"A Colt is My Passport", 6 other Nikkatsu action flicks get picked up by Criterion

by Chris MaGee

Since its launch in the fall of 2007 the "No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema" touring festival has stopped in dozens of cities worldwide (although not in Toronto, thank you very much. Grrr!!!!) giving audiences the chance to see some gems from the Nikkatsu vaults that have rarely been screened in Japan and that have never been shown in North America; but now that the series is making one of its last stops in Montreal for Fantasia 2008 with Takashi Nomura's 1967 "A Colt is My Passport" Mark Walkow, the series curator, has some great news that will mean that even more people will now get a chance to clap eyes on these films.

The folks at the Criterion Collection have picked up the rights to "Colt" as well as six other films in the series and have plans to release them some time next year. My money's on an Eclipse box set, and when I say my money's on it, my money's on it. No specific release date has been announced, but as soon as one is I'll be pre-ordering through Amazon and digging myself that much deeper in debt.

Thanks to Todd Brown at Twitch for the news.

Oh, and PS: We should be running our review of "A Colt is My Passport" within the next week or two. Stay tuned!