John Sinnott

DVDDrive-in has some information on some new Toho monster movies. They report that Classic Media has bought the rights to some films from UPA including FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, GODZILLA VS. MONSTER ZERO, THE LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH, ISLAND OF THE BURNING DOOMED, EVIL OF DRACULA, LAKE OF DRACULA, BATTLE OF THE WORLDS and ATOM AGE VAMPIRE. No date has been set for these films.

The bad news is that these would be the English dubs that UPA did way back when.

Classic media is the group that put together Sony's recent Godzilla collection.

You can check it out here:

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/


-Videophile

The Exister

Man, these are some great titles.

Sucks that they're dubbed, but I'll be happy just to see some of them on DVD at this point.

Jason

If they're letterboxed, I can live with them being dubbed.

JordanGLC

not exactly a selling point

EPKJ

Actually, it is a selling point. I purchased that set and loved it. It sold very well as I recall. I expect that this set will sell just as well.

Damage

Good news. I'd prefer anamorphic OAR with both English and Japanese soundtracks, but I'll take any kaiju I can. Really looking forward to FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, and the ellusive GODZILLA VS. MONSTER ZERO. I joined the DVD realm just a little too late and missed out on the Simitar version of GvsMZ. It's sort of the "Salo" DVD of the kaiju world.

Ky-Fi

I would like War of the Gargantuas a lot. I also can put up with the dubbing as long as they're widescreen. I have the Simitar releases of G Vs. Monster Zero and G Vs. Mothra, and although not perfect, they're OK. I won't buy fullscreen, though.

B5Erik

I'm expecting more full screen releases on these titles.

I'd love to be wrong, but I don't think that we're going to see widescreen versions. I do have the Japanese Laser Disc of War Of The Gargantuas, and the widescreen picture is among the best of any Laser Disc I've ever seen. Too bad they can't get that print and add english subtitles.

Sex Fiend

Hey, it's always good to see more Toho horror. I guess I don't mind the dubs since that's the way I originally saw many of these films (even though it's not really ideal from a purist's standpoint). I agree that any full frame editions would be crummy though.

I still hope we'll get Attack of the Mushroom People someday soon - my all-time favorite old-school Japanese horror flick and one of the classic B movie cult films.

The Exister

Man, you are not kidding!

Also my all-time favorite!

gbub

Is Toho just the dumbest movie company? Why do they keep licensing out their movies to companies that put out these crap-tacular releases? They seem so bitter towards the USA's view of these movies yet they take no pride in them. As far as I remember most of the Godzilla movies have quality laserdisc releases. Is Toho waiting to see if DVDs will take off finally?

Is it so much to ask for: OAR (if not animorphic), original and dubbed (for the kiddies) soundtracks, and original cuts?

Damage

I've wonered the same thing about Toho being extremely difficult to their North American fans. I can see why it's not financially sound to go through the effort for theatrical releases in North America. But there's definitely money to be made in DVD releases! It's a niche market, but I believe it's substantial enough to be worth their while.

Scot1458

too bad no Varan or Mysterians.

Jaymole

Since most of the Toho films this company has released previously were not OAR, I don't have much hope (or excitement) over this latest batch of releases.

EPKJ

Dubbing is also for adults who don't want to be distracted from the visuals by having to read subtitles. It is rather elitist to presume this to be the preferred method of viewing.

sparks

Once you get a 16x9 TV with a progressive scan DVD player, you'll only want anamorphic...anything else looks crappy(not counting 1.33:1/1.37:1).

i just got a 16x9-2.35:1-5.1 DD DVD-R of "The Mysterians." It's the Japanese long version with Japanese language opening and closing credits and it's dubbed into English...and it looks pretty darn good!

Since I don't own a region free player and don't have $65 to blow on a Toho release, this will have to do! :

Onizuka

Dubs & Pan Scanned films are for kids & idiots.

gbub

Ouch...actually I'm with EPKJ on this. I usually watch the subtitled version once, but after that I see nothing wrong with a well-dubbed soundtrack. On the other hand, I'm not sure there's ever been a well-dubbed Godzilla movie.

EPKJ

Are you calling me an idiot?

Sex Fiend

IMHO dubbed soundtracks are an outrage for "artistic" foreign language films (ie - Bergman, Fellini) because the translation of the original dialogue is often altered to "look" more natural and match the actors' lip movements, hence generally altering the context and quality of what the filmmakers had originally produced.

On the other hand, for more entertainment-oriented (genre/action/mainstream) foreign language films such as horror movies or spaghetti westerns, I don't think dubbing is all that terrible, as the underlying dialogue is usually not exactly of great literary merit.

As long as the dubbing isn't too badly done and then just plain distracting as a result, it usually doesn't affect the quality of genre film, in my opinion.

EPKJ

I agree with you for the most part. I think it does depend on the type of film being watched. One example of a great dub was Das Boot. But that is an exception.