Topic: Frankensteins Monster im Kampf gegen Ghidorah

[GSyren]

Ok, I was browsing Amazon.de in order to see if I could find any interesting titles. I know that one can sometimes find titles released in Germany that are not available elsewhere, or better releases.

So I found Frankensteins Monster im Kampf gegen Ghidorah on BD. But wait a minute! It's been quite a while since I saw Ghidora, but I'm pretty sure that there was no Frankenstein's Monster in the movie I saw. As far as I know the only two kaijus featuring Frankensteins monster are Frankenstein Conquers the World and The War of the Gargantuas. And the reference to Frankenstein doesn't even exist in the US version of the latter.

But in Ghidorah??? Did Germany get a different cut of the movie than the rest of the world, or did the German title translator just go nuts? My money is on the latter, but it would be interesting to hear what our German friends have to say about it.

Not that Swedish translators have been much better. I don't think Ghidorah was ever shown theatrically here, but War of the Gargantuas was titled "King-Kongarnas krig" (Literally "War of the King-Kongs"). Yes the Gargantuas looked a bit weird, but they sure as hell weren't gorillas.

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Did Germany get a different cut of the movie than the rest of the world, or did the German title translator just go nuts?

The latter is correct.

German titles from the 50's to the mid-eighties didn't necessarily have anything to do with original titles or actual content.
Titles were given in order to raise interest of the (assumed) target group.
Another very unlucky example for German naming-conventions is "Soldier Blue" which was released in Germany as "Das Wiegenlied vom Totschlag" (app. translation: "The Lullaby of Homicide").

On the other hand:
Only two years later, the Japanese themselves obviously found this idea quite amusing:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060440/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
and found a quite innovative way to implement the name Frankenstein into a title.

[DJ Doena]

According to OFDB it's this movie:

San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen

[DJ Doena]

Michael is correct in regards to names. For example the whole martial arts movies: many of them were just named Karate Tiger X as if they had any kind of continuity.

But with "Karate Tiger" the viewer supposedly knew what he was getting.

Karate Tiger 1: No Surrender, No Retreat
Karate Tiger 3: Kickboxer
Karate Tiger 4: Best of the Best

[GSyren]

Michael,

The film you're refering to is War of the Gargantuas, and unless I'm mistaken it's a direct sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World, and one of the Gargantuas is actually supposed to be the monster from the previous film, and the other one some sort of a clone, or something like that. So the Frankenstein reference isn't quite as frivolous as it might seem. Of course, the Frankenstein connection in the first film is pretty farfetched in itself.

[GSyren]

Another question for my German friends:

Amazon.de doesn't always specify audio tracks. But if a title has German subtitles, is it safe to assume that it has original audio? Or do they sometimes put German subtitles on discs that only has a German dub?

[DJ Doena]

Another question for my German friends:

Amazon.de doesn't always specify audio tracks. But if a title has German subtitles, is it safe to assume that it has original audio? Or do they sometimes put German subtitles on discs that only has a German dub?

I would say that movies where the OT is English, the OT will always be present. I can't remember a DVD where that wasn't the case. But I wouldn't make that promise for any other language.

Have you checked DVDP?

[GSyren]

Thanks Karsten, good to know. I have noticed that there are quite a few older titles on blu in Germany that aren't available in the UK. And yes, if need be I can check in DVDP - if the title has been contributed.