Hello!

Good news from the 3-D Film Archive and our associate Matthew Rovner … the 3-D Archive’s latest Kickstarter Campaign did extremely well, and a ‘stretch goal’ has been added to pay for extra-special extras.

The film is an until-now highly obscure 3-D picture by the maverick radio legend and erratic filmmaker Arch Oboler, a romantic drama filmed on location in Japan, using Oboler’s stereoscopic SpaceVision 3-D camera rig.

It seems that only Matthew Rovner knows the full story behind this show, which would seem a much better subject for 3-D than Arch Oboler’s initial SpaceVision movie The Bubble. The travelogue appeal of Domo Arigato is a major selling pint, offering terrific snapshot of Japan in the early 1970s.

Four years ago I asked Matthew to collaborate on a commentary for an Imprint release of Arch Oboler’s atom-age sci-fi masterpiece Five; his extensive research made that track a valuable resource. The impetus from that project got Matthew to redouble his Oboler research efforts. If Matthew is able to contribute a commentary to Domo Arigato, he’ll be on completely new territory in film history.

Matthew’s promotional essay can be read at the  Domo Arigato Kickstarter page.

 

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Here’s some movie news that got my attention: Tom Bruggemann of IndieWire explains why the big hit Godzilla Minus One, a major contender for an Oscar tomorrow night, is at present nowhere to be seen.

I’m afraid that avoiding packed places has kept me from seeing GMO in a theater. Close CineSavant associates assure men that it is the most satisfying monster movie in many years, and that it grants the erratic Godzilla franchise a respectability it hasn’t enjoyed since 1954’s original, and then only in Japan.

With both Oppenheimer and Barbie already big news on disc and streaming, why is no super video version of GMO being marketed for us criminally disadvantaged latecomers to enjoy?  With many years spent trying to understand why Toho’s Kaiju pictures aren’t distributed in glorious U.S. versions — even Criterion’s fancy boxed sets don’t use Toho’s best or most current transfers — it’s easy to come to the wrong conclusions as to why GMO has been ‘suppressed.’

The answer is depressingly obvious — corporate licensing conflicts between parallel franchises. Mr. Bruggemann makes it all too clear, read it and weep:

“Godzilla Minus One” Could Win an Oscar, So Why Can’t Anyone See It?
Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson