Gojira

( 4 )

Overview

One of the longest-running series in film history began with Ishiro Honda's grim, black-and-white allegory for the devastation wrought on Japan by the atomic bomb. As his visual metaphor, Honda uses a 400-foot-tall mutant dinosaur called Gojira, awakened from the depths of the sea as a rampaging nuclear nightmare, complete with glowing dorsal fins and fiery, radioactive breath. Crushing ships, villages, and buildings in his wake, Gojira marches toward Tokyo, bringing all of the country's worst nightmares back ...
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More About This Product

Overview

One of the longest-running series in film history began with Ishiro Honda's grim, black-and-white allegory for the devastation wrought on Japan by the atomic bomb. As his visual metaphor, Honda uses a 400-foot-tall mutant dinosaur called Gojira, awakened from the depths of the sea as a rampaging nuclear nightmare, complete with glowing dorsal fins and fiery, radioactive breath. Crushing ships, villages, and buildings in his wake, Gojira marches toward Tokyo, bringing all of the country's worst nightmares back until an evil more terrible bomb -- capable of sucking all the oxygen from the sea -- returns the monster to its watery grave. The original film is chilling, despite some rather unconvincing man-in-a-suit special effects, and brimming with explicitly stated anti-American sentiment. All of that was removed for the U.S. release directed by Terry Morse. It was replaced with bad dubbing and tedious added footage starring Raymond Burr. The resulting edit was just another monster movie, but was still popular enough to assure future Toho Studios monster films a wide American release.
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Special Features

Disc 1 - Audio Commentary by Film Historian David Kalat; Trailer; ; Disc 2 - Audio Commentary for Godzilla, King of the Monsters by Kalat; Trailer for Godzill, King of the Monsters; New interviews with actors Akira Takarada and Haruo Nakajima and Special Effects Technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai; ; Interview with legendary Godzilla score composer Akira Ifukube; Featurette detailing Godzilla's photographic effects, introduced by Special Effects Director Koichi Kawakita and Special Effects Photographer Motoyoshi Tomioka; New Interview with Japanese-film critic Tadao Sato; ; The Unluckiest Dragon, an illustrated audio essay featuring Historian Greg Pflugfelder describing the tragic fate of the fishing vessel Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a real-life event that inspired Godzilla
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Mark Deming
While you might have a hard time convincing most people, Inoshiro Honda's Gojira -- the film whose success launched the long-running Godzilla series and helped to make Japanese monster movies one of the nation's best known exports -- is actually an intelligent and somber parable about the legacy and consequences of the atomic bomb, told from the perspective of a people who had witnessed its impact firsthand only nine years earlier. Unfortunately, the film's serious intentions are muffled in the American release version, which has not only been dubbed and re-edited, but features new footage of Raymond Burr as American newsman Steve Martin (a name that started getting laughs of its own about 22 years after the film arrived in the States), acting alongside a handful of Asian extras who keep popping up in increasingly surreal contexts. While the U.S. cut still holds on to some of the original's dark tone, it mostly trivializes a film that deserves better; while still a low-budget monster movie, Honda's original Gojira manages to convey a genuine respect for the gravity of the issues it raises (leaving little doubt that its fire-breathing monster is, in this context, a stand-in for the bombs which leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki), as well as a compassion for both the victims and the emotionally wounded people who left scars upon their nation while fighting the menace. If the opportunity to see Honda's original Japanese-language version of Gojira presents itself, it's a simple but powerful work well worth your time, while the Americanized cut manages to save the cut-rate spectacle but leave out what gave the original film its resonance.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 1/24/2012
  • UPC: 715515089517
  • Original Release: 1954

    • Rating:

  • Source: Criterion
  • Region Code: 1
  • Presentation: B&W / Pan & Scan
  • Language: Japanese
  • Time: 1:36:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 21,473

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Akihiko Hirata Daisuke Serizawa
Momoko Kochi Emiko Yamane
Kokuten Kodo Gisaku, Oto Island Patriarch
Fuyuki Murakami Dr. Tabata
Haruo Nakajima Newspaper Employee (Japanese version only)/Power Subs
Toranosuke Ogawa President of Shipping Company
Kenji Sahara Man aboard Ship
Sachio Sakai Hagiwara
Takashi Shimura Dr. Kyohei Yamane
Kin Sugai Miss Ozawa, member of Parliament
Akira Takarada Hideto Ogata
Katsumi Tezuka Hagiwara's Editor (Japanese version only)/Gojira
Ren Yamamoto Sieji
Technical Credits
Ishiro Honda Director, Screenwriter
Akira Ifukube Score Composer
Kuichiro Kishida Special Effects
Hiroshi Mukoyama Special Effects
Takeo Murata Screenwriter
Hisashi Shimogawa Sound/Sound Designer
Tomoyuki Tanaka Producer
Eiji Tsuburaya Special Effects
Akira Watanabe Special Effects
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Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Godzilla
1. A Flash of Light [4:32]
2. Failed Rescue [3:42]
3. Sole Survivor [2:01]
4. Creature of Legend [4:44]
5. Yamane's Speculations [2:06]
6. Startling Discoveries [3:58]
7. Godzilla [2:18]
8. Shocking Evidence [4:48]
9. Counterattack [3:39]
10. Closer to Tokyo [1:11]
11. Differences of Opinion [4:01]
12. Serizawa's Secret [5:17]
13. Kaiju Rampage [5:37]
14. New Measures [5:58]
15. Unstoppable [5:49]
16. A Sea of Fire [6:17]
17. From the Air [3:08]
18. A Heavy Toll [1:49]
19. Lethal Energy [4:33]
20. Steadfast Serizawa [5:08]
21. Prayer for Peace [3:56]
22. Two Divers [3:22]
23. Sacrifices at Sea [8:14]
1. Nuclear Proving Ground [4:32]
2. Kingu Kongu [3:42]
3. Key Genre Elements [2:01]
4. Doomed by Contact [4:44]
5. "The Best Actor in the World" [2:06]
6. Groundbreaking Effects [3:58]
7. Permanent Damage [2:18]
8. Ishiro Honda [4:48]
9. Wartime Experiences [3:39]
10. Familiar Faces [1:11]
11. Moral Relativism [4:01]
12. Doomed Love [5:17]
13. Actor in a Suit [5:37]
14. Under the Surface [5:58]
15. Tour de Force [5:49]
16. Cathartic Experience [6:17]
17. Godzilla or Gojira? [3:08]
18. Powerful Aftermath [1:49]
19. Akira Ifukube [4:33]
20. Roar from a Contrabass [5:08]
21. Unprecedented Expense [3:56]
22. Serizawa and Oppenheimer [3:22]
23. Perfect Collaboration [8:14]
Disc #2 -- Godzilla
1. Surprised to be Alive [5:03]
2. A Few Days Before [1:27]
3. Questioned [2:45]
4. Another Disaster [2:27]
5. Demand for Answers [2:10]
6. Odo Island [4:15]
7. No Ordinary Storm [3:08]
8. Research Group [3:49]
9. The Legend Lives [4:48]
10. H-bomb Behemoth [2:01]
11. Calling an Old Friend [1:49]
12. An Important Secret [3:43]
13. Short-Lived Celebration [3:39]
14. First Attack [4:20]
15. Monumental Tasks [2:46]
16. "Tokyo Has No Defense" [5:29]
17. Signing Off [5:11]
18. Aerial Blitz [2:14]
19. Serizawa's Deadly Discovery [3:33]
20. Plea for Help [6:08]
21. The King's Downfall [9:54]
1. H-bomb Arms Race [5:03]
2. From Film Noir [1:27]
3. Cast Against Type [2:45]
4. The Film Doctor [2:27]
5. Rehabilitating Japan [2:10]
6. Subtitle Solution [4:15]
7. Not Quite Dubbed [3:08]
8. Fully Intact Message [3:49]
9. Two Million Dollars [4:48]
10. Other Refashioned Works [2:01]
11. Respectful Treatment [1:49]
12. Two Monster Categories [3:43]
13. Displaced Responsibilities [3:39]
14. Meaning of Miniatures [4:20]
15. New Wave of Monsters [2:46]
16. Gloriously Absurd [5:29]
17. Beyond Realism [5:11]
18. European Variants [2:14]
19. Raymond Burr [3:33]
20. True to Godzilla [6:08]
21. Gone and Verboten [9:54]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- Godzilla
   Play
   Chapters
      Color Bars
   Commentary
      Commentary: On
      Commentary: Off
      Index
         Color Bars
   Supplements
      Photographic Effects
         Play
      Tadao Sato
         Play
      The Unluckiest Dragon
         Play
      Trailer
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
         Subtitles: On
         Subtitles: Off
Disc #2 -- Godzilla
   Godzilla, King Of The Monsters
      Play
      Chapters
      Commentary
         Commentary: On
         Commentary: Off
         Index
      Trailer
   Cast and Crew
      Akira Takarada
         Play
      Haruo Nakajima
         Play
      Yoshio Irie And Eizo Kaimai
         Play
      Akira Ifukube
         Play
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
         Subtitles: On
         Subtitles: Off
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 4 )
Rating Distribution

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(2)

4 Star

(2)

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Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews

  • Posted January 25, 2012

    Not a Zillaphile

    Until I picked up this set I had never seen an entire Godzilla flick. More interested in Japanese films than classic sci-fi I decided to give this a go. What a pleasent surprise.

    The original Japanese Godzilla (Gojira) is well acted and directed. The special effects, while crude, are effective. I won't go into the plot other than to say it's a dark reaction to the H-bomb.

    The American version (not a remake, but more of a remix) is a good example of how to dumb down a film. Raymond Burr is fine as reporter Steve Martin but he was honestly not given much to work with so is essentialy a narrator, and said narration is bland. Same footage of the creature.

    The commentaries on both films are very good. (For the curious, it is nicely explained why Godzilla, not Gojira, is the appropriate translation.)

    Picture quality is good considering the stock they had to work with. Audio in very good. I have not viewed the other supplements so can't comment.

    If, like me, you're not a Zilla enthusiast I would recommend you check these discs out anyway. If you're already a fan I don't see how you can go wrong with a purchase of this product.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 14, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 2, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 4, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews