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Directed by Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys, Blind Beast), Red Angel takes an unflinching look at the horror and futility of war through the eyes of a dedicated and selfless young military nurse. When Sakura Nishi is dispatched in 1939 to a ramshackle field hospital in Tientsin, the frontline of Japan's war of with China, she and her colleagues find themselves fighting a losing battle tending to the war-wounded and emotionally shellshocked soldiers while assisting head surgeon Dr Okabe conduct an unending series of amputations. As the Chinese troops close in, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Okabe who, impotent to stall the mounting piles of cadavers, has retreated into his own private hell of morphine addiction. Adapted from the novel by Yorichika Arima, Masumura's harrowing portrait of women and war is considered the finest of his collaborations with Ayako Wakao (A Wife Confesses, Irezumi) and features startling monochrome scope cinematography by Setsuo Kobayashi (Fires on the Plain, An Actor's Revenge).

Media

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Bonus Materials

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema scholar David Desser
• Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
• Not All Angels Have Wings, a new visual essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum
• Original Trailer
• Image Gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Irene González-López

Sales Points

• A timeless war film that should appeal to horror fans
• Global Blu-ray debut
• Has a 95% Audience score with over 100 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Press Quotes

One of the more powerful anti-war films you'll ever see

     —Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

Masumura gives one of the most brutal portraits of war ever filmed, leveling his finger not at the war itself, but at the mentality of the people who wage it.

     —Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

[4 out of 4 stars] Masumura's best film... if it's not the inspiration for Robert Altman's M*A*S*H, it should've been

     —Thomas Weisser, Japanese Cinema Essential Handbook

Red Angel eschews the 'death and glory' approach to paint a particularly bleak portrait of the full horrific futility of war. Through this call to arms, [Masumura] paved the way for the Japanese New Wave.

     —Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye

A brilliant masterpiece

     —Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the novel by Yorichika Arima, Masumura’s harrowing portrait of women and war is considered the finest of his collaborations with Ayako Wakao. I was quite simply blown away by this movie. It is incredibly beautiful and moving

     —Anne Carlini, Exclusive Magazine

Arrow Video’s has done well by Masumura in the past and they’ve added yet another beautiful Blu-ray to the catalog.

     —Movie Line Online

Arrow Video’s Blu-ray of Red Angel is a marvelous remastering of this really handsome film, one of Yasuzo Masumura’s best directed features.

     —Trailers From Hell

Arrow, which has been curating Masumura's film with some care, provides another release with generally solid technical merits and some outstanding supplements. Recommended.

     —Blu-ray.com

Shock tactics have their intended effect, but it's the icy reserve of the black-and-white cinematography and Wakao and Ashida's performaces that land the most lasting punches.

     —The Los Angeles Beat

Yasuzo Masumura was a cinematic master and Red Angel is a stunning masterpiece.

     —Inside Pulse

Arrow Video gives Red Angel a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of insightful extras, highly recommended.

     —10K Bullets

Japanese director Yasuzô Masumura’s 1966 film about the hopelessness of war, Red Angel, gets the Arrow Video Blu-Ray treatment – and it’s worth a look.

     —The Movie Isle

A brutal anti-war feature as well as a harrowing depiction of women in war. Masumura does not spare viewers, providing graphic images of severed limbs as well as doctors and nurses soaked in the blood of their patients. DON'T MISS

     —Reel Bob

Red Angel‘s depiction of wartime carnage is frank, graphic and brutal... a powerful film, with a committed performance by Ayako Wakao

     —Kent Conrad, Cinema Sentries

[An] unflinching look at the horrors of war, the black and white image of this picture really pops in this HD transfer - it is clear, clean and spectacular

     —Jason Lockard, Classic Cinema Magazine

Bleak and horrifying

     —Wade Major, DigiGods

With its opening shots of war-torn landscapes, skulls absent flesh and sinew, and other indicators of lifelessness, Yasuzô Masumura’s 赤い天使 (Red Angel) is quickly determined to be anti-war, the bleakness on display never softening from the beginning to the ending

     —Douglas Davidson, Elements Of Madness

an unflinching look at the horror and futility of war

     —Harley Lond, Film Crave

Scary in harrowing, cerebral way but really interesting

     —Michael Vaughn, Geek Vibes Podcast

Red Angel is a terminal grim, yet starkly compelling Japanese war film

     —Musique Machine

Red Angel is a brutal film. It’s a punch in the face, a kick to the stomach and a hit to the brain... [people] should see it and be moved and changed by it

     —Bands About Movies

Unflinching Yasuzo Masumura Wartime Drama Is A Brutal Knockout

     —Dillon Gonzales, Geek Vibes Nation

The uncompromising intensity of the triage and surgery scenes are stomach-churning and especially shocking... however, typically sensationalistic sequences are treated with a tender melancholy that counteracts the harshness of the blood-soaked surgical scenes.

     —Gabe Powers, Genre Grinder

I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of Red Angel, a 1966 Japanese war film told from the perspective of a dedicated young military nurse. Artistically shot in black-and-white, but the film is grounded by the realism in its depiction of the effects of war.

     —Ryan Izay, Rizay Reviews

this isn't a mere message movie, it tells an engaging story about people who should never be thrown into the situations they are in, with a focus on storytelling that than messaging, and thanks to a very impressive directorial effort and a strong cast, the thing comes to life rather beautifully

     —Mike Haberfelner, Search My Trash

Unflinching Yasuzo Masumura Wartime Drama Is A Brutal Knockout

     —Dillon Gonzales, Geek Vibes Nation

ranks among the most uncompromising antiwar films.

     —Kathy Fennessy, Seattle Film Blog

I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of Red Angel...artistically shot in black-and-white, but the film is grounded by the realism in its depiction of the effects of war.

     —Ryan Izay, Rizay Reviews

Arrow is really deliving deeply into some of the Japanese studio vaults for really high quality films that were just never seen [in America].

     —Mark Nelson, The Cinemaniacs!