August Ragone Scores Rondo

Above, Ragone autographs his book on Eiji Tsuburaya for fans in 2008. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Congratulations are in order! August Ragone scored a Rondo Award in the 10th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.

BEST INTERVIEW
(Award goes to interviewer)

August Ragone interviews Haruo Nakajima (the original Godzilla), FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #256

Above, Haruo Nakajima. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Rondo Winners Announcement Tonight, Etc.

Above, Haruo Nakajima with Miki Hayashi at last year's Monsterpalooza. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The winners of the 10th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards will be announced tonight at 10:00 PM EST.

To see the winners list, go to http://www.rondoaward.com tonight.

Speaking of Rondo Awards, this post has been up for a few days at movie historian Stuart Galbraith IV's blog. I can see Galbraith's point. But I also know August Ragone to be sincere in his desire to give Haruo Nakajima a Rondo.

Above, Haruo Nakajima during the filming of "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster."

If none of Ragone's nominations pan out, I would like to see a campaign to get Nakajima a Rondo as Galbraith proposes for next year. Count me in!

We'll see if there's any follow-through.

USA Today Article On Criterion's "Godzilla" Blu-ray

USA Today is carrying an article on the upcoming Criterion Blu-ray edition of the original 1954 Godzilla and the 1956 Americanized Godzilla, King of The Monsters!

The article also includes interview comments by kaiju historians David Kalat and August Ragone.

The article starts with:

From terms like "Bridezilla" to films like Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster, the thought of Japan's most famous monster usually evokes a chuckle, not a roar.

But the roots of the Tokyo-stomping beast are dark and terrible. Long before its 27 sequels and endless spinoffs, the original 1954 film, called Gojira in Japan, was a fearful atomic fable from expert filmmakers, a metaphor for the bombing of Hiroshima that ended World War II just nine years earlier.

On Tuesday, the highbrow Criterion Collection, which usually traffics in the world of Hitchcock, Truffaut and Japan's Akira Kurosawa, will add digitally restored editions of Toho Studios' Gojira and the watered-down American version from 1956, Godzilla: King of the Monsters with Raymond Burr, to its prestigious DVD and Blu-ray catalog.

The article is by David Colton, the head honcho of the Classic Horror Film Board.

To read the full USA Today online article, go here.

Honda Estate vs. Toho: Delving Deeper

Above, the Godzilla statue at Toho Studios. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The story of the alleged lawsuit by the family of late director Ishiro Honda against Toho Co., Ltd. over the Godzilla copyright may have some legs after all.

Over on Facebook, some of us were mulling over the story.

It was asked by one participant: "Couldn't we have somebody in Japan verify if a Complaint has actually been filed? Those are a matter of public record·"

Noted Godzilla historian August Ragone replied that he had looked into it and he is currently "writing up something about this now [for his blog]."

Once he does, I'll post a link to his blog post. This should be interesting!

It appears we may be on the verge of learning something about Japanese copyright law.