began a three-film deal with director Masaki Kobayashi that concluded with the production Kwaidan. Kobayashi worked with composer Takemitsu Toru for six month to produce the film's score. The film exhausted its budget three quarters into production, which led Kobayashi to sell his house. Release Kwaidan premiered at the Yūrakuza Theater, the most prestigious theater in central Tokyo on December 29, 1964. The roadshow version of Kwaidan was released theatrically in Japan on January 6, 1965 where it was distributed by Toho. The Japanese general release for Kwaidan began on February 27, 1965. Kwaidan was reedited to 125 minutes in the United States for its theatrical release which eliminated the segment "The Woman of the Snow" after the film's Los Angeles premiere. It was released in the United States on July 15, 1965 where it was distributed by Continental Distributing. Kwaidan was re-released theatrically in Japan on November 29, 1982 in Japan as part of Toho's 50th anniversary. Reception In Japan the film won Yoko Mizuki the Kinema Junpo award for Best Screenplay. It also won awards for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction at the Mainichi Film Concours. The film won international awards including Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. In a 1967 review, the Monthly Film Bulletin commented on the colour in the film, stating that "it is not so much that the colour in Kwaidan is ravishing...as the way Kobayashi uses it to give these stories something of the quality of a legend." The review concluded that the Kwaidan was a film "whose details stay on in the mind long after one has seen it." Bosley Crowther, in a 1965 New York Times review stated that director Kobayashi "merits excited acclaim for his distinctly oriental cinematic artistry. So do the many designers and cameramen who worked with him. "Kwaidan" is a symphony of color and sound that is truly past compare." Variety described the film as "done in measured cadence and intense feeling" and that it was "a visually impressive tour-de-force." From retrospective reviews, In his review of Harakiri, Roger Ebert described Kwaidan as "an assembly of ghost stories that is among the most beautiful films I've seen". Philip Kemp wrote in Sight & Sound that Kwaidan was "almost too beautiful to be scary" and that "each tale sustains its own individual