The U.S. DVDs of the Godzilla films are all widescreen (except for _Terror
of Mechagodzilla_ and those made in 1.33), but they offer only the
English-dubbed version, even in cases where there was little or no cutting
from the Japanese version (which basically includes _Godzilla's Revenge_, an
underrated family drama in which Godzilla appears only in dream sequences,
much loathed due to the fact it has so much stock footage).

Scott Andrew Hutchins
[log in to unmask]

Examine The Life of Timon of Athens at Cracks in the Fourth Wall
Theatre & Filmworks
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scottandrewh

"But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and
stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice
and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all...why then perhaps we
*must* stand fast a little--even at the risk of being heroes." --Sir Thomas
More, _A Man for All Seasons_, by Robert Bolt


----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Nuzzi" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 8:07 PM
Subject: Re: 40 for DVD--not likely


> On Thursday, January 30, 2003, at 10:45 PM, Scott Andrew Hutchins wrote:
>
> > Matango (Ishiro Honda, 1963)
>
>
> Obviously, the list is in no particular order, otherwise Matango, the
> Fungus of Terror (AKA Attack of the Mushroom People) would be first. :-)
>
> Seriously, Ishiro Honda is a director who is often overlooked,
> dismissed as "the director of those awful Godzilla movies" by most. In
> fact, he was a great filmmaker who worked as assistant director with
> Kurosawa on some of his later films, such as Kagemusha and Ran.
>
> As for the Godzilla films, before you criticize, see the original
> Japanese versions, in widescreen for the ones that were filmed that
> way. They are very different films than the badly dubbed, re-edited,
> panned-and-scanned versions that most Americans have seen on TV in
> their childhood. In particular, see the original Japanese version of
> Godzilla (1954), which features Takashi Shimura of Seven Samurai fame
> as the lead. The American version was butchered of about half of its
> footage in order to make room for poorly integrated scenes featuring
> Raymond Burr as an American reporter.
>
> Chris Nuzzi
>
> ----
> To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L
> in the message.  Problems?  Contact [log in to unmask]

----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu