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Godzilla (1954) aka Gojira, directed by IshirÅ Honda, Criterion Collection remaster, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including original Japanese theatrical mono, commentary track, and English subtitles.
IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047034/
Video encoded in two-pass 10.0 Mbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image. Audio encoded separately with Apple AAC for the highest-quality AAC sound available.
Subtitles converted to VobSub and repositioned.
Note : The film that birthed a thousand rubber monster suits, and completely destroyed the world's reserve of tiny balsa wood houses, it's the original Godzilla! While Japanese kaiju films have been dunked on quite a lot for unconvincing effects and goofy plots, this is actually quite good, kind of understated, holding back on its use of effects, and when they do show up, they're pretty well done, hiding the most obvious flaws in shadows. The plot is simple, steadfastly idealistic and pacifistic, and with a fair amount of pathos that's best enjoyed taken straight, but it all comes together pretty well.
After ships start mysteriously disappearing at sea near Odo Island off the coast of Japan and fishing catches drop to nothing, reporters arrive to investigate, and hear of a supposed sea monster called "Godzilla", which destroys houses and kills villagers during a storm. Petitioning the government leads to a group of scientists arriving and discovering giant radioactive footprints and a dinosaur-like creature. Ships continue being lost as the scientists theorize that hydrogen bomb testing has awoken something ancient, but everything becomes more urgent as the creature attacks Tokyo and seems impervious to conventional weapons. A scientist's top-secret research might hold the key, but he's reticent about his work to be used as a weapon, and hard decisions must be made.
This Criterion remaster isn't all that great, unfortunately, with scratches and other film damage fairly prominent throughout. Contrast and grain is fine, though, and it's completely watchable. Mono track also sounds acceptable, and the commentary track is interesting enough. I could really wish for a newer, better restoration, but this is what's available at the moment.
