Criterion Collection
The Shōwa era films get a glorious box set this fall
Criterion, the boutique, home-video distribution company, began publishing DVDs over 20 years ago with a reissue of Jean Renoir’s 1937 film Grand Illusion. The now out-of-print title has the distinction of the collection’s #1 spine, a cataloguing system that’s turned each release into a collector’s item. Now Criterion has revealed the title for spine #1000 — and it’s a monster release.
This fall, Criterion will release a Blu-ray collector’s set of all the Godzilla films from Japan’s Shōwa era (1954-1975). That’s 15 films, presented with HD digital transfers, and accompanied by the collection’s usual prestigious supplemental material, including a hardcover book full of film notes, interviews, and new art. The box set will arrive on Oct. 29. 2019.
Per Criterion, the full release includes:
- High-definition digital transfer of Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956), the U.S.-release version of Godzilla Japanese-release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962
- Audio commentaries from 2011 on Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters featuring film historian David Kalat
- International English-language dub tracks for Invasion of Astro-Monster, Son of Godzilla,Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla
- Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Ishiro Honda, conducted by director Yoshimitsu Banno in 1990
- Programs detailing the creation of Godzilla’s special effects and unused effects sequences from Toho releases including Destroy All Monster
- New interview with filmmaker Alex Cox about his admiration for the Showa-era Godzilla films
- New and archival interviews with cast and crew members, including actors Bin Furuya, Tsugutoshi Komada, Haruo Nakajima, and Akira Takarada; composer Akira Ifukube; and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai
- Interview with critic Tadao Sato from 2011
- Illustrated audio essay from 2011 about the real-life tragedy that inspired Godzilla
- New English subtitle translations
- Trailers
- A lavishly illustrated deluxe hardcover book featuring an essay by cinema historian Steve Ryfle, notes on the films by cinema historian Ed Godziszewski, and new illustrations by Arthur Adams, Sophie Campbell, Becky Cloonan, Jorge Coelho, Geof Darrow, Simon Gane, Robert Goodin, Benjamin Marra, Monarobot, Takashi Okazaki, Angela Rizza, Yuko Shimizu, Bill Sienkiewicz, Katsuya Terada, Ronald Wimberly, and Chris Wisnia
Criterion’s announcement came with a first-look video of the set, along with a peek at the art, which you can see in the gallery below.
Source: Polygon
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