without any major issues. There are some minor blips, flecks and scratches to be seen, but nothing of any major import.

Another Abashiri Prison Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Abashiri Prison II features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Japanese that is really not materially different, quality wise, from the tracks on the other two films in this set. There's a noticeably boxy sound that tends to afflict mostly midrange and low end scoring and sound effects, but which can be discerned in some of the spoken material as well. Nonetheless, dialogue is rendered cleanly and without any issues to report. Optional English subtitles are available.

Another Abashiri Prison Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Eureka has packaged this set with the first two films on Disc One and the third film on Disc Two. The supplements, including the commentaries, can be far ranging (i.e., not necessarily limited solely to any given film), and so I'm including the complete array of supplements below.

Disc One ( Abashiri Prison and Abashiri Prison II)

• Abashiri Prison

  Audio Commentary by Tom Mes

  
  

  Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:45)

• Abashiri Prison II

  Audio Commentary by Chris Poggiali

  
  

  Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:50)

Disc Two (Abashiri Prison III)

• Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder & Arne Venema


• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:21)


• Break Out: Jasper Sharp & Mark Schilling Discuss Abashiri Prison (HD; 29:26) is a really enjoyable conversation between these experts which covers the franchise as well as Ishii.


• Interview with Tony Rayns (HD; 30:41) offers more insight from the always informative Rayns, talking here about elements of the films included in this set, but also in a more wide ranging look at the series and in fact "series" as a concept in the Japanese film industry.

Additionally, a nicely appointed insert booklet contains a good essay by Mark Schilling. Packaging features an O card slicpase.

Another Abashiri Prison Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

You can simply tell how rushed this whole effort was, and the "intrigue" surrounding the jewels is never really very visceral. Ishii may have felt like he was strong armed into doing the series as a whole, and maybe this first sequel in particular, but he brings his usual professionalism to the job, and Takakura is once again commanding in the lead. Technical merits are occasionally a little iffy in both the video and audio departments, but are generally solid. The supplements are very enjoyable for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.