Kaijū is a film genre that deals with giant monsters. In November of 1954 Toho Studio released the Ishirô Honda directed Gojira. It was a huge success earning more than $2 Million in Japan. It gained so much attention that it was time to bring it to America.
There was some problems with bringing the film to American theaters. There was a message of anti-America because of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that happened just nine years earlier. So they hired Raymond Burr and reworked the script cutting 16 minutes of footage.
The American version of the film follows a U.S. newsman Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) who is in Tokyo and reports the attack of a huge dinosaur awakened from the depths of the sea by an atomic blast. And goes on a smashing spree through Tokyo.
Raymond Burr worked on his scenes for the American version of this film and completed them in 1 days time. The producers used acting extras with their backs to the camera and than spliced the scenes, thus it looked as though he appears to be interacting with the original actors
The script was reworked seamlessly, and it does work really well! Raymond Burr is a great lead as he was in anything he did. The action and destruction still holds up even though the film was made over 60 years ago.
I was able to pick up a copy of this DVD for all of $2. What a deal! The transfer is pretty good on this release! The video can be a bit to bright at times, but the audio is great. Godzilla's roars are still terrifying even to this day. As for the DVD bonus features! There is only a trailer for an exclusive Gamecube Godzilla game. That is all! That is a major bummer! Sony could have put the trailer on here at least. But no!
So if you love those Kaijū films this is a really source of entertainment! You can head over to Amazon.com and pick up a copy for yourself.
Moral Rating: violence / scary images
Audience: teens and adults
Genre: sci-fi/horror
Length: 1 hour 19 minutes
DVD Released: 2015
DVD Rating: B
*Please note film rating above are my own personal opinion.
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