If you’re a Godzilla fan who doesn’t own a blu-ray player, you might want to think about asking for one from Santa this Christmas. Confirming a rumor we first reported back in August, the Criterion Collection announced that it will be releasing the original 1955 Japanese monster movie classic Gojira, better known to those of us in the west as Godzilla, on January 24 on blu-ray.
The release will include a new, high-def digital restorations of both Ishiro Honda’s film and the 1956 American release of the film, Godzilla, King Of The Monsters. Gojira will feature the film’s original uncompressed monaural soundtrack. Both films will also have an audio commentary track from David Kalat, author of A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series.
The disc will also include the following extras –
- New interviews with actor Akira Takanada (Hideto Ogata), Godzilla performer Haruo Nakajima and effects technicians Yoshiro Irie and Eizo Kaimai.
- Interview with Godzilla composer Akira Ikufube.
- Featurette detailing Godzilla’s photographic effects.
- New interview with Japanese film critic Tadao Sato.
- The Unluckiest Dragon, an illustrated audio essay festuring historian Greg Pflugfelder describing the tragic fate of the fishing vessel Daigo fukurya maru, a real-life event that inspired Godzilla.
- New and improved English subtitle translations.
- Theatrical trailers.
- Booklet featuring an essay by critic J Hoberman.
