Tittle: Godzilla King of the monsters
Director: Ishirô Honda, Terry O. Morse
Release Year: 27 April 1956
Trivia: Godzilla’s roar was made by dragging a resin-coated leather glove up and down a contrabass and having the subsequent recording slowed down significantly. The echoing sound came from playing the sound in an empty toilet tank and recording it.
In the American version, Godzilla’s size was increased from 150 feet to nearly 400 feet
The Japanese version of the film received a Japanese Academy Award nomination for Best Picture but lost to Seven Samurai. It did, however, win the award for Best Special Effects.
Runtime: 80 min
Review:
Godzilla king of the monsters Toho’s studio’s most famous creation by far. My first exposure to the monster was in 1998 the American adaptation with Matthew Broderick as the star. Although later I read that Toho had disowned that particular instalment and said that the monster in that film was a different Godzilla and not “the Godzilla” While researching the film for list of shame I read the tittle of the extensive list of films and enemy .He has taken on King Kong, mecha Godzilla ,mothra ,Gamera and King Ghidorah a massive three headed dragon similar to the hydra in Greece mythology. Who is Godzilla Fighter, ladies man, giant monster Godzilla seems to have it all.
Today I will be taking a look at the original film in the series Godzilla king of the monster. The version of the film I watched was the American dub which is quite poor in execution. It follows the fortunes of an American reporter as he follows the case. Starting with the destruction of numerous boats in fire to the reveal of Godzilla and his subsequent attack on Tokyo and his possible destruction. This framing device would work a lot better if it was filmed years apart with the reporter played by Raymond Burr as Steve Martin standing in the corner of numerous scenes with a translator .This really does not help the film stand in with their backs to camera are dubbed in conversation with the main reporter. And even though he is the narrator and the film is based on his personal experience we are given scene he could not possibly know about in detail.
The film paints a very broad picture of the characters and their relationship in exposition over dubbing. This is very clunky when he details a love triangle between a few key players in the Japanese cast. I might be slightly prejudiced against dubbing as I normally try to avoid it and if I ever get the opportunity I will watch the original Japanese version which I imagine is much better although Godzilla has a few good moments. The reason I avoid dubbing is that it usually in my experience very badly done a perfect example would be in the film hard boiled I watched the dubbed and the subtitled version. The subtitled version was much richer in story even having a running subtext with two of the main characters completely dropped from the dubbed version. But enough of my personal vendetta against dubbing what about the star of the piece the king of the monsters Godzilla
The unnatural roar of Godzilla greets the opening credits Godzilla king of the monsters In the story it is implied that nuclear test has awoken Godzilla to wreak havoc and Godzilla attacks has many obvious reference to nuclear attacks and the imagines used are very similar to documentary footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . The suit and miniatures I felt where very well done and as the monster attacks the city it has some very good moments Godzilla as he roams the streets seems to hate clock towers as he smashes it up with particular venom that and flash photography as he attacks another observation tower when some people are taking picture of him .A moment that had me scratching my head was when during the attacks some army officers are standing around kind of relaxing and Godzilla manages to sneak up on the them .And they turn and run in shock as Godzilla rains down radioactive fire Godzilla is a giant radioactive monster and somehow he can sneak up on them . The film has some very entertaining moment and the story is solid as well. It has Godzilla a plus in any film mad scientist and a love triangle what more could you want? .
This is a film that is hard to take by itself it really does make you want to see how it will evolve in a later film he has a son. No sign of mother Godzilla maybe he can produce offspring asexually I am sure there is plenty of fan fiction online about the subject. And in later Godzilla films to use the terms of professional wrestling goes from a heal (a bad guy) to a face (good guy) or maybe he was jealous of the other monsters wrecking the city before he got a chance to. Even with my complaints about the American dub version it is worth a looks if you can find it the Godzilla in a rubber suit is much better than the poor CGI version the world was given in 1998 .And over 50 years later Godzilla’s roar as he runs rampant on the city streets is still fresh and interesting But what can they do to stop Godzilla’s rampage well you will have to watch it to find out .
List of Shame 