I have to break a promise I made to myself.  I had told myself this past week that I should not buy any more DVDs this month.  I already received to large orders. This was because the online dvd site I usually use was not carrying two things I really wanted–the Romantic Comedy Collection of the 1950s and the Yoo Ji-Tae Collection of short films. However another site was, so I registered and ordered them from there. Then I figured, while I was on the site why not look around and see what else they offer that I don’t have.  I found 16 other things I wanted. They included things I had been looking for like Kim Soo-yong’s A Seaside Village (1965) and I Will Survive (1993), things I had forgotten existed like Plastic Tree (2003) and Quick Man (2000) and some things I was interested in seeing for the actors who were debuting or simply very young at the time Vectorman (1999)–Kim Seong-soo’s debut and Emergency Measure 19 (2002) which stars many popular singers of the time who have gone on the other things. BUT I had forgotten that this was the week that the Lee Man-hee Box Set was due to be released. That is one that I absolutely MUST buy.

Lee Man-Hee Box Set (4 discs)–Subtitles:  English, Japanese & Korean/ Rating: ages 15+/ Format: 2.37:1 anamorphic widescreen/ Audio: Dolby Digital Mono/ Region Code: 3/ Special Feaures: Booklet containing information on the films in Korean and English, optional commentary (more below), documentary on Lee Man-hee, image gallery/Running time: 372 minutes (total)/ Recommended Price: 49,500 KRW/ Availability: September 6–  This set contains the films The Marines Who Never Returned (1963) with optional comments by director Choi Jae-hoon and Cine21 reporter Ju Seong-cheol; Black Hair (1964)–comments by director Park Chan-wook and film critic Kim Yeong-jin; Holiday (1968) with comments by director/critic Jeong Seong-il; Assassin (1969) with comments by director Oh Seung-wook and Ju Seong-cheol.

Restoration (2 disc)– This film hovered around the lower tiers of the box office for months after its release–unusual for any film but especially for a documentary. Restoration is a religious documenary about Israel and Palestine with narration by KBS announcer Park Ji-yoon.  The first disc in this set is the film, the second is the OST. Subtitles: Korean & English/ Rating: ages 12+/ Format: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen/ Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0/ Running time: 94 minutes (movie), 42 minutes OST/ Recommended Price: 25,300 KRW/ Availability: September 9