Dick
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 22, 1999
- Messages
- 10,155
- Real Name
- Rick
I purchased a copy of this on eBay. It is on the Mantis label... (continued under the photo)
This came from a gentleman in Poland. It appears to be entirely legit, although both discs included are BD-R rather than pressed (I am assuming this based upon the slightly bluish tint of the playing surface). The first disc is the Japanese language version, from what is described as a "Brand new 4K digital transfer." Right off the bat, it looks exponentially better than any previous video release. The OAR is 1.37:1. The color, while a little weak at times, is pretty good. Good black levels. The greens of the landscapes and the flesh tones are acceptable. However, the image has been wiped clean of all grain and in some instances looks a bit smeary. Still, the image is reasonably sharp, and the film is so much better-looking than it was during its color broadcast on Million Dollar Movie back in the 60's. NOTE: the running time is, at 82 minutes, 11 minutes longer than the American edition on Disc 2. Someone earlier covered the differences.
The big caveat for me -- and here is the question -- is that I could not find any English subtitles, no matter what I did. The advertising for the disc says they're there, the case it comes in says they're there, and the disc menu itself has a clickable option for English subtitles. Couldn't find 'em, not on my Philips 4K, not on a friend's Panasonic, and not even on my computer. I tried all kinds of settings in my 4K OLED, but nothing produced subtitles. I contacted the seller, who tells me that his copy plays the subtitles with no problem. WTF?? I am not anxious to have to return this (delivery time one-way is close to three weeks). I am wondering if any of you have experienced this sort of issue with any of your imported foreign-language discs? Is it possible that just one or a few copies not containing subtitles managed to get shipped from the factory?
Disc two contains the American theatrical release, in two versions. 1) Theatrical widescreen. This is a 1.78:1 edition, I think merely a blow-up, and on my machine it displayed a jerky motion during any horizontal pan or side-to-side movement. Very distracting. The 1.37:1 version looks to be correct, and it rather resembled the look of the Japanese version on Disc 1. This edition is English-dubbed and is the version I grew up with, containing an narrator in its first few minutes, followed by typically funky lip sync (or lack thereof) during dialog passages. The image is sharp enough.
I've been waiting for a decent edition of this movie on Blu-ray for ages, and since Criterion doesn't seem to want to release their non-Godzilla kaiju films even though I believe they hold U.S. rights, this will serve as a good place-marker. Now...if only I could figure out the subtitle business...
This came from a gentleman in Poland. It appears to be entirely legit, although both discs included are BD-R rather than pressed (I am assuming this based upon the slightly bluish tint of the playing surface). The first disc is the Japanese language version, from what is described as a "Brand new 4K digital transfer." Right off the bat, it looks exponentially better than any previous video release. The OAR is 1.37:1. The color, while a little weak at times, is pretty good. Good black levels. The greens of the landscapes and the flesh tones are acceptable. However, the image has been wiped clean of all grain and in some instances looks a bit smeary. Still, the image is reasonably sharp, and the film is so much better-looking than it was during its color broadcast on Million Dollar Movie back in the 60's. NOTE: the running time is, at 82 minutes, 11 minutes longer than the American edition on Disc 2. Someone earlier covered the differences.
The big caveat for me -- and here is the question -- is that I could not find any English subtitles, no matter what I did. The advertising for the disc says they're there, the case it comes in says they're there, and the disc menu itself has a clickable option for English subtitles. Couldn't find 'em, not on my Philips 4K, not on a friend's Panasonic, and not even on my computer. I tried all kinds of settings in my 4K OLED, but nothing produced subtitles. I contacted the seller, who tells me that his copy plays the subtitles with no problem. WTF?? I am not anxious to have to return this (delivery time one-way is close to three weeks). I am wondering if any of you have experienced this sort of issue with any of your imported foreign-language discs? Is it possible that just one or a few copies not containing subtitles managed to get shipped from the factory?
Disc two contains the American theatrical release, in two versions. 1) Theatrical widescreen. This is a 1.78:1 edition, I think merely a blow-up, and on my machine it displayed a jerky motion during any horizontal pan or side-to-side movement. Very distracting. The 1.37:1 version looks to be correct, and it rather resembled the look of the Japanese version on Disc 1. This edition is English-dubbed and is the version I grew up with, containing an narrator in its first few minutes, followed by typically funky lip sync (or lack thereof) during dialog passages. The image is sharp enough.
I've been waiting for a decent edition of this movie on Blu-ray for ages, and since Criterion doesn't seem to want to release their non-Godzilla kaiju films even though I believe they hold U.S. rights, this will serve as a good place-marker. Now...if only I could figure out the subtitle business...
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