Apparently a print was found that should result in a transfer that's better then any we've seen before, and should look even better once said transfer undergoes a digital restoration from Criterion.
http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/08/godzilla-makes-a-monsterous-stride- towards-a-ground-shaking-criterion-release.php
PACIFIC RIM
In theaters
July 12th, 2013
I just read this at thedigitalbits.com. Criterion supposedly teased people by showing a photo of a film canister labeled Gojira, and it's also reported that they've located a pristine print of Godzilla, King of the Monsters as well. Assuming all this is correct, it seems eventually they'll issue a two-disc set with both films, like the present Classic Media set but with better prints and, we'd assume, new commentary and other features.
All this is fine, but there's no indication of how long it'll be before a Criterion DVD comes out -- if it does. Not soon, probably (I write this on Sept. 2, 2011).
While this is welcome news, I have to say that a Criterion edition comes a bit late in the game. The Classic Media set is actually very good, with terrific cover art and excellent commentary and features, including its booklet on the history of Godzilla. Some have complained about imperfections and speckling on the print of Gojira used by CM, but this never bothered me and in fact made the film look more immediate and real, like a newsreel or documentary, which was very effective. A "clean" copy would likely lose something of this "raw edge" look.
In any case, CM did such a good job that while a Criterion edition would certainly be top-notch, it would be a little redundant. It's not like other films Criterion has issued after they'd had previous DVD releases (like the United Artists titles they've been releasing lately), which were mostly basic, bare-bones discs. Classic's Gojira is a great set with many excellent features to commend it. Even Criterion will find the Classic Media set a hard act to follow.
I don't get why people praise the quality of Classic Media's Gojira Blu-ray. It's great to be able to watch the Japanese version, of course, but the transfer is pretty bad. I can almost forgive the scratches and dirt, but I cannot forgive the fact that a HAIR GETS CAUGHT IN THE PROJECTOR near the end of the film. How does no one notice that? How is that acceptable? I haven't seen a hair in the frame like that since watching educational films in high school.
shareI've never seen the Gojira Blu-ray. I've heard people were disappointed by it. Presumably a Criterion edition will be much better. My comments referred to the standard Classic Media DVD and its extras. CM's Blu-ray didn't even include Godzilla, King of the Monsters.
shareSome have complained about imperfections and speckling on the print of Gojira used by CM, but this never bothered me and in fact made the film look more immediate and real, like a newsreel or documentary, which was very effective. A "clean" copy would likely lose something of this "raw edge" look.
I don't know Hobnob. I have to admit that I've become rather spoiled by these sharp clean copies (although it is a good point about the documentary element, which was something Ishiro Honda was striving for).
With KINO's release of NOSFERATU a couple of years ago, I've never seen a silent movie look that sharp before. You wouldn't think it was done nearly 90 years ago!
Still, it can have it's drawbacks. I have the Criterion release of Alexander Korda's THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, and at the end of that movie, you have Sabu whisking away on the flying carpet. Unfortunately, because of its new found sharpness, one could now very clearly see the piano wires holding up the carpet. Yikes!
Still, it will be interesting to see this new look on Godzilla / Gojira. SEVEN SAMURAI, I though looked better than ever, with the cleaner version from Criterion.
Hi Big G,
Yeah, normally I'd agree with you. Ordinarily I prefer a clean, sharp copy of a film to one with flaws, especially in the print or film stock, but occasionally you can find exceptions, and I think Gojira is one of those. I like its unfinished edge. Aside from the documentary feel that results, it adds to the dark, somber atmosphere of the film and, cinematically, covers any defects in the special effects. This original Godzilla film is by far the most realistic of any Japanese sci-fi movie, and I think the imperfections evident on the film stock add to the mood of the movie.
Besides, I don't think these problems are all that egregious or especially noticeable. For the most part, they're almost subliminal to me, but then I'm used to the film.
But I do fear that cleaning the print up too much can lose something in the process...as well as undermine the filmmakers' efforts by revealing previously hidden flaws. Your point about Thief is well taken, but hardly unique. The manta-ray saucers in The War of the Worlds looked great until the film was "digitally remastered", whereupon the strings holding them up, so painstakingly concealed for decades, were suddenly all too obivous.
Of course, digitally cleaning up a movie is quite different from digitally altering one, as Paramount did to Shane when they removed the white car seen traveling along a road in the distance when Shane rides onto the farm at the beginning. You know I think films should remain intact, as they were: repaired, restored, "cleaned up", but not changed, even in their flaws. Spielberg digitally altered E.T. for one video release by changing the guns worn by officers to radios. In preparing its Blu-ray, he asked for audience feedback on whether he should include this faked version along with the original, and apparently the response to the altered version was so overwhelmingly negative that not only will he not bother to put it on 'ray, he even apologized for changing it in the first place -- as well he should have.
Anyway, no such worries about Gojira, but I'll be really curious to see what Criterion does with it -- not only to the film itself (plus the Burr version), but also what extras they come up with. Not usually a major interest of mine, but as I said, they'll have to go some ways to doing as good a job as Classic Media did.
I know I'm probably gonna get slapped for this, but what's a Criterion edition?
If you think Laserdisc should be brought back, copy this signature
Well, their website http://www.criterion.com would give you the best details.
Criterion’s specialty is releasing foreign movies, cult films, classic British cinema and even some Hollywood classics in newly restored prints, like you’ve never seen before.
Of course, digitally cleaning up a movie is quite different from digitally altering one, as Paramount did to Shane when they removed the white car seen traveling along a road in the distance when Shane rides onto the farm at the beginning. You know I think films should remain intact, as they were: repaired, restored, "cleaned up", but not changed, even in their flaws.
Lots of times, I’m not even aware of such things until I’m told later by someone or listening to a commentary on DVD. I wasn’t even aware of the car in SHANE!! But they shouldn’t have removed it, since in addition to being a classic film, it gives it a great trivia notoriety. It’s all part of the charm.
GOJIRA has its share of effects blemishes, but it never really bothered me (certainly not when I was a kid). And it also could be forgiven since it was basically the first of its kind in Japan. Much different than any war movie Toho had produced, which were their big special effects films prior to GOJIRA.
And earlier, I mentioned Sabu and Alexander Korda. Well, I only found out today, that Criterion (their Eclipse series) is releasing a trio of Sabu /Korda films, including JUNGLE BOOK. I was going to post that on the JUNGLE BOOK message board, but Hobnob, it looks like you beat me by two months! I’m going to take that discussion over on that JB board, because I have questions that maybe you can answer and because this is a GOJIRA board and I don’t want to take any focus away from good ole Godzilla!
[deleted]
Officially announced, release date Jan 24, 2012 (both DVD and BR editions; not dual format):
Disc Features
- New high-definition digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentary by David Kalat (A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series)
- New high-definition digital restoration of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Terry Morse’s 1956 reworking of the original, starring Raymond Burr
- Audio commentary for Godzilla, King of the Monsters by Kalat
- New interviews with actor Akira Takarada (Hideto Ogata), Godzilla performer Haruo Nakajima, and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai
- Interview with legendary Godzilla score composer Akira Ifukube
- Featurette detailing Godzilla’s photographic effects
- New interview with Japanese-film critic Tadao Sato
- The Unluckiest Dragon, an illustrated audio essay featuring historian Greg Pflugfelder describing the tragic fate of the fishing vessel Daigo *beep* maru, a real-life event that inspired Godzilla
- Theatrical trailers
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman
Godzilla on Criterion blu-ray made me JIZZ IN MY PANTS.
shareThe main draw for this for me was David Kalat's audio commentaries... but I was very disappointed by them. Criterion's superior print of the film aside, Kalat just came off as too much of a gushing fanboy incapable of objectively discussing the movie. I was far more impressed with Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewsky's commentaries on the 2006 Classic Media release, I'm sorry to say. Fortunately, sucky commentaries aren't a deal breaker for me. I don't regret my purchase. :)
"I mean, really, how many times will you look under Jabba's manboobs?"