"King Kong vs. Godzilla" and "Gorath"

My DVD (or Blu-ray) buying just wrapped up (or, at least until I see something that I want) when the mailman delivered two that I ordered from Far East Flix. Both are 1962 Toho productions.

The first is the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). I have a VHS copy of it, but it is time to retire it and I bought the DVD to be its replacement. It is a fun movie, if you can get past the horrid Kong suit. The design for Godzilla is one of the best, although the suit seems (to me) stiffer than those before and after it. The U.S. version (1963) was the second Godzilla movie I saw in a theater. Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) was the first, but since I was two years old at the time, I have no memory of it.

Above, the Toho DVD box art.

The other movie (in DVD) is one I haven't seen since I was a kid, Gorath (1962). It was released in Japan as Calamity Star Gorath (妖星ゴラス Yosei Gorasu) and it was directed by Ishiro Honda and stars Ryô Ikebe, Yumi Shirakawa, Akira Kubo and Kumi Mizuno. The movie is about a rogue star, Gorath, that is on a collision course with Earth. I vaguely remember the movie since I haven't seen it since the mid-to-late 1960s.

"Godzilla" (1984) DVD From Far East Flix

Thanks to the fine folks at Far East Flix, I've started to fill in some gaps in my Godzilla and other Japanese sci-fi flicks DVD collection.

Not recalling buying anything from them before (if I had, it must've have been ages ago and completely forgot about it), I decided to try them out with Godzilla (1984) (also known as Return of Godzilla and its U.S. counterpart, Godzilla 1985). The DVD arrived in the mail yesterday.

I have this movie and Godzilla 1985 in VHS format (I have all Godzilla movies in VHS), but haven't bought either in DVD until now.

This DVD is just the Japanese version with subtitles. It is a good 2-disc set with the first disc being just the movie and the second disc contains the extras (that includes a gallery, trailers and a behind-the-scenes feature shot during the making of the movie with a lot of  producer Tomoyuki Tanaka in it).

Tonight was a not-too-interesting television night and my roomie conked out on the couch, so I decided to pop in the disc. It played quite well in my Blu-ray player with great picture and sound quality. As it happened, she woke up while I was watching. After grumbling a bit, she actually enjoyed the movie as well as the extras. She was impressed with the miniature work as well as special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano's pyrotechnics. We both agreed that this was far more enjoyable than the CGI crud (although much improved) that is now being put out by Hollywood today.

Far East Flix passed the test, so I will be buying more DVDs from them. Their website is http://www.fareastflix.com/kaijucollection.html#.