ShareThisBy BRUCE DANCIS
Two of the most famous Japanese films ever made _ "Seven Samurai" and "Gojira" (released as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" in the United States) _ both came out in 1954. The former has become known as one of the greatest films in international movie history, directed by Akira Kurosawa.. The latter is treated far less reverentially, remembered primarily as an early, but cheesy, monster movie.
Yet for different reasons both movies have seldom been seen in their original versions. According to Donald Richie's authoritative "The Films of Akira Kurosawa," "Seven Samurai" was shrunk from its original 207 minutes to 160 minutes for most of its theatrical presentations outside of Japan. Lost in the cutting were crucial scenes that established characters and plot developments that made the climactic battle between the samurai and the rampaging bandits all the more powerful and thrilling.
"Gojira" suffered an even more ignominious fate. It was released in Japan at 98 minutes, but when it came out two years later in America as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters," about 40 minutes of footage were gone, replaced by about 30 minutes of new material starring a not-yet-Perry Mason Raymond Burr as an American reporter who tells the entire story in a flashback.
Gone from the U.S. version were much of the movie's anti-war and anti-nuclear sentiments, which were particular to the times in which the film was made _ nine years after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two years after the end of the U.S. occupation of Japan (and the end of film censorship by the U.S. authorities) and only months after the Japanese crew aboard a fishing boat named the Lucky Dragon No. 5 became contaminated by radiation poisoning after traveling too close to a U.S. H-bomb test near the Marshall Islands.
By coincidence, excellent new editions of these movies are out on DVD this week _ "Seven Samurai" from the Criterion Collection (three discs, $49.95, not rated) and "Gojira," both the original Japanese and the Americanized versions, from Classic Media (two discs, $21.98, not rated).
"Seven Samurai" is rightly considered one of the masterpieces of moviemaking, a stunning epic that works on every level, from the majestic performance of Takashi Shimura, as the elder Ronin (samurai without a master) who puts together the group of fighters to defend a poor village of farmers against attack by bandits; the state-of-the-art location photography by Kurosawa and cinematographer Asakazu Nakai; the percussively compelling musical score by Fumio Hayasaka, and the stunning battle scenes that make up the film's legendary climax.
The film has been much copied over the years, most notably by John Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven" (1960)
The DVD presents "Seven Samurai" in a new high-definition digital transfer with optional Dolby sound. The bonus features are both abundant and very informative, including two audio commentaries by film critics and scholars; a 50-minute documentary from Japanese television on the making of the movie; a two-hour interview with Kurosawa; a new documentary, "Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences"; behind-the-scenes photographs of Kurosawa at work; a booklet containing essays about the movie and an interview with costar Toshiro Mifune, and new and improved English subtitles.
Watching the restored "Seven Samurai" serves to remind anyone who has previously seen the film just how good it is. In contrast, a viewing of the original "Gojira" is like discovering that a fake-looking piece of sculpture is actually the Maltese Falcon.
As film historians Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski point out in their enthusiastic audio commentary on the DVD, while there is little doubt that "Gojira" reflects the influence of previous monster films such as "King Kong" (made in 1933 but re-released in 1952) and "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" (released in 1953), the Japanese experience with the atomic bomb and the effects of radiation clearly inform director Ishiro Honda's film.
For the most part, the American version of "Godzilla" concentrates on the monster and his anti-social tendencies.
"Gojira," it turns out, is a lot more than a childish monster movie. It deserves a new look.
Seven Samurai (1954)
4 stars
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Dasuke Kato and Isao Kimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writers: Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni
Distributor: Criterion Collection
Not rated
Gojira (1954)
3 1/2 stars
Godzilla, King of the Monsters (U.S. 1956)
2 1/2 stars
Cast: Akira Takarada, Momoko Tochi, Arihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura and Fuyuki Murakami.
Additional cast for U.S. version: Raymond Burr
Director: Ishiro Honda
Writers: Honda, Shigeru Kayama and Takeo Murata
Distributor: Classic Media
Not rated
(Bruce Dancis can be reached at bdancis(at)sacbee.com.)
