Gojira! Godzilla! Gojira!

Classic Media is bringing a monster movie classic to DVD for the first time. We’ve seen Godzilla, King of the Monsters! on DVD a couple of times now, but the movie that actually started Godzilla, the Japanese Gojira, has never found its way to DVD in America. That changes on September 5th when Gojira finally comes to DVD with what looks to be a pretty decent release that also includes the Americanized Godzilla, King of the Monsters!.

The Gojira release features a HD master image from the 35mm print, presented in its original black and white appearance with English subtitles (no English dub here!). Both films feature commentaries by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski, two prominent names in the Godzilla community. Additionally, Gojira contains featurettes on the story and the infamous Godzilla suit, as well as a booklet that goes over the history of the two movies and how Gojira became Godzilla.

Too frequently today filmmakers put out films with overt political messages that have less to do with storytelling and more to do with pushing their agendas. While film critics and audiences are typically quick to catch this approach, it’s sadly becoming the more popular way of communicating agendas. Gojira managed to tell an allegory with an anti-nuclear message while creating a memorable film that began a franchise. Although the message was eventually lost over the course of the subsequent films, Gojira is an example of film as a method of telling cautionary tales at its best and has been too long coming to America on DVD.

Visit the official Gojira website at Godzilla on DVD.com and check back here at Cinema Blend for our review of Gojira as we get closer to its release.