GODZILLA IV – Final
GODZILLA Review: Part III
The DVD set comes with an informative booklet, trailers for both films (though the Gojira trailer lacks subtitles), a "Godzilla: Story Development" featurette, a "Making of the Godzilla Suit" featurette, and commentaries on both films by Godzilla experts Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski. These commentaries are the best bonuses and make up for the rather skimpy extras because both are excellent, fully delving into the history and detailed making of the films.
Neither man is a film historian or critic, so they have an enthusiasm that many such commentaries lack. As a plus they are well informed, fast paced, and non-fellatric in their opining. The Godzilla commentary also features the son, Terry Morse Jr., of the American [...]
by Dan Schneider | December 18, 2006
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Tags: Classic Movies, DVDs, Film Reviews, Godzilla, Joseph E. Levine, Terry O. Morse
GODZILLA Review III
GODZILLA Review: Part II
A positive in both films is that much of Godzilla’s destruction is filmed in night scenes, in black and white, as this heightens what the viewer can imbue. The imagined is always more frightening than the real. This goes for Godzilla, the monster itself, for in the cross-cuts from rubber suited man to miniatures, matte paintings, and puppets, Godzilla seems to be a shapeshifter, a preternatural beast, and not the mere ‘force of nature’ other critics have lazily declared.
There are times we see pupils in Godzilla’s eyes, and times when the monster seems like a white-eyed zombie or demon. A few years later, the great British horror movie Night of the Demon, directed [...]
by Dan Schneider | December 18, 2006
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Tags: Akira Ifukube, Classic Movies, DVDs, Film Reviews, Godzilla
GODZILLA II – Raymond Burr
GODZILLA Review: Part I
The plot of the original Godzilla is well known: an American reporter, Steve Martin (Raymond Burr, right), tells a tale in flashback, after Godzilla has leveled Tokyo, leaving him recovering in a hospital. He is reputedly pals with a brilliant scientist named Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata), although the two never seem to meet up.
Martin always turns up at key moments in the film, to act as an impassive observer, until he ends up being nearly killed by the beast, along with thousands of others. Eventually, Martin recovers and witnesses Serizawa descend to the depths of Tokyo Bay to destroy Godzilla with a weapon as powerful as the atom bomb, his Oxygen Destroyer.
Gojira is [...]
by Dan Schneider | December 18, 2006
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Tags: Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Classic Movies, Film Reviews, Godzilla, Raymond Burr
GODZILLA d: Ishirô Honda
Gojira (1954) / Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956)
Direction: Ishirô Honda; with additional footage by Terry O. Morse for the American version
Screenplay: Ishirô Honda, Takeo Murata; from a story by Shigeru Kayama
Cast: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi, Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Toyoaki Suzuki. Also: Raymond Burr in the American version
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Heaven. When I came across the long-awaited release of the original 1954 Japanese monster film Gojira on DVD, I thought I had struck heaven. That it was accompanied by its Americanized cousin, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, only doubled the joy of expectation. And for once, I was not disappointed.
The mark of a good critic is admitting biases, so I will state up front that as a young [...]
by Dan Schneider | December 18, 2006
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Tags: Classic Movies, Film Reviews, Godzilla, Gojira, Horror Movies, Ishirô Honda, Monster Movies, Shigeru Kayama