GODZILLA d: Ishirô Honda
Gojira (1954) / Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956)
Direction: Ishirô Honda; with additional footage by Terry O. Morse for the American version
Screenplay: Ishirô Honda, Takeo Murata; from a story by Shigeru Kayama
Cast: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi, Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Toyoaki Suzuki. Also: Raymond Burr in the American version
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
Heaven. When I came across the long-awaited release of the original 1954 Japanese monster film Gojira on DVD, I thought I had struck heaven. That it was accompanied by its Americanized cousin, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, only doubled the joy of expectation. And for once, I was not disappointed.
The mark of a good critic is admitting biases, so I will state up front that as a young boy, growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I watched the annual American release of the latest Godzilla film at the old Ridgewood Theater, where I would always sneak into with my pals. That was one of the few joys to be had in the depressing urban blight of Queens; so, objectivity will not be feigned in this essay.
Those by then silly pictures had a resonance to my plight, for they often showed that archetypal Japanese boy with a baseball cap turned sideways in the midst of another form of urban blight, while fending off bullies and old men with seemingly pedophilic tendencies. The best of this sillier run of films was Godzilla’s Revenge, in which Godzilla took on a mythical stature in the mind of a lonely latchkey child who fended off bullies and gangsters while communing with Godzilla’s son, Minya.
Yet, nothing could top the original 1956 Godzilla, King of the Monsters, with Raymond Burr – old Perry Mason and Ironside himself — as reporter Steve Martin. I must have seen that film on TV for the first time when I was four or five, and damn, it was scary. Other than the film’s quickie sequel, Godzilla Raids Again, none of the 1960s and 1970s Godzilla films ever portrayed the beast as such pure hellish destruction.
Even in youth I could discern that the original film was easily the best, and that it was more than truly scary: it was scratching at that unnamed part in all developing minds. It had things to offer I could not quite place then. The scariness, however, was most likely a result of the subliminal effect of most of the film’s scenes of destruction being set at night, whereas Godzilla’s appearance by day was not so menacing but rather benign.
Of course, the latest release in the local theater was not my only exposure to Godzilla. Often, on WABC’s Channel 7 they would have weeklong Godzilla Festivals on The 4:30 Movie. And, of course, what would Thanksgiving Day have been without NFL Football and the Monster Marathons that consisted of Godzilla films alternated with King Kong, Son of Kong, and Mighty Joe Young? The film series would usually kick off with the original Godzilla, and end with the camp classic King Kong Versus Godzilla.
I’d always heard that my favorite film was derived from an original Japanese production that did not have the Raymond Burr intercuts. Having become an expert in every Godzilla film, from the original to Godzilla 1985, I was always excited by the prospect of some day seeing the Japanese original. I’d even seen a handful of the post-1985 films, but the original remained a mystery.
Finally, in 2004 Gojira was released across American theaters for its 50th Anniversary, and earlier this year the Toho film company released that film and its American version in a two-disc DVD version, so that a side-by-side comparison could be made.
After watching both films, with and without the commentaries, I have to say that my appreciation for the original, directed by Ishirô Honda, and written by Honda and Shigeru Kayama, as well as the American version, often derided as a bastardization, has grown stronger. Neither one can really be considered a great ‘film,’ but great movies? Hell, yes! The difference between the two is the difference between a great novel and a great comic book. Great films really move one to think more deeply about life, whereas a great movie does that a bit, perhaps, but more often simply greatly entertains.
Both versions of Godzilla easily qualify on that score, and both films, with their anti-atomic messages and unflinching look at destruction are better than the original King Kong, which is still a great movie itself. What raises Godzilla, and especially Gojira, above King Kong, despite the rubber-suited monster which is scoffed at by stop-motion action enthusiasts, is that the Japanese monster tale still has resonance today. Thus, is can be seen as an allegory, whereas King Kong is essentially just a ripping good yarn. In short, King Kong is more akin to Paul Bunyan while Godzilla is more like the Olympian or Norse gods.
Yes, Godzilla owes a great debt to King Kong, whose rerelease in 1952 was a box-office smash, but it owes even more to the box-office success of the 1953 monster movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (based upon Ray Bradbury’s short story "The Fog Horn"), which was released just a year before Gojira was made. (It should be noted that Gojira was one of the most expensive Japanese films to date.)
Yet, Godzilla had a political resonance and emotional depth, especially in its human characterizations, that both King Kong and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms lacked. Kong was basically a victim and the Beast was just a hungry lizard, incidentally called a Rhedosaurus. Godzilla was a byproduct of the atomic age, even if, cleverly, Honda covered his ass by never explicitly showing this to be true.
This posit of the beast’s origins is all from a modern human perspective, for we know that Godzilla, like Kong, is a small island’s legendary native god. In Godzilla the island is Odo, in King Kong it’s Skull Island. The Beast, on the other hand, is explicitly shown as being created by an atomic blast, just like other creatures in 1950s films, even if that’s merely an excuse for it to go on a hunting rampage. Godzilla’s motives are never made clear. It does not seem to be seeking food — so is it nature’s revenge on humanity or a cosmic random bit of fury?
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Tags: Classic Movies, Film Reviews, Godzilla, Gojira, Horror Movies, Ishirô Honda, Monster Movies, Shigeru Kayama
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7 Responses to “GODZILLA d: Ishirô Honda”
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I hope Godzilla 1985 comings on DVD.
Dear dan, please excuse my lack of patients and spelling errors. Take in mind that i cannot use the real language that i would normally use. Ever since i could remember i have been a huge godzilla fan. The original movie scarred the hell out me when i was like 6. It blew my mind and for weeks that was all that i could think about. and now that i watch it when im older about 12 years older, and i appreciate it for other reasons.
And i know its hard to admit this. when i was a kid i just kept it botteld up inside. But i have come to a sad conclusion that when i was a child i did not recagnize the fact that in most godzilla movies suck ass! The simple plot of most of the movies just blow me away new and old they suck!
Its difficult for a kaiju fan to admit this but i cant stay silent. I mean look at a movie u mentioned here. (Godzillas Revenge)! HOnestly this movie is the worst peace of human escrimant ive ever laid eyes on. I have considerd to use this a punishment for my kids. PRobobly the worst movie ever made.Its Kind of Funny! But no it isnt funny in a good way its funny that a movie soo seriouse and intellegent can somehow morph into this. A cheap low production peice of garbage.
this isnt the only movie no there are more. Hell my favorite godzilla villan spacegodzilla, is a terrable movie. But it is terrible in a good way. its cheesy and fun but most godzilla movies particuarly the showa series are just alot of mindless plots and stupid looking guys in suits.
Sorry to get off topic But yea godzilla and gojira are very good movies and just a point i didnt feel that raymond burr was outside of the picture like u exclaimed. But then again it wasnt pointed out to me. Um thank u and good review u have alot of presence and carrisma.
Gentelemen: I hope you will add more Ishiro Honda films like “Gojira Raids Again!” (Japanese; 1059) In Japanese -With English subtitles),”The Manster” (JAPAN NSES:1962) IN Japanses;with English Subtitles, and other horror MOVIES MADE IN jAPAN!
Dear Mr.Schneider,
I have read a lot of movie reviews and even wrote a few of them myself, and I honestly must say that I found your reviews of Gojira & Godzilla to be among the best written movie reviews I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. I have never really been much of a Godzilla fanatic,(My brother is the
Godzillaphile of the family, while I have always thought the Planet Of The Apes films were the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy films ever made.) But my brother suggested a few times that I should go and check out a few Godzilla movies. So I recently began doing some reading up about them just to see what some of the best known critics have to say about Godzilla and to find out what all the fuss is about. Now after reading your extremely inspired, informative and entertaining reviews, I can’t wait to go out and buy myself a copy of the Double Disc DVD versions of Gojira & Godzilla, King Of The Monsters. I just happen to come across your review by accident recently and even suggested to my brother that he ought to read it too. I’m glad that I took the time to read it all even though I felt like I needed a dictionary and a thesaurus to understand some of it,(lol)this is still one of the best movie or film reviews I ever read. Thank You very much, you may have done what my brother has tried to do a few times, turn me into a Godzillaphile too! If you could just write another article like this about the Planet Of The Apes movies I’d really appreciate it! lol.
James:
Here’s an overview I did of the Apes mythos: http://www.cosmoetica.com/B673-DES569.htm.
BTW- there is a new 5 or 6 pak of early Godzila films- most on 2 DVDs- incl. Godzilla Raids Again. I plan on getting it, and it includes Godzy/Gojira. Look on Amazon and it should be here:
http://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Collection/dp/B000VXWK86/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1208810098&sr=1-1
Twenty seven sequels could not even begin to hold a candle to the sheer power of the original. An American remake wimps out next to the starkness of the original. Even Raymond Burr in all his wooden deadpanning could not wreck the solemnity of the original Godzilla– a testament to the awful power of the atomic bomb.
The events from Pearl Harbor (1941) all the way through to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945) were the real world precursor to one of the scariest freaking periods of American history — the arms race. Prior to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese imperialist aggression was literally taking the South Pacific by storm. Guam — the Phillippines — Taiwan — even mainland China, all suffered terribly before the might of the Japanese military.
It was after the raid on Pearl Harbor which wreaked havoc on the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet and destroyed the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma that one of the Japanese generals solemnly stated “We have awakened a sleeping giant.” His words would eventually be realized on August 1945… not with one, but two atomic weapons, bringing the Japanese to their knees, and World War II to a conclusion.
Less than ten years after the explosions, the Japanese economy still had not made a lot of headway toward bouncing back. There was still much anxiety about the nuclear weapons the United States was constructing– and testing — en masse.
What made the original Godzilla movie so intense was the personal experiences of some of the filmmakers. Several of them had seen firsthand the destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, others had been POW’s in mainland China. It was this wartime experience that they effectively managed to channel into “Godzilla”. Godzilla was an allegory for the horror of war in general and the horror of atomic war in particular, while the direct outcry was against atomic testing.
It was just such an atomic test on the Bikini Atoll that poisoned the crew of the Lucky Dragon #5 and sparked fears anew of nuclear apocalypse. It was this event which was still fresh in the mind of the Japanese public when the first Godzilla movie was born. The images of sailors suddenly crying out as the ocean explodes, running for their lives and all for naught –touched a nerve. (The real Lucky Dragon incident was far more insidious. The crew members saw the bomb flash but did not know what it was, and began scooping up the fallout by the armful intending to take some of it back to their families to show them. Little could they know of what horror awaited them!!!) The images of a huge black terror slowly advancing, only lit by flames, was reminiscent of the night time firebombing raids on Tokyo 10 years before. The rampant carnage portrayed in Godzilla mirrors that of the real life carnage in WWII.
But it is the apolitical message of Godzilla that drives the point home. It is not America or Russia or any other single nation that is solely responsible for unleashing the horrors of the splitting of the atom, it is man. What one man did with E=MC2 Serizawa attempts to undo in the gothic setting of his basement laboratory with the formula for the O2 Destroyer, with mixed results, the eventual destruction of Godzilla along with himself. Godzilla himself is seen as alternately an incarnation of the atomic bomb as well as a victim of it…removed from his own natural habitat, his own natural life span, even seemingly his own mortality, as a creature which should not have been alive but was…at once powerful and…pathetic.
Various angles have been played on the nature of the character Godzilla. Godzilla as a force of nature, Godzilla as the homeland defender, Godzilla as ancient deity, Godzilla the friend of all children, Godzilla the concerned dad. And all are unique in their own manner. But in this day and age where terrorism and amoral brutality runs rampant, where terrorists lust after the power promised them by possession of the Bomb, where even 64 years after the fact we are still haunted by the shadow of the possibility of nuclear conflict, the most relevant is still the Godzilla which is the epitome of mindless, brutal nuclear rage, leaving a path of death and misery in its wake.
And the warning still lives on that in the next armed nuclear conflict a monster may yet arise that even an Oxygen Destroyer may not remedy…
So far, mankind appears to have heeded this warning, as despite being nuclear proliferation, the human race has not yet stepped into the abyss from which there is no return. And if the large black figure with a demonic glare and terrible teeth stationed at the entrance to that abyss still cranks out movie after movie after movie for us to watch because we are still here….
Then he has done his job.
I wrote a summary of the initial Godzilla film on my blog. It’s called “Godzilla Versus Ray Bradbury”, which explains some of the story line origins of the film, and why Bradbury thinks he’s been “ripped off”.