Darkautumn
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« on: July 16, 2004, 09:59:04 AM » |
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Having bought several Retromedia titles, and being particularly happy with their AIP kaiju releases, I was excited to get their "Return of the Giant Monsters"/"Magic Serpent" DVD. However, I watched "Return," and something seemed odd with it. The quality of the opening and original AIP credits made me think the copy would be somewhere along the lines of their vibrant "Attack of the Monsters" print, but it appears that everything following the fadeout after "Directed by Noriaki Yuasa" is taken from a mid-eighties Sandy Frank "Gamera vs. Gaos" print, with the AIP dub track married to it, rather then an actual original print of "Return." The audio is slightly out of synch with the image at certain points, particularly when Gyaos fires his laser ray. This is most noticeable during the fight in Nagoya harbor, when Gamera has hold of his opponent's foot (0:50:00.) Also, I compared the disc with both an old TV-recorded VHS of "Return" and the King Features "Gamera vs. Gaos" prerecord, and the image cropping (distinctly different on the two tapes) is identical to the later English version. At the conclusion of Retro's print, "The End" appears to be a newly video-generated keyed-in credit, rather than the more compatible typeface that is present on the older "Return" VHS. The most compelling evidence of all, though, that leads me to believe I'm watching some kind of composite, are three particular scenes; the first occurs when the two road crew comedy reliefs have a run in with some irate villagers waving signs and banners (0:08:22 on the Retro disc.) In "Return," AIP inserts a closeup of a sign IN ENGLISH reading "Stop the expressway." Both the Japanese original and the 80s Sandy Frank version show only the Japanese "Kanji" and this is what appears on the Retromedia copy. Similarly, at 0:10:10 on the disc, the news reporter searching the mountains on motorbike comes upon a trailside sign, all in Japanese. In AIP's print, there is another insert, in English, that states "To summit, Mt. Futago." Like the previous closeup, this is missing from Retro's version, as it is from the Sandy Frank one. Finally, there is a scene where the aforementioned "goofy" duo have a confrontation with a farmer while trying to negotiate the purchase of some milk. At 0:35:15 on the DVD, there is a sudden image "skip" or jump that occurs in exactly the same spot on the Frank "Gamera vs. Gaos" print (it is not present in AIP's copy.) I also noticed some "additions" on Retro's disc that are not on any other version of the film I've ever seen. At 1:08:45, when Gyaos trashes the "blood fountain" there is an (obviously) keyed-in explosion, and at the end, when Gamera drags Gyaos into the crater of Mt. Fuji, the volcano "flares" (1:23:03) in an again easily-detectable added burst. I can only surmise that these were stuck in to ensure that other "companies" don't just dupe copies of Retro's "Return." I realize this might be nitpicking; after all, the movie is the movie, whatever version. But "Return of the Giant Monsters" is one of my all-time faves (from back in the "4:30 Movie" days) and if I'm going to own a movie on VHS/DVD, I want the version I grew up with and fondly remember. It's possible, I guess, that Fred Olen Ray (who I do respect as a friend of the genre) just couldn't find a decent full print of "Return," so with the exception of the first five minutes, chose to use a better preserved copy of "Gamera vs. Gaos" for the visual source, as maybe the Sandy Frank versions have fallen into public domain by now as well. Personally, I would rather have a slightly imperfect DVD of the real "Return of the Giant Monsters" as opposed to one that had to be cobbled together from an actually totally different version of the film. Has this been brought to anyone else's attention? I'd welcome any comments, views or responses.
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