Godzilla, King of the Monsters
(1954)
AKA
Godzilla
(Page 2)
The first is the original classic 1954 Ishiro Honda film released in Japan, which is quite simply brilliant and is hands down the best version of the film.
The film, called Gojira in Japan, stands quite alone in the field of giant monster movies of the 50s in that it's not a monster movie for the sake of a monster movie. Like other nameless films in the genre, the creature is born of radioactivity, but is represented as a symbol of the horrors that created it (an interpretation that gets jumbled up in the American edit of the film). In the film he is shown to be a walking, breathing, atom bomb, an idea that is still able to creep the hell out of audiences today.
One thing about the film I've been openly critical about growing up was the role of Dr. Sarizawa, but it didn't strike much just what his role meant until I saw the Japanese edit. In the american edit of the film I grew up with, Serizawa simply seemed no more than someone to provide an ending to a movie that would have written itself into a corner, otherwise. He was a rather underdevoloped character who created weapon that didn't exist in reality and it's only purpose in the story was to destroy the creature. In the Japanese film, however, Sarizawa's role and the Oxygen Destroyer he created mirrors that of the H-Bomb that created the terror of Tokyo. He created a weapon of unspeakable destruction, and didn't want to unleash it upon the world. It makes one wonder if those who created the nuclear weapons that created Godzilla had such an inner conflict, and if they had and decided not to use it, would Godzilla have been created? It's a really subtle and powerful subplot that makes the original film so much more memorable.
The production and special effects are really quite solid, especially for suitimation. For the most part, Godzilla himself looks terrific, mostly portrayed by suit work and the occasional hand puppet (the puppet sticks out, but mostly because it barely resembles the suit worn by the actor). The model work and destruction scenes are quite extraordinary, and Godzilla's attacks on Tokyo are beautifully put together (I particularly love a certain matte shot toward the beginning of his second attack, which shows Godzilla chasing Japanese citizens down a street. That's outstanding).
The Akira Ifukube score is quite good, though I personally don't like it as much as some of his later efforts in the series, or even some of his work outside of it. It's a bit less stylized, and more somber than anything else heard in the Godzilla series.
As good as the film is, it has a few flaws in it. However, for a production this sturdy, annoyances this minor can't even shake it. There are several hiccups in the script, such as the claim that the Jurassic Period was 2 million years ago (bad science is always funny in a movie like this, though) or even the claim that Godzilla came from the Jurassic at all, when he more strongly resembled Dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period, not to mention that it's a closer period to the modern age, which would have made it more believable.
I was into Dinosaurs as a kid. So sue me.
There's also the deal with the electrical towers being built around Tokyo in less than 24 hours, which is pretty bad storytelling when you think about it. It's as if they just threw them up there and said "Take THAT, Godzilla!" And while most of them get the job done, there are a few effects that fall flat, such as a rather akward moment toward the end where Godzilla seems to be looking into a gaint bird cage. Now, true, I didn't live in 1950's Japan, so for all I know they had a giant bird cage at the center of the city (I'm not even going to ask why), but it's such a dysfunctionally odd moment, that it takes me out of the movie every time.
But the rumors are true, Gojira is a classic and deserves every bit of praise it gets. The other edits...that's a different story all together.
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