Godzilla (1954 film)

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Godzilla
Original Japanese movie poster
Directed by	Ishirō Honda
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by	Story: Shigeru Kayama Screenplay: Ishirō Honda Takeo Murata
Starring	Akira Takarada Momoko Kōchi Akihiko Hirata Takashi Shimura
Music by	Akira Ifukube
Cinematography	Masao Tamai
Editing by	Kazuji Taira
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	November 3, 1954 (Japan)
Running time	98 min.
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Budget	$1,000,000 US
Followed by	Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira^?) is an influential, successful, critically and commercially acclaimed, and popular landmark 1954 Japanese science fiction film directed and co-written by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, produced and distributed by Toho Company Ltd. it was the first of many "giant monster" movies (known as kaiju) to be produced in Japan, many of which feature Godzilla.

[edit] Plot summary

The Japanese fishing boat Eikō-Maru (栄光丸, Eikō-Maru^?) is attacked by a flash of light from the water near Odo Island and sinks. A rescue boat, the Bingo-Maru, is sent out to investigate the accident but meets the same fate. A second search boat is sent out and finds a few survivors in the area, and like the other two boats, is shipwrecked.

Meanwhile, on Odo Island, the natives of the fishing community are unable to catch anything. "Then…Godzilla must have done it", an elder says. Godzilla is a monster god that lives in the sea that comes from the ocean to feed on mankind. During the old days, whenever fishing was poor, the natives used to sacrifice girls to prevent Godzilla from attacking the village.

A helicopter carrying investigative reporters arrives on Odo Island. The natives all believe that the recent disasters were caused by a monster, but the reporters remain skeptical. That night the natives perform an exorcism in hopes that Godzilla will not attack again. As the natives are sleeping, a storm arrives and a giant monster attacks the small village, causing death and destruction.

The next day, the witnesses are brought to the Diet Building in Tokyo. Paleontologist Dr. Kyohei Yamane requests that an investigative party be sent to Odo Island. The ship is sent out and arrives safely on the island. Yamane finds giant footprints contaminated with radioactivity along with a trilobite. Suddenly, the village alarm is set off and the villagers run for the hills in an attempt to fight the monster. Then, a huge, frightening, dinosaur-like monster pops its head over the hill and roars. The villagers discover that Godzilla is too large to fight and flee for their lives. The monster then goes back into the ocean.

Yamane studies the evidence and discovers that the monster god really is a giant dinosaur that was awakened and mutated by atomic tests in the ocean. He names the monster Godzilla (after the Odo legend). He also discovers that the sediment from Godzilla's footprint contained a massive amount of Strontium-90, which could have only have come from an atomic bomb. After Yamane's presentation, a man from the crowd suggests that the information should not be made public. Since Godzilla is the product of atomic weapons, the truth might cause some bad consequences, since world affairs are still fragile. However, a woman objects to Mr. Ōyama's suggestion because the truth must be told. After she calls Ooyama an idiot, chaos breaks loose in the Diet Building.

Godzilla's origins though are still revealed to the public. An anti-Godzilla fleet is immediately sent out and uses depth charges against Godzilla. In his home, Yamane sits alone in the room with the light out. Yamane is a zoologist and does not want Godzilla to be killed, but studied.

That night, Godzilla suddenly rises in Tokyo Bay in front of a party ship. Within a minute, the monster descends back into the ocean but still causes nationwide panic. The next morning, officials ask Yamane if there is a way to kill the monster. A frustrated Yamane explains that nothing can kill him because, Godzilla has already survived a massive dose of radiation. Yamane believes that the monster should be studied to see what keeps him alive.

Yamane's daughter, Emiko, is engaged to Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, a colleague of Yamane's. Emiko, however, is in love with Lieutenant Hideto Ogata of the Nankai Steamship Company. When Emiko visits Serizawa to tell him that she loves Ogata, Serizawa reveals to her his own dark secret. Shocked by the revelation, Emiko leaves Serizawa, promising not to tell anybody of what she witnessed.

That night, Godzilla appears again out of Tokyo Bay and attacks the city. While the monster's attack was relatively short, it had caused much destruction and death. The next morning, the military hastily constructs a line of 30 meter high barbed-wire fence along the coast of Tokyo that will send 300,000 Volts of electricity through Godzilla when he arrives again. Civilians are evacuated from the city and put into bomb shelters. The military then prepares a blockade along the fence line.

When night falls, Godzilla surfaces from Tokyo Bay again. The monster easily breaks through the giant electric fence, without receiving any injury from that or the bombardment of shells. As Godzilla breaks through the high-tension wires, he uses his radioactive breath that destroys anything in its path. The tanks and military are hopeless against Godzilla. By the end of the night, the entire city is in a sea of atomic fire, killing and wounding thousands of innocent civilians in its path. As Godzilla wades into the sea, a squadron of jets fire rockets at the monster but Godzilla is unscathed as he descends once again into Tokyo Bay.

By the next morning, the city is in absolute ruins. Hospitals are overrun with victims, many exposed to heavy doses of radiation. As Emiko sees the many victims of Godzilla's attack, she takes Ogata aside and tells him Serizawa's dark secret, in hope that she can do something against Godzilla. Serizawa had revealed to Emiko a destructive superweapon called the "Oxygen Destroyer", a weapon that dissolves all oxygen in the water and disintegrates any form of life surrounding its path. The weapon is even more destructive than an atomic weapon. In conducting his research on oxygen, Serizawa came across the destructive power of what became the Oxygen Destroyer. Shocked by his discovery, Serizawa had vowed himself never to release his research in its present form, so that he may find a way that it would benefit society and not destroy it.

Ogata and Emiko visit Serizawa to ask that they use the weapon against Godzilla. Serizawa refuses and storms down to his basement to destroy his creation. Ogata and Serizawa briefly fight each other until Ogata receives a wound to his head. As Emiko treats the wound, Serizawa apologizes. "If the Oxygen Destroyer is used even once, politicians from around the world will see it. Of course they'll use it as a weapon", Serizawa says. "Bombs versus bombs, missiles versus missiles, and now a new superweapon to throw upon us all. As a scientist—no, as a human being—I cannot allow that to happen."

Ogata tries to convince Serizawa that he is the only one who could save the world. "Humans are weak animals", Serizawa argues. "Even if I burn my notes, the secret will still be in my head. Until I die, how can I be sure I won't be forced by someone to make the device again?"

Serizawa also worries about the weapon "falling in to the wrong hands". Ogata finalizes the situation stating "You have your fears, which may become reality. And you have Godzilla, which is reality."

A grim television program appears on the air, showing the devastation caused by Godzilla, along with prayers for hope and peace. Torn by what he's witnessing, Serizawa ultimately decides to use his last Oxygen Destroyer, but only once. Serizawa then burns his research, knowing that this weapon was far worse and more destructive than the monster itself, and that destroying this weapon will be for the better of society.

The next day, a navy ship takes Ogata and Serizawa to plant the device in Tokyo Bay. Serizawa requests that he be put in a diving suit to make sure the device is used correctly. Ogata at first refuses but soon gives in. Ogata and Serizawa then descend into the water and soon find Godzilla awake but resting. Seemingly unaware of the divers, the monster slowly walks around the ocean floor. Serizawa signals Ogata to surface as he activates the Oxygen Destroyer. As Serizawa watches Godzilla dying from the destructive weapon, he cuts his cord and dies with Godzilla, sacrificing himself so that his knowledge of the horrible weapon will surely not be known to the world. A dying Godzilla surfaces, lets out a final roar, and sinks to the bottom, disintegrating into the ocean.

Although Godzilla is dead, the tone is still grim. "I cannot believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species", Dr. Yamane ponders. "If we keep on conducting nuclear tests, it's possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world, again." As the people aboard the ship look to the sun, it is uncertain whether the death of Godzilla is either the end or the beginning of an apocalyptic era. The Japanese people, especially Emiko, will always remember Dr. Serizawa's sacrifice.

[edit] Production

• One of Godzilla's names during production was "Anguirus". That name was later saved over for the name of Godzilla's opponent in the sequel.
• Godzilla movie fans often call the monster in this film "Shodai Gojira", or "First generation Godzilla".
• For a special effects shoot for the movie, Nakajima was placed in a swimming pool. Someone accidentally sent electrical charges through the pool.
• Masaaki Tachibana (an announcer of a scene in a steel tower) painted his face with olive oil to express that he was sweating with fear.

[edit] Cast

• Takashi Shimura as Dr. Kyouhei Yamane (山根恭平, Yamane Kyōhei^?)
• Momoko Kouchi as Emiko Yamane (山根恵美子, Yamane Emiko^?)
• Akira Takarada as Hideto Ogata
• Akihiko Hirata as Daisuke Serizawa
• Sachio Sakai as Hagiwara (Journalist)
• Huyuki Murakami as Dr. Tanabe
• Ren Yamamoto as Masaji (fisherman)
• Toyoaki Suzuki as Shinkichi (Masaji's younger brother)
• Tsuruko Umano as Shinkichi's mother
• Tadashi Okabe as Assistant of Dr. Tanabe
• Jirou Mitsuaki as Employee of shipping company Nankai Kisen
• Ren Imaizumi as Officer Maritime Safety Agency
• Soukichi Maki as Chief at Maritime Safety Agency
• Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla

[edit] Notes

• Katsumi Tezuka, former Godzilla suit actor was once a professional baseball player.

[edit] Japanese box office and critical reception

When Godzilla was first released in 1954, the film sold approximately 9,610,000 tickets, and was the eighth best-attended film in Japan that year. It remains the second most-attended Godzilla film in Japan, behind King Kong vs. Godzilla. It grossed approximately 152 million Yen ($2.25 million USD).

Initially, Japanese critics accused the film of exploiting the widespread devastation that the country had suffered in World War II, as well as the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident that occurred a few months before filming began.^{[citation needed]} However, as time went on, it gained more respect in its home country, even becoming widely regarded as an exceptionally well-made film second only to Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, with some going on to say it was better.

[edit] North American versions

[edit] Initial limited release

In 1955, the original Godzilla was released in the United States with subtitles and was confined to theaters catering to Japanese-Americans. This same version was later released in the 1960s, then in the '80s and as recently in 2004 through Rialto Pictures. In the fall of 2006, Rialto lost control of the distribution rights to the film as the original version was released for the first time on DVD in North America via Classic Media.

[edit] Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Main article: Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

In 1956, Jewell Enterprises re-edited the film for American audiences by combining the original Japanese footage of Godzilla with new, American-made footage of Raymond Burr as an American reporter covering Godzilla's arrival.

Retitled Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, this version was the only one represented on North American home video until September 2006 when the Gojira DVD was released, containing both the unedited Japanese theatrical version and the reworked U.S. version.

[edit] Restored re-release

On May 7, 2004, the original edit of the film was re-released into two theaters in North America. It grossed a commendable $38,030 USD ($19,015 per screen) in its opening weekend and remained in release until December 2004, never playing on more than six North American screens at any given point. By the end of its run, it grossed $412,520 U.S.. The film played in roughly 60 theaters and cities across the United States during its seven-month run. It had previously been reissued in the mid-1960s.

[edit] Critical reception

The 2004 North American re-release of Godzilla was highly praised by many critics who had never seen the film in its original form without Raymond Burr. Its approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is currently at 93% (and 88% among the "Cream of the Crop").[1]

In Entertainment Weekly, Owen Glieberman, who gave the film an A- rating, wrote:

"Godzilla, an ancient beast roused from the ocean depths and irradiated by Japanese H-bomb tests, reduces Tokyo to a pile of ash, yet, like Kong, he grows more sympathetic as his rampage goes on. The characters talk about him not as an enemy but as a force of destiny, a "god". The inescapable subtext is that Japan, in some bizarre way, deserves this hell. Godzilla is pop culture's grandest symbol of nuclear apocalypse, but he is also the primordial spirit of Japanese aggression turned, with something like fate, against itself."[2]

In the Dallas Observer, Luke Y. Thompson wrote:

"A lot of people are likely to be surprised by what they see. The 1954 Japanese cut is shot like a classic film noir, and the buildup to Tokyo's inevitable thrashing is quite slow by today's standards. The echoes of World War II are very strong, and the devastation wrought by Godzilla (played by Haruo Nakajima) is not sugar-coated; it eerily mirrors that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the deaths and injuries are dwelt upon. The monster himself is not fully revealed for quite a while, and even when he finally shows up, he's a malevolent black predator with glistening skin, who stays mostly in the shadows, many times more fearsome than the green-skinned cookie monster who showed up in the various sequels to layeth the smacketh down on the candyasses of numerous alien invaders in ugly leotards."[3]

One of the few recent negative reviews was written by Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. Ebert admitted the film was "an important one" and "properly decoded, was the Fahrenheit 9/11 of its time", but he also said:

"In these days of flawless special effects, Godzilla and the city he destroys are equally crude. Godzilla at times looks uncannily like a man in a lizard suit, stomping on cardboard sets, as indeed he was, and did. Other scenes show him as a stuffed, awkward animatronic model. This was not state-of-the-art even at the time; King Kong (1933) was much more convincing. When Dr. Serizawa demonstrates the Oxygen Destroyer to the fiancee of his son, the superweapon is somewhat anticlimactic. He drops a pill into a tank of tropical fish, the tank lights up, he shouts 'stand back!', the fiancee screams, and the fish go belly-up. Yeah, that'll stop Godzilla in his tracks."[4]

[edit] Multimedia

[edit] Soundtrack

The score by Akira Ifukube was released 3 times over a period of 13 years. The first recording was released by Futureland Toshiba in 1993, and nearly contained the film's complete score, missing only a brief source cue used for the pleasure boat scene. The tracklist is as follows:

• 01 - Main Title
• 02 - Footsteps (SFX)
• 03 - Eiko-Maru Sinking
• 04 - Bingo-Maru Sinking
• 05 - Uneasiness on Odo Island
• 06 - Rituals of Odo Island (Source Music)
• 07 - The Storm on Odo Island
• 08 - Theme from Odo Island
• 09 - Frigate March I
• 10 - Horror of the Water Tank
• 11 - Godzilla Comes Ashore
• 12 - Fury of Godzilla
• 13 - Deadly Broadcast
• 14 - Godzilla heads to Tokyo Bay
• 15 - Attack Godzilla!
• 16 - Devastated Tokyo (Contains SFX)
• 17 - The Oxygen Destroyer
• 18 - Prayer for Peace
• 19 - Frigate March II
• 20 - Godzilla Under the Sea
• 21 - Ending

[edit] DVDs

Apart from the U.S. re-cut of the movie Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the original Godzilla film was not released in the United States on DVD until September 6, 2006, although the original had earlier appeared on DVD in Japan on 2002. The quality of the print used for the Japanese release was partially restored and remastered, including 3 Audio Tracks (the original mono track, an isolated audio track, and an isolated track & SFX track), and an interview with Akira Ifukube.

In 2004 the movie was re-released in Japan as part of the Final Box DVD Boxset following the premiere of Godzilla: Final Wars. The disc quality was the same as the 2002 release, and included the U.S. version of the film.

In the fall of 2005, BFI theatrically released the original Japanese version in the UK; this was similar to the Rialto Pictures release in the US, and by the end of the same year, the movie was released on DVD by BFI. The quality of the print was very good (but not perfect), the DVD including the original mono track and several new extra freatures, such as documentaries and commentary tracks by Steve Ryfle, Ed Godziszewski and Keith Aiken covering production details and changes and trivia. The differences between the Japanese and US versions were discussed, and rare production stills, sketches and storyboards, unfilmed or filmed and lost scenes and early Godzilla sculptures. The DVD also includes a documentary about the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a Japanese fishing boat which was caught in an American nuclear blast and partially inspired the creation of the movie. This release was received very well, and released in Australia Mad Man Co Ltd in Region 4.

[edit] External links

• ゴジラ (Gojira) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
• Godzilla at the Internet Movie Database
• Toho Kingdom
• Kaijuphile: Monster Site. Monster Obsession.
• Monster Zero News
• Sci-Fi Japan
• Godzilla Stomp
• The Godzilla Shrine

[edit] Reviews

• Godzilla at Rotten Tomatoes
• Godzilla at Metacritic
• Godzilla vs. Gojira comparison
• '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.