The British Film Institute are about to re-release the original 1954 Godzilla in an uncut restored version. Theres more here...

http://www.bfi.org.uk/incinemas/releases/films/godzilla/

Its to be screened in cinemas then released on DVD.

if you havent seen it, expect a huge and pleasant surprise. the japanese cut is not the silly big monster movie you remember. its incredibly dark and serious.

I liked the silly monster,Raymond Burr.

if you havent seen it, expect a huge and pleasant surprise. the japanese cut is not the silly big monster movie you remember. its incredibly dark and serious.

Agreed. The musical score alone is phenomenal.

A few months ago, a neighborhood art house here in West L.A. screened the newly restored "Gojira" (its original Japanese title) — the version shown in Japan in 1954, before its American distributor cut about twenty minutes and added the Raymond Burr footage. Yes, it's much darker in tone than the U.S.-released version, with a much stronger, unsubtle anti-nuke message — as you'd expect.

(Flash back to 1956, a studio executive on the telephone: "You bought WHAT?! A Japanese monster movie? Are you NUTS? Who's going to want to see a Japanese monster movie? Well, that's okay, we can fix it up. We'll get some unknown American actor, shoot a bunch of new footage, and no one'll know the difference!")

This will more than likely be a PAL DVD with region-encoding, so most of us in the US won't be able to see it.

I have a gorgeous bootleg of Gojira, and it certainly is a much better film than what we've seen in the US.

Anyone interested in the music from Godzilla? If so, GNP Crescendo Records, has a CD of The Best of Godzilla 1954-1975, GNP 8055. Lots of original music from the Japanese movies.

It's a shame the original film isn't available on DVD in this country. Even though I like the American version of the film it just doesn't compare to the uncut Japanese version. I guess Sony, the American distributor of the Godzilla films, feels the public won't but a 50 year old monster film with subtitles.
Thankfully I've got a great copy of this film.