Godzilla (1954 film)
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is a 1954 Japanese science fiction film, produced by Toho Film Company Ltd. The film was directed by Ishiro Honda and had special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It was the first of many "giant monster" movies (known as kaiju) to be produced in Japan, many featuring Godzilla.
Plot summary
Filmed in stark black and white, Godzilla tells the story of a giant, fire-breathing prehistoric monster who is disturbed by American atom bomb testing in the Pacific Ocean. The monster attacks a number of ships and makes a brief land appearance, before coming ashore in Tokyo and destroying the entire city during an unstoppable rampage. The monster is finally defeated when a Japanese scientist named Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) uses an experimental underwater weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer to destroy it. The scientist intentionally sacrifices his life while destroying Godzilla, because he believes his invention is too terrible to be used by humanity.
Analysis
The monster Godzilla is widely seen as an allegory for the atomic bomb: an unstoppable force, powered by radiation, that lays waste to Japan in a manner similar to what occurred in World War II. It could also be an allegory for America as a threatening nuclear power; this movie was made only nine years after Japan's defeat, and only a few months after the Castle Bravo/Daigo Fukuryu Maru nuclear testing accident which had a great psychological impact on Japanese society. Unlike later movies in the "giant monster" genre, Gojira was filmed in a completely serious manner, and it has lost little of its power in the years since. Ishiro Honda, the director, was a second-unit director on several of Akira Kurosawa's films, and his stark black-and-white cinematography seems more realistic, harsh, and terrifying than many of the later color kaiju movies.Follow up
For a limited time, the original version of Godzilla was released in the United States with subtitles, and confined to theaters catering to Japanese-Americans. This same version was later released in the 80's and as recently in 2004 has been issued through Rialto Pictures. It is still currently playing. In the fall of 2006, Rialto will lose control of the distribution rights to the film as the original version will be released for the first time on home video in North America via Classic Media.When first released in wide distribution in the U.S., its footage was reworked and supplemented with new footage featuring Raymond Burr (Perry Mason) for general commercial release as Godzilla, King Of The Monsters in 1956, and the giant monster would be known outside Japan by the name "Godzilla" ever after. In 1957, the American version even worked its way back to Japan, where the Godzilla name also took root. This American version was the only version represented on North American home video until the release of the Godzilla DVD release in September 2006.
External links
- [RottenTomatoes.Com] list of Gojira reviews.
- [Roger Ebert] review of Gojira.
- ['Godzilla,' Uncut and Unmatched] by Desson Thomson.
- ['Godzilla': Not Your Daddy's Dinosaur] by Stephen Hunter.
- [It's the Bomb: We're off to see the lizard] by J. Hoberman.
- http://www.petitiononline.com/ak5ke823/petition.html Petition to get original novelization of Godzilla translated into English
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