Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

This is an excellent compendium of movies designed for every Godzilla fan. While it comes in a cumbersome packaging, it's still an art piece that you can display on a stand in your home. I really enjoyed reading the history of the franchise and the summaries of the films. This is sure to please fans of the movies like me.

Great collection of all the Showa Era, Gojira films. Movies are not as sharp as a modern day 4K film given the timeframe in which they were made. But, the prints have been nicely restored or enhanced, and the audio is very clear. My prior Godzilla movie collections were either VHS or regular DVD, so this was a huge step up! I'm hoping Criterion will do the same for the Heisei Era films as well.

Never in a million years did i ever think a collection like this would ever see the light of day. If you like me grew up in the 80's, you grew up with the godzilla movies being a staple of tv. In the nYC area they were always shown on two of my local stations that would normally run syndicated stuff. We grew up with the American cuts of the films. Schlocky but fun. If you're looking to relive that experience youw ont find it here. Instead this will be like rediscovering Godzilla for you. This entire collection has only the original Japanese versions of the films. with subtitles. Upon seeing the Japanese films for the first time I was shocked. The American films were cut so much as to be almost totally different movies. The schlock factor disappears, and the movies are way more coherent and some of them even turn from camp into serious explorations of certain themes. One movie that i used ot watch over and over again as a kid was Godzilla vs Megalon. One of the schlockiest in the entire Godzilla canon. But when I watch the original, im surprised to see there's actually a cohesive plot and a serious attempt at drama as well. Are all the original versions better? No there are some movies where I think the American version might have been better and the original plods along a little bit, but those movies are few and far between--for the most part there are more hits than misses. Also this collection is COMPLETE. if you ever tried collecting the Godzilla movies previously on dvd you know that there were certain movies that had gone out of print and if you managed to somehow find a dvd they were going to cost you hundreds of dollars. Here for one low price you can have the entire original Godzilla collection from Godzilla all the way to Terror of Mecha-Godzilla. For the most part this collection is not going to replace your old "Godzilla Collection" dvd box set and other dvd's you may have been able to get separately. You need ot keep those old dvd's because they have the American versions and you may want to revisit the versions of thes emovies you grew up with. This new Criterion Collection set should probably be gotten in addition to old dvd's you already have. If you can only choose one then go with this set as you will have a complete set at least. There are 2 American movies included here--the Raymond Burr version of Godzilla is included as an extra on the first disc. The American version of King Kong vs Godzilla is the default "main version" in the collection because of US copyright laws. You will find the original Japanese version included separately, almost hidden away, as part of the Extras disc (disc 8). All movies are given the excellent and respectful treatment Criterion is known for. These movies have never sounded or looked better. The picture is clean with no visible age artefacts on the film. The subtitles are done well and in no way distract from the movie or come across as obnoxious in their placement on the screen. I wish there was a second mega collection like this one from Criterion collecting the Heisei and Millenium eras. Unfortunately for that to happen we will have to wait for Toho to once again get the rights to the more modern films. To close--i give this collection a wholehearted recommendation. Get this set right away before it goes out of print!!

This is the perfect way to collect the Showā era Godzilla films. I can’t rave enough about this. The brilliant artwork, the thought provoking essays and sturdy book frame are all top notch. I’ve wanted this for five years and finally have my hands on it, it was more than worth the wait.

Admittedly, this is an odd selection for Criterion’s landmark spine number 1000, but as curators of independent, foreign and historically important films, it does make a certain amount of sense for Criterion to do this.Whatever your opinion of Godzilla movies, they have been popular and in production on and off for the last 65 years. What started as an allegory for the horrors of nuclear war became an enduring cultural phenomenon and certainly worthy of commemoration.In many ways, it’s really nice to have all the Showa era Godzilla films assembled in one place. DVDs of a few of these titles (“Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla” and “Son of Godzilla for example”) have been out of print for a while, and as a result are expensive to procure.I won’t discuss the virtues of the individual films. Godzilla fandom tends to be pretty divided on a lot of these films, so that discussion seems pointless. I do believe that as silly as some of them are, none of them are truly without merit.The packaging of this set is quite attractive and essentially an oversized 36 page book with the addition of two illustriously illustrated cardboard pages acting as sleeves for the eight Blu-ray discs. It won’t fit on a normal Blu-ray or DVD shelf, but that’s not going to matter to collectors and real G-fans.The first disc is basically the same as the Criterion Blu-ray of Godzilla, but with different menus. Discs 2-7 contain the remainder of the films with a lone trailer on disc 2 being the only special feature. Thankfully, disc 8 is filled with a plethora of new and archival special features, including the Japanese version of “King Kong vs Godzilla”.Many people appear to have quibbles with this collection. One issue frequently cited is that these are old HD transfers rather than being new high quality restorations. That being said, the films look and sound great and are likely better than any other versions out there.Another complaint is the lack of English dubs for some of the films and the loss of the cheesy original English dubs that I always found annoying but that some people found charming.Quite frankly I find all these films highly enjoyable and do not mind the newer dubs or having to read subtitles. I believe that the pros (having all the films together in one place, new special features and the attractive packaging) far outweigh the cons.At the current price the cost comes out to be approximately six or seven dollars per film. This makes it a steal for around $112. The asking price of a DVD of “Son of Godzilla” on Amazon is a nickel shy of $100 as I write this, though I’m not sure if anyone will still pay that.If I have one complaint, it’s that the other Showa era kaiju films in the Toho catalog (such as “War of the Gargantuas”, “Rodan” and “King Kong Escapes”), to which Criterion apparently has the rights, were not included. I sincerely hope that some future release is in the works. Time will tell.