Half Human 1955 DVD 2-Disc Edition English and Japanese Versions

Half Human 1955 DVD 2-Disc Edition English and Japanese Versions:

Half Human (Jūjin Yuki Otoko 'Beast-Man Snow-Man') is a 1955 Japanese science fiction horror film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akemi Negishi, Sachio Sakai, and Nobuo Nakamura, with Sanshiro Sagara as the Abominable Snowman.

Half Human was released in Japan by Toho on August 14, 1955, as a double feature with Three Brides for Three Sons. Toho has not acknowledged the matter of the film's release. Honda biographers Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski suggested the film was not released to avoid backlash from burakumin's rights groups such as the Buraku Liberation League, the film being removed from distribution for decades as a result. Some sources indicate it was aired on television in either the 1960s or early 1970s and the film received a screening at a film retrospective in Kyoto in 2001. As of 2017, a complete version of the film has never been released by Toho in any home video format.

For the American version of the film, the American company Distributors Corporation of America (DCA) added English-language scenes and narration. The American version of the film contains the original Japanese footage with scenes of John Carradine as John Rayburn explaining the Snowman to his colleagues. The new footage was directed by Kenneth G. Crane on two different sets over the course of two days. Crane also directed Monster from Green Hell, which was released by DCA on December 10, 1957 as a double feature with Half Human. This version also removes Sato's film score. The American version features a scene where Carradine reveals the corpse of the Snowman's son on a morgue slab, and the corpse was portrayed by the costume used for the Snowman's son in the original Japanese film, which Toho shipped to the U.S. for filming.

Disc One: Black & White, English Language, Fullscreen, 70 mins approx.

Disc Two: Black & White, Japanese Language with English Subtitles, Fullscreen, 94 mins approx.

Notice: There is a time code present on the Japanese Language Version. This is the best copy in existence due to the fact that it has never been officially released on home video.