Japan's bid to host the 1940 Summer Olympics had been scuppered by the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. The XV111 Olympiad of 1964 marked not only the first to be staged in Asia but confirmed the Land of the Rising Sun's readmission to the international community after WW11.

Director Kon Ichikawa has given us here what is, strictly speaking, a documentary but has also succeeded in transcending the genre by concentrating on the beauty, strength, lyricism and determination of those extraordinary beings known as athletes.

The only work with which it is comparable is Leni Riefenstahl's 'Olympia' of 1938 which remains the template by which all others are judged and it is highly unlikely that Ichikawa was unaware of that masterwork, especially in terms of Riefenstahl's superlative editing.

Of course Ichikawa had at his disposal the very latest technical requirements in terms of camera numbers and sound equipment whilst the editing here by Tatsuji Nakashishu is exemplary.

There are so many moments to treasure and it is inevitable that a viewer's enjoyment will be coloured by how much or how little he or she likes a particular discipline. Let's face it, shot-putting, hammer throwing and weightlifting are simply not as 'sexy' as sprints, relays and gymnastics.

Many will lament that some events are given such short shrift. We are given only the briefest glimpse of the mighty Joe Frazier in the ring, Frenchman D'Oriola is shown winning Equestrian Gold twelve years after his Helsinki win but the total absence of Dressage is regrettable.

It is highly probable however that some of these omissions are due to Ichikawa being obliged by the Olympic Committee to reduce the running length.

In terms of competitors we don't get to see much of Larissa Latynina, one of the greatest Olympians, in the floor gymnastics but as compensation we are able to marvel at the magnificence of Vera Cáslavská on the beam, in slow motion! Ichikawa has understandably concentrated on fellow countryman Yukio Endo's display of strength and grace which made him the most successful male gymnast at the Games, not to mention the tearful win of the Japanese women's Volleyball team.

Riefenstahl has the aid of the music of Herbert Windt and here Toshiro Mayusumi does the honours. His music is inspired and very much suits the events, notably his jaunty accompaniments to the cycle and walking races and the balletic style of his music for the gymnasts. His greatest achievement is the inspiring music that accompanies Ethiopian Adibe Bikila's win in the final Marathon, thereby retaining the title he won in Rome four years earlier.

The release of the doves never ceases to move whilst the Japanese jet planes forming Olympic circles is particularly impressive. Not for the first time the image of a mass of umbrellas in the rain is dramatically effective.

Riefenstahl made the lighting of the Olympic flame an almost spiritual experience. Here it is especially poignant in that it is lit by student Yoshinoi Sakai who happened to be born near Hiroshima on that fateful day, August 6th, 1945. What more can one possibly say?

Kon Ichikawa's "Tokyo Olympiad," a record of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, is not only arguably one of the best sports documentaries ever made, it is also among the best documentaries ever made, period. It is everything one would expect from a man who is known as one of the premiere stylists of the cinema and more. It is poetry, it is art, and it is almost ruthlessly compelling.

Whereas most sports documentaries are relatively cut and dry in that they focus mainly on the winners, Ichikawa has almost no regard for winning or losing at all. For him, it is about the event, the preparation and the movement embodied in Olympic competition - and the film follows both the winners and the losers. The film is incredibly textural. Sight, sound, and movement - even the most imperceptible - all weave together to form a remarkable tapestry that is as much about the director's own concerns as it is about the Games themselves. It is for this reason that the film initially had a rather stormy reception from those that had commissioned Ichikawa to make the film (and given him an army of cameramen to do so), though if my recollection is correct it went on to break box-office records in Japan. "Tokyo Olympiad" is not a film about the victory of winning, it is about the victory of attending - of being amongst the awesome crowds, the athletes, the bodies in motion. Being there is it's own victory, which is why Ichikawa focuses so much on the athletes from the newly formed African nation of Chad who, although they do not come close to winning any medals, are the first representatives of their country to appear in the Olympic Games. For Ichikawa their story is just as triumphant as that of the Ethiopian long-distance runner who unflinchingly leaves all his opponents in the dust and goes on to win his event by a mile. "Tokyo Olympiad" is not just about the realm of athletic or Olympic experience, it is about the human experience and about creating cinema out of it. At nearly 3 hours in length it is neither a minute too short or too long, and I personally feel privileged to have seen it.

Seeing as how this dvd is almost 3 hours long I assumed that I could fast forward through some of it. I was wrong. As much as I tried, every new scene kept me glued to the screen. It's the Olympics like you've never seen them, shot and edited with the eye of a real artist. Once again Criterion brings us a lost masterpiece.