I just got my copy in the mail a day early and have just sat down to watch the American Version with Raymond Burr. I also own the Classic Media version that came out a few years back [The two disc set that's titled "Gojira"]. I have two computers side by side and decided to do a side by side compare of the two versions. My efforts have resulted in this conclusion. Both versions are nice for a film this old. Each has its good points and bad points. The earlier version by Classic Media has better, more balanced lighting. But it does show up more dirt specs and lines. Not a lot more i should add. The Criterion version has less specs and lines and is darker in dark areas and brighter in bright areas. The Criterion version has more contrast, Both films are very watchable. If i had to put a number on it, i would say the Criterion version is at least 20% better looking [video quality] than the older version. And the newer versions sound quality is 50% better than the older version. Here's the big major difference between the two. It appears that the Criterion version is giving us the absolute whole image from side to side and top to bottom. In the older version there are items in the film on the outer edges that are cut off more than the newer version. Its like the older version was mastered slightly zoomed in for whatever reason. If you didn't compare, you really wouldn't notice much difference. I have not watched anything else yet on the two discs, so cant comment on that "yet". Will update more then. In my opinion, this is worth double dipping. Another difference with the new version is the beginning opening titles. This new version has the old original Trans World Release opening. The older version has no opening titles. Also one last thing. The sound in the new version is excellent! Almost no clicks,pops or hiss at all. The sound is a major upgrade. The old version still has the clicks,pops and hiss, but that never bothered me. To me it actually adds to the overall experience. Well this review is not complete yet but it is my hope that this helps those of you who are still on the fence with buying this. Its a nice set to own.
Also included is the American re-working, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. This one is the one starring Raymond Burr. While it isn't a faithful translation and mutes some of the anit-nuclear message, it still manages to be a decent film.
Crirterion has done an amazing job with this release.
Video:
Being a Criterion release, you know this is a good looking transfer. There are some instances of dust, dirt and scratches, but nowhere near what we saw with Classic Media's release. The greytones are more solid and details are clear. This assessment goes for both Gojira and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Encoded in AVC with bit rates ranging from about 15-30 Mbps. It looks very, very good.
Audio:
Both movies contain remastered audio (mono only for both) and are free of hiss, pops and clicks. I don't know that either film has ever sounded this good.
Extras:
You have Photographic Effects where the director and effects photographer go into detail behind how some of the visual effects for the film were created. 1080i full screen (both people appear in a pillar and letter boxed format, though the effects are done full screen just as the movie was filmed). About 9 minutes.
Cast and Crew. These are interviews with various staff behind the film speaking about the film. There are 4 interviews total. Akira Takarada, 13 mins. Haruo Nakajima, 10 minutes. Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai, 30 minutes and Akira Ifukube, 50 minutes. All but Ifukube's interviews were done in 2011. Ifukube, has, unfortunately passed away and is obviously unavailable for interviews today.
Another section is call Tadao Sato. Tadao is a Japanese film critic, thus it was not included in the Cast and Crew interviews. 14 minutes.
The Unluckiest Dragon, 10 minutes. This is a photo based documentary of the fishing boat that was part of what prompted the use of fishing vessels as the start of the Gojira film. The vessel in question was witness of some of the nuclear testing done in the Pacific and of course, most on the ship died or were negatively impacted by the death ash.
Excellent, high quality, top notch extras. Everything was worth watching and was full of all sorts of great information.
Packaging
This one comes in a nice slip cover. Inside is a really cool fold out cardboard case holding the disc. On the fold out is an awesome Godzilla pop up, similar to children's pop up books.
Over all, this is a tremendous release. Many wonder why Criterion would release a film like this, but with how inbred Godzilla is in Japan's culture, and the American culture, it makes perfect sense to me. And they treated it with the respect it deserves.
If you have the Classic Media Blu Ray, double dip. The extras alone make it worth it, plus now you'll have an HD edition of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which was missing from Classic Media's release.
Highly recommended.This is the ultimate home video release of Godzilla. Not only has Criterion carefully remastered the original Japanese version of the film, but they've put just as much love and effort into restoring the 1956 American version as well. Most Americans grew up with that version, and even though many film buffs agree that the Japanese version is the definitive one, I'm very happy to that for Criterion's new release the American version was not just an afterthought. Unlike the disappointing Blu-Ray release of "Gojira" by Classic Media a few years back, this Blu-Ray not only gives you both versions of the film looking the best they have since their original theatrical releases, but also a monster-sized helping of supplimental features including new audio commentaries and interviews with the film's crew.
In short, it's a Criterion release through and through, which means you are getting the very best that the Blu-ray format has to offer. Fans of "Big G" would be remiss to not put this edition in their film library.
Read Best Reviews of Gojira (1954) Here
This review is for the Blu-ray edition, and I am going to focus on the technical aspects of the release, not the movie itself, the movie is a great classic and should be seen in its Japanese original form, whether through this BD or the previous Classic Media DVD, that's your choice.First of all, the movie is not 1080p is 1080i, which might be because it's not comming from a direct filmscan, but through an HDCAM tape, since it's a film, not TV, the fields show half and half of the frame and when a projector or the TV does the conversion to progressive you have the original frame, if you have your BD and TV/Projector properly set up you won't see any interlaced images.
The film is not presented in it's original 1.33 aspect ratio, the width is perfect but there is a slight loss in the upper and lower parts of the image (it is clearly seen in the original GODZILLA title, look at the lower right logo), therefore the aspect ratio might be around 1.45, still and improvement from the previous DVD release, it was 1.33 but because it lost both width and height.
There is also another HUGE problem: the Noise Reduction. Since it's a pretty old film, film stocks from the original movie are in pretty bad shape, and CM instead of performing a full restoration (a-la Criterion), simply applied an inmense quantity of automatic Noise Reduction, resulting in lots of jittering and screen tearing. To tell you the truth, when checking the DVD versus the BD, I found hard to decide wich was poorer in Image quality, but I guess that MPEG-2 is quite an old codec now, and the Standard Definition makes everything look slightly blury, so all in all I prefer the BluRay since it's coded in AVC. The sound only includes the original Japanese audio in PCM linear, wich is fine in my book (I hate dubs), and the subs are more than ok.
The extras are the same that on the DVD, nothing new, and they are presented in their original MPEG-2 codification.
I would never recommend this BD to any Godzilla fan if already own the CM DVD, since I truly believe that this movie will eventualy get a proper release. However if you have never seen the original Godzilla, and don't care about the american version... Hey! It's a Blu-Ray and IT'S REGION FREE! (tested on a PS3 region "B")This review is mainly concerned with the original, Japanese version of Gojira (not dubbed). I find that inserting Raymond Burr's character and removing some of the original to do so takes a great deal away from this movie and what it represents.
Godzilla rises from his long sleep due to the effects of the hydrogen bomb. With each attack, the creature becomes more bold until Tokyo suffers a devasting attack, and only a miracle can save the country from another tragic visit by this risen giant.
The love affair plays a secondary but important part in the film. Emiko has been promised in marriage to a brilliant young scientist but has fallen in love with another man. It is the old world traditions clashing with modernity. Her father is a paleontologist who is probably the only person sharing empathy with Godzilla, feeling that destroying the beast will be depriving science of its one and only chance to study a creature from the prehistoric past.
What is often overlooked (and not really stressed in the American version) is the terrible dilemma the young scientist faces when he is begged to use his oxygen destroyer weapon against Godzilla. Only the viewing of the destruction and sadness make him realize there is only one course to take. I feel he is the most crucial and yet saddest character in the entire movie. He actually loses on a number of counts--his life's work (he destroys his formula so it could never fall into the wrong hands), his fiancee has decided to wed another, and in true samurai-like tradition, ends his life nobly. The scene of Godzilla's painful death at the same moment that this brave but troubled researcher ends his own is poignant in the extreme.
This film is not just about humans against an ancient monster awakened from the past. It is about the universal emotions of love, dedication and the dangers to which science can lead us. It is also about sacrifice and triumph over impossible odds.
It is important to remember that the original movie was produced not that many years after the devastation wrought on Japan by the atomic bombs. It does not take much of the imagination to see the same destroyed cities, dying and injured people and the heartache produced by an attack, whether monster or man-made, on such a massive scale. The burning buildings, high levels of radioactivity, the melting metal all conjure up the effects of the atomic bomb, and in many ways this movie is an illustration of what Japan experienced, as well as providing a cathartic effect to a nation that suffered perhaps the greatest horror of this century.
The underlying message here is that, like the oxygen destroyer, atomic weapons are the most destructive device ever invented by man. This movie, besides being a very scary monster film (it gave me nightmares when I was a little girl) is an anti-nuclear weapon vehicle which gets its message across through the characters of a enormous beast, a scientist faced with a moral decision, and a people bent on surviving. Godzilla is more then a movie; it is a social statement against any weapon that has the power to alter our world, and the people in it, forever.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the old gentleman who was encased within the Godzilla costume. A very short man playing a huge monster (he was about 5 feet tall), he was nevertheless delighted and surprised that his portrayal of the beast has continued to draw audiences even after all these years. It was an honor to meet him.
My advice is the best way to see this movie is in the original, uncut Japanese version without dubbing. I am not a big fan of dubbing anyway, and feel that since people know the story and what is being said, the language barrier disappears and the emotional impact of the film is felt on a much higher scale.
To me, this is one of the best movies produced and has stood the passing of time. It holds many lessons for those who are open to the warnings and human tragedies, both physical and emotional, that we are forced to face in a world that has advanced to the point of self-annihilation.
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