Varan the Unbelievable

This DVD release is the original Japanese version and not the butchered American version with added scenes of Myron Healey
as a US soldier investigating a salty island lake. This version is so
different you wont believe it. The plot is completely different. It
takes place in the mountains, not on an island. There is just no comparing the two versions. They are nothing alike. It would have
been nice if they had included the american TV version on this
disc for comparison, but alas. They don't even kill the monster in the american version. Come to think of it, They really didn't even use
very much of the original footage in making the American version.
Most confusing about this DVD is the decision to use the US title
VARAN: THE UNBELIEVABLE, since that is a completely different version. A more correct translation of the title of this version would be
VARAN: THE GIANT MONSTER or GIANT MONSTER VARAN.
It contains two versions an earlier, incomplete work print for an abandoned TV version and the Japanese theatrical cut. Both are only subtitled.
They should have dubbed it.

Its interesting to note that after I wrote this review, Amazon took down the name Myron Healey.
Now it is back again. I dont get it.

Not the best of all but definitely a good one and worth seeing. I didn't notice a lack of dubbing because I never watch these dubbed--Americans tend to see these films as camp and dub away with that in mind. Most dubs of Japanese flicks of this type I've encountered have been awful, worst of all was a recent Godzilla release that was dubbed and chopped up horribly by an arrogant American who actually brags about his butchery and lousy jokes on one of the tracks.

In the Fifties films like "Day the Earth Stood Still" or "The Thing" were not made as budget no-brainers and we shouldn't assume that the Japanese were always simply screwing around either. "Godzilla" in its original form is a serious and at times horrifying film; many later efforts have spectacular art direction, imaginative design, fine acting (you'll see many serious Japanese actors in these movies), and fascinating plots... along with some nice humor to break things up. Tokyo Shock is doing a terrific job here with this series--I'm buying every one--and if they need a PR man they should get in touch because I will rave as eloquently as possible. So far the releases have been wonderful; I never dreamed I'd see a conscientiously cleaned-up offering of "Mysterians" or "Matango" or "Dogora" in my lifetime. This is significant film, a lot of effort went into much of it (more so than in any American B-movie fare that it tends to be unfairly lumped with) and should be seen and appreciated as something more than mere goofy Friday night beer and pizza entertainment.

One extra note: About the constant "guy-in-the-rubber-suit" quips and jibes. I've worked on some hefty creative production so I kind of know what I'm talking about here--stop and think, you want a big monster trashing the hell out of a city. If you stop-motion the monster you either have to optically print the destruction (which means a loss of sense of immediacy in the way the monster interacts with its environment) or stop-motion animate the destruction, which, as Ray Harryhausen has many times told us, is insanely difficult and never looks right. Think of the buildings being demolished in "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers"--a little stiff and wooden. Pre-CGI (and frankly that has its limitations--everything looks like a video game for one, and it lacks guts and resonance) the best way to have a monster wreck a city and give it some real visceral heft is...yes, a guy in a rubber suit smashing away at superb miniatures. This was never a cheesy low-budget decision (although it incidentally translated to lower budget films well), it was a calculated design and aesthetic choice and in the best of the films it is not only effective but quite riveting--even though it's not precisely "realistic" whatever the hell that means in a fantasy/sci-fi offering. So all I'm saying is next time you feel like getting snide or uppity about the rubber suit shtick, the explosions, or any other tough details in these wonderful films, sit down with a budget, timetable, and pack of grouchy production experts and please try to come up with a better way to do it! Also, take a hard look at that miniature Tokyo or Osaka or Hokado the monster is trashing and ask hard questions about time and money. Those toy cities were works of art.

While I'm grouchy one more thing--with few exceptions, like "Team America," you're not going to see much real "fantasy" stuff on the screen anymore. It's all Green Screen or location shooting nowadays. I don't think many people have completely thought through what this means. What's more exciting, a chase involving 50 horsemen that you know are real or one involving 5000 horsemen that you know must be a computer generated image...or a real spaceship (albeit in miniature) blowing up or a hundred CGI images of spaceships doing same. Deep down, your brain can tell the difference. All those fantastic people who knew how to design and build miniatures and crazy sets (like you see in 50s and 60s films) and make real explosions and do great stunts are disappearing--fast. It's all artificial, like artificial flavoring, and something something that gets to your gut is missing. I can't watch modern films because I know I'm pretty much watching cartoons.

This is not the American version titled "Varan the Unbelievable" that was released in the USA in 1961. This will be the original 1958 Japanese version "Daikaiju Varan" (Giant Monster Varan), so none of the edited footage and story involving the American naval officer on the "island of Kunish Hiroshima" will be present in this. Also, for those that're only familiar with "Varan the Unbelievable", since this will be the original Japanese version there will be lots of footage you've never seen such as Varan's flying sequence, and you will also get to hear Akira Ifukube's original musical score. And just so you know, this DVD will more than likely be bilingual so there will likely be a dub, though it's possible it'll be a brand new English dub recorded in LA by studios and actors that most often dub anime (Japanese animation) as was the case with the recent DVD of The Mysterians. There'll also likely be a few nice extras on this like Media Blasters'/Tokyo Shock's impressive DVDs for The Mysterians and Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People.

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