Well, in an odd way Kurosawa did direct Godzilla. One of the bandits in "Seven Samurai" was played by Haruo Nakajima who was also Godzilla in most of the films up to the early 70s. I've also heard that composer Akira Ifukube is considered quite the highbrow in Japan and his work on the Godzilla films is seen as somewhat mystifying, sort as if Ned Rorem or Milton Babbitt had scored a slasher film in the US. LT ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html