--- In sonsofkong@yahoogroups.com, "Dean" <sonofvulcan@a...> wrote:
> Sounds good. I got my first DVD player for Christmas, so I can at
> long last enter the 21st Century (as my daughter pointed out
> gleefully). I've never seen the original "Godzilla", only the
Raymond
> Burr version.
>
> Dean

Dean, while the 1956 Americanization of the 1954 original is OK (and
for years was the only version I knew and loved), the original is
much more powerful. While the Raymond Burr scenes in the US version
acceptably replace similar scenes from the original, the Japanese
footage used is badly printed and edited. Godzilla's role as an
embodiment of the H-Bomb and the scenes of his aftermath, obviously
meant to evoke the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are
slighted in the US version. The dubbed soundtrack and Burr's
narration also ill-serve the performance of the lead actors,
including the great Takashi Shimura as the scientist caught between
his excitement at Godzilla's existence and his horrified realization
at how apocalyptically dangerous the creature is; and Akihiko Hirata
as the guilt-ridden scientist who has stumbled on the Oxygen
Destroyer, a device that, like the H-Bomb, could mean the end of the
human race.
I hope that Rialto's release of the restored 1954 GOJIRA/GODZILLA
proves successful enough that we will see ALL of the Toho kaiju
classics, like RODAN, MOTHRA, and GHIDORAH released in widescreen
stereo versions that are properly English subtitled for theatres and
on DVD. It's about time...