by kpa » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:33 pm
I've had Kalat's book for several years and like it quite a bit, but it's not one of my favorites. He definitely knows his stuff, but there's not much there (except his own analysis) that wasn't already available elsewhere.
I personally think it doesn't come close to Ed Godziszewski's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla, Steve Ryfle's Japan's Favorite Mon-Star and Guy Tucker's Age of the Gods. Those three books are just packed with info I had never read before, probably because the authors did a lot of their own research. I've read and reread them several times and have used them repeatedly for reference or to answer a question about these films... which is something I rarely do with Kalat's book.
As for Galbraith's books; Legion79's description of Japanese Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films is right on the money. I think Stuart has become a much better writer and researcher since then; Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo is great and his recent Kurosawa/Mifune book is absolutely amazing.
Keith