Ishiro Honda's 1964 monster-mash, Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster brings together the titular flying beastie (in his first appearance), Rodan, Mothra, and of course, Godzilla in one of the best of the sixties kaiju films that remains as entertaining today as it was when this reviewer first saw it on broadcast television in the late seventies or early eighties.

When a meteorite hurls from space and lands in Japan, it causes a massive heat wave to spread out across the islands. As all of this is going on, Himalayan Princess Selina Salno (Akikko Wakabayashi of You Only Live Twice) is en route to Japan when an explosion in her plane causes a crash landing. Making matters more bizarre is the fact that shortly after the crash, someone looking very much like the Princess is seen wandering the streets of Tokyo, trying to warn the citizens of their impending doom courtesy of a few familiar giant monsters.

Complicating things is the fact that the meteorite that crashed earlier in the film is actually an egg, and when it hatches, a crazy looking three-headed dragon pops out who then proceeds to fly around Japan and shoot lightning bolts at various targets causing no small amount of chaos. In hopes of saving Japan from certain doom, the twin faeries from the earlier Mothra films show up and try to summon her but Mothra isn't given enough time to evolve and is soon laid to waste by Ghidorah until Godzilla and Rodan decide that they've had enough of his antics, at which point all bets are off and a titanic monster battle ensues. A cop (Yosuke Natsuki), his cute sister (Yuriko Hoshi) and a professor (Hiroshi Koizumi) get involved in things but will their input be enough to save the country?

Fast paced and full of fantastic old-school special effects, Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster remains a fan favorite thanks to the plentiful monster battles and the abundance of crazed destruction and mayhem. The suits used in the film are as good as anything that came before it and the miniature construction that we see totaled in the picture is on par with the best films in the series. The original score used in the Japanese version is exciting and tense and it fits the battle scenes and more relaxed character development scenes just perfectly. Add to that the fact that you get not only Ghidorah and Godzilla but also Rodan and Mothra, two favorites, in addition to a plot that moves things along nicely and manages to be both suspenseful and interesting and you've got a top tier Godzilla picture. Ishiro Honda's direction keeps the pace tight and the action tense without sacrificing the little details that add up and provide an interesting story and there are even a couple of unexpectedly effective moments of comic relief inserted that surprisingly enough do not feel out of place at all.

The American Version: This version of the film runs approximately 85 minutes compared to the Japanese cut which clocks in at roughly 92 minutes. The scores are different and a few trims have been made to the U.S. version as well as a couple of odd little changes (examples: a scene where the Princess meets the press is missing, there's a scene with Godzilla emerging from the sea that's been trimmed). Additionally, the U.S. cut has been dubbed into English. Continental Films released the U.S. version to theaters in 1965, a year after the film played in Japan. Thankfully, both versions of the film are included on this disc.

Video:

Both cuts of the movie are presented on this DVD in 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfers which preserve their original theatrical aspect ratios. The Japanese version looks a little cleaner and noticeably more colorful than the US cut but both version do look good. No need to worry about any authoring issues as there aren't any heavy edge enhancement issues nor are there any mpeg compression artifacts. A little bit of shimmer shows up here and there but aside from that there's really very little worth complaining about in terms of the visuals.