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Godzilla: The Criterion Collection DVD

SKU ID #365575

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  • Additional Details
  • Format: DVD
  • Rating: Not Rated
  • Number of Discs: 2
  • Run Time: 96 Minutes
  • Region: 1 Region?
  • Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
  • Language: Japanese
  • Studio: Criterion Collection
  • DVD Release Date: January 24, 2012
  • Packaging: Keep Case
  • Subtitles: English
  • Audio: JAPANESE: Dolby Digital Mono
  • Director: Terry Morse , Inoshiro Honda
  • Cast: Raymond Burr , Takashi Shimura , Momoko Kochi , Akira Takarada , Akihiko Hirata , Sachio Sakai , Fuyuki Murakami , Ren Yamamoto
  • Genre: Foreign
  • Color: Black & White
  • Includes:
    Disc 1
    Audio Commentary By Film Historian David Kalat
    Trailers

    Disc 2
    Audio Commentary for Godzilla, King Of The Monsters by Kalat
    Trailer for Godzilla, 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
    A Booklet Featuring An Essay By Critic J. Hoberman
  • Release Date: 1954
Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It's also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population's fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels. A thrilling, tactile spectacle that continues to be a cult phenomenon, the original, 1954 Japanese version is presented here, along with Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the 1956 "Americanized" version.

Expert Review:
You may want to throw away everything you think you know about Godzilla before you watch Ishiro Honda's original 1954 film (or it's English language recut, "Godzilla, King of the Monsters"). Godzilla is no goofy mascot, but a remorseless force of nature. The atmosphere is dark and the aftermath of every giant monster attack is shown in all its brutal, grim reality. By Mark Pellegrini of Adventures in Poor Taste

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