July is turning out to be quite a month for home video releases, and I’m certainly not complaining.
The second of Shout! Factory’s much-anticipated Gamera releases – 1966′s Gamera vs. Barugon – is due out on the 6th of July. There are no specific details on supplements as of yet, but the film will be sourced from the latest HD master and presented in its original Japanese with English subtitles for the first time (legitimately) on domestic home video. If Shout!’s Gamera, The Giant Monster is any indication then this is going to be a disc fans will not want to be without.
Gamera vs. Barugon follows a group of treasure-seekers who, in their greed, inadvertently unleash the monster Barugon (equipped with equally improbable freezing tongue and rainbow-shooting back spines) upon the world. Arriving just in time to save the day is Gamera, recently extricated from the Plan Z rocket and minus a child sidekick for the first and only time in the original series of films. The newly-released cover art for this release is to the right. Gamera vs. Barugon is currently up for preorder at Amazon.com at a reduced price of $17.99.
Set for release on July 13th and making its world premiere on home video is Andrew Marton’s Crack in the World, a long-time favorite of this reviewer and one of the finest science fiction efforts of the ’60s. The film stars Dana Andrews in one of his better late-career performances as well as Day of the Triffids alums Janette Scott and Kieron Moore and These Are the Damned‘s Alexander Knox, and features special effects direction by Eugene Lourie (director of Gorgo, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and The Giant Behemoth). The story follows a collective of scientists who are on a race against time as an ever-growing fissure in the Earth’s crust, the result of a recent experiment, threatens to destroy all humanity. Crack in the World is currently up for preorder at Amazon.com at a reduced price of $17.49, 30% off the SRP.
Finally (for this update, at least), more classic Harryhausen is on its way to the glory of high definition. Jason and the Argonauts, arguably the best of the Harryhausen / Schneer co-productions and the former’s career favorite, will premiere on Blu-ray from Sony on the 6th of July. Rather than paraphrase, 
I’ll just let DVDSavant do the talking for this one (thanks for the heads up, Glenn!):
“The word from London is that Sony’s new Blu-ray of Jason and the Argonauts . . . will have two special commentaries. A couple of days ago Peter Jackson and Randall William Cook recorded one track, commenting on all things Harryhausen. By the time this announcement comes out, Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton should have finished a second commentary in London. I’m told that the new Hi-Def transfer for Jason has been laid down at an appropriate 1:66 AR, which should make some highly vocal associates happy!”
Happy, indeed! Sony’s earlier Harryhausen Blu-rays (reviews of which can be found in the archive) were all exceptionally realized, and I’ve no doubt that this one will live up to the high expectations fans will have set for it. Jason and the Argonauts is up for pre-order at Amazon at the reduced price of $17.49, a savings of 30% off the SRP.
I’m looking forward to these, one and all, and Wtf-Film reviews can be expected in due course.
