Akira Takarada, Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura. Title from web page. Originally released as a motion picture in 1954. Release date: Jan. 24, 2012. Special features: audio commentary for both movies by film historian David Kalat; 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; Trailers for Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters; booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman.
Summary:
It's also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama made in Japan at a time when the country was still reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire populations fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning more than twenty sequels and spinoffs. Here, we present the original, 1954 Japanese version, along with Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, the 1956 American reworking.
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