Kurosawa: SEVEN SAMURAI CONTEST! Win a Kurosawa DVD of your choice! Guess the number! (by Lewis Saul)

WIN A KUROSAWA DVD OF YOUR CHOICE!

I am elated to have had this opportunity to blog about Akira Kurosawa.

I like to count things, and I have counted every single cut in Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai) [1954]. (Believe it or not, this information is actually useful to me in my studies of Kurosawa's filmmaking).

HERE'S THE CONTEST:

In honor of today's epic post on Seven Samurai, I am offering a free DVD to the person who can come closest to guessing my worked-so-hard-for tally of the actual total number of cuts (this includes straight cuts, wipes, dissolves and fades to black) in Seven Samurai. The person who guesses the number which is closest to my actual count (final and official) without going over wins a free Kurosawa DVD of your choice. I will ship it to you anywhere in the continental United States. If you want a DVD set of two or more discs, I will divide the Amazon purchase price by the amount of discs and will give you that in an Amazon gift certificate. (For instance, if you want the new AK 100 set [$289.99 today], then I would send you an Amazon GC for $11.60 [$289.99 div. by 25 discs = $11.60]).

Put your guesses in the comment box. One guess per person.

Contest ends at 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, February 18, 2010. Not open to any recognized member of the Kurosawa-gumi, Donald Richie, Stephen Prince or the projectionist at The Film Forum. Winner will be announced in these pages on Friday, February 19, 2010, and need not be present to win the grand prize. Being past or future is fine, too.

In the event of a tie, I will break it at random.org with a timestamp.

I have checked the internet as best I could, and I don't believe that anyone has ever published this information before.

IF, HOWEVER, it becomes known that this information is published (either in a book or on the net) then THIS CONTEST IS NULL AND VOID. I am doing this because I don't think it's ever been done before.

Clear?

-- Lewis Saul

Comments

[Jeff]

I'll guess 95...but I really have absolutely no idea. Thanks for the contest!

[Lewis Saul]

Hey, Jeff!

You were off by a few cuts. The total number of cuts in Seven Samurai is 1,467.

You've won yourself a Kurosawa DVD. Please let me know 1) what you want and 2) your address. If you just want a gift certificate from Amazon, your e-mail will do. I'm [email protected]